On January 1, 1923, the
National Defence Act, 1922 came into effect, merging the
Department of Militia and Defence, the
Department of the Naval Service, and the
Air Board to form the
Department of National Defence. The ministerial heads of the former departments, the
minister of militia and defence, the
minister of the naval service, and the
minister of aviation were merged to form a new position, the minister of national defence. During the
Second World War, the minister of national defence was assisted by two subordinate ministers. The
minister of national defence for air was an additional minister in the Department of National Defence responsible for the
Royal Canadian Air Force; while the
minister of National Defence for Naval Services was another minister in the Department of National Defence responsible for the
Royal Canadian Navy. The air and naval post was reincorporated into the portfolio of the minister of national defence following the Second World War. The
Munsinger affair was
Canada's first national political
sex scandal in 1966. The affair involved
Gerda Munsinger, a German citizen who had been convicted in Germany as a common prostitute, a petty thief and a smuggler, who emigrated to Canada in 1956 in spite of a warning card dated 1952, and who was in 1960 the mistress of the former
Associate Minister of National Defence Pierre Sévigny. Munsinger was "a self-admitted espionage agent" in the employ of the "
Russian Intelligence Service". == The Defence Portfolio ==