As a ministerial position, the office of Treasury Board president was created in the Cabinet in 1966 when the
Treasury Board Secretariat became a full-fledged department of the federal government. Prior to 1966, the
minister of finance was
ex officio the chairman of the Treasury Board, as the Secretariat was part of the
Department of Finance since
Confederation (1867). The Secretariat is a central agency and the administrative arm of the
Treasury Board. Technically, the board is a Cabinet committee of the Privy Council, and is responsible for managing the government's fiscal and administrative responsibilities, including management of the
civil service and oversight of expenditures. The formal role of the president is to chair the Treasury Board. The officeholder is responsible for carrying out the management of the government through operationalizing the policies and programs approved by Cabinet and through providing federal departments with the necessary resources, among other things. ==List of presidents of the Treasury Board==