Transport Canada is responsible for transportation policies and programs. We promote safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible transportation. The Department of Transport was established in 1936 by the government of William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874 – 1950) in recognition of the changing transportation environment in Canada at the time. It merged three departments: the former Department of Railways and Canals, the Department of Marine and Fisheries, and the Civil Aviation Branch of National Defence.
Today, Transport Canada (as the department is now known) is a department focused on policy and regulation rather than transportation operation. It is now responsible for aeronautics, navigation, shipping facilities, motor vehicles, ferries, railways and canals connecting provinces or connecting provinces with a foreign country.
This collection consists of legal documents dating from 1936 to 1982. The documents include contracts, deeds, leases and agreements pertaining to Transport Canada’s work and are numbered consecutively.