About this report

This report, which is tabled under section 20 of the Service Fees Act and subsection 4.2.8 of the Directive on Charging and Special Financial Authorities, contains information about the fees that the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General had the authority to set in 2019–20.

Government of Canada departments may set fees for services, licences, permits, products, the use of facilities, for other authorizations of rights or privileges, or to recover, in whole or in part, costs incurred in relation to a regulatory scheme.

For reporting purposes, fees must be categorized under the following three fee-setting mechanisms:

1. Act, regulation or fees notice
   • An act of Parliament delegates the fee-setting authority to a department, minister or Governor in Council.
2. Contract
   • Ministers have the authority to enter into contracts, which are usually negotiated between the minister and an individual or organization, and which cover fees and other terms and conditions. In some cases, that authority may also be provided by an act of Parliament.
3. Market rate or auction or both
   • The authority to set these fees is pursuant to an act of Parliament or regulation, and the minister, department or Governor in Council has no control over the fee amount.

This report contains information about all fees that are under the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General’s authority.

The information covers fees subject to the Service Fees Act.

For fees set by contract, fees set by market-rate, auction or both, the report provides totals only. For fees set by act, regulation or fees notice, it provides totals for the fee grouping, as well as detailed information for the fee.

Remissions

A remission is a partial or full return of a fee to a fee payer who paid for a service for which a department deemed that the service standard was not met.

Under the Service Fees Act, departments must develop policies for determining whether a service standard has been met and for determining how much of a fee will be remitted to a fee payer if a service standard is not met.

At the time of this report being tabled, the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General is not subject to the requirements pursuant to section 7 of the Service Fees Act and its related instrument, therefore it does not have a remission policy.

No other remissions related to fees were issued by the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General since it did not have or seek other authorities to remit.

Overall totals, by fee-setting mechanism

The following table presents the total revenue, cost and remissions for all fees that the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General had the authority to set in 2019–20, by fee-setting mechanism.

Totals, by fee grouping, for fees set by act, regulation or fees notice

The following table presents the single fee grouping, its total revenue, cost and remissions for all fees that the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General had the authority to set in 2019–20 that are set by any of the following:

• Act
• Regulation

A fee grouping is a grouping of all the fees that a department has the authority to set for activities relating to a single business line, directorate or program.

Details on each fee set by act, regulation or fees notice

This section provides detailed information on each fee that the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General had the authority to set in 2019–20 and that was set by any of the following:

• Act
• Regulation

The heraldic prerogative was transferred to Canada by Her Majesty The Queen in 1988.

Upon the adoption of the Canadian Heraldic Authority Fee Order in 1991, Parliament provided the authority to the Canadian Heraldic Authority, under the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, to collect processing fees from petitioners wishing to obtain a coat of arms. A grant of arms involves negotiations with the client, biographical research, the preparation and approval of designs, the preparation of warrants and Letters Patent, and the services of calligraphers and artists.

The established pricing policy states that the client pays calligraphers and artists directly through standing offer agreements negotiated by the Canadian Heraldic Authority.