Ontario provincial government responsibilities

There are 3 levels of government in Canada:

• Federal government (Government of Canada)
• Provincial government (eg. Government of Ontario)
• Municipal government (eg. City of Toronto)

The Constitution Act, 1867​, outlines the division of responsibilities between the federal Parliament and the provincial legislatures.

Provincial governments (eg. Government of Ontario) are responsible for the issues that are explicitly given to them in Canada’s Constitution in Sections 92, 92(A) and 93 of the Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982, including:

• Administration of Justice
• Education (including colleges and universities)
• Healthcare (primarily)
• Long-Term Care
• Energy
• Highways
• Hospitals
• Labour standards
• Natural Resources and Environment
• Prisons
• Property and Civil Rights in Ontario
• Provincial parks
• Sales tax
• Social Services
• Transportation

See all of Ontario’s ministries

The province directly funds or transfers money to institutions to ensure the delivery of these important responsibilities.

Provincial governments hold absolute power over their municipalities in the province and dictate which services municipalities will provide and the methods they can use to fund them.

Subjects of exclusive Provincial Legislation

In each Province the Legislature may exclusively make Laws in relation to Matters coming within the Classes of Subjects next hereinafter enumerated; that is to say,

• Direct Taxation within the Province in order to the raising of a Revenue for Provincial Purposes
• Borrowing of Money on the sole Credit of the Province.
• Establishment and Tenure of Provincial Offices and the Appointment and Payment of Provincial Officers.
• Management and Sale of the Public Lands belonging to the Province and of the Timber and Wood thereon.
• Establishment, Maintenance, and Management of Public and Reformatory Prisons in and for the Province.
• Establishment, Maintenance, and Management of Hospitals, Asylums, Charities, and Eleemosynary Institutions in and for the Province, other than Marine Hospitals.
• Municipal Institutions in the Province. [municipalities]
• Shop, Saloon, Tavern, Auctioneer, and other Licences in order to the raising of a Revenue for Provincial, Local, or Municipal Purposes.
• Local Works and Undertakings other than such as are of the following Classes:
  • (a) Lines of Steam or other Ships, Railways, Canals, Telegraphs, and other Works and Undertakings connecting the Province with any other or others of the Provinces, or extending beyond the Limits of the Province:
  • (b) Lines of Steam Ships between the Province and any British or Foreign Country:
  • (c) Such Works as, although wholly situate within the Province, are before or after their Execution declared by the Parliament of Canada to be for the general Advantage of Canada or for the Advantage of Two or more of the Provinces.
• The Incorporation of Companies with Provincial Objects.
• The Solemnization of Marriage in the Province.
• Property and Civil Rights in the Province.
• The Administration of Justice in the Province, including the Constitution, Maintenance, and Organization of Provincial Courts, both of Civil and of Criminal Jurisdiction, and including Procedure in Civil Matters in those Courts.
• The Imposition of Punishment by Fine, Penalty, or Imprisonment for enforcing any Law of the Province made in relation to any Matter coming within any of the Classes of Subjects enumerated in this Section.
• Generally all Matters of a merely local or private Nature in the Province.

Distribution of Legislative Powers – THE CONSTITUTION ACTS 1867 to 1982

Shared Federal and Provincial government responsibilities

There is some overlap between the federal and provincial levels of government, known as areas of concurrent jurisdiction.

Shared (concurrent) powers are specified in Sections 94A and s. 95 of the Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982.

They are:

• Old age pensions
• Immigration
• Agriculture

Other areas are not specifically identified and assigned to one or both orders of governments in the Constitution Act, 1867. Both levels of government can pass laws, and if there is a conflict, the dispute may be settled through the justice ​system.​

The courts have found that these areas – which have become priorities in recent years – come under various legislative powers, some federal, others provincial.

• Healthcare
• Environment

More: Federal/provincial responsibility-sharing creates inefficiencies, neglect

Shared government responsibilities in Ontario

The following services are cost-shared between the federal, provincial and municipal governments in Ontario.

Cost-sharing is largest for health and social services, making the lines of accountability more opaque and questions about local input and autonomy most pronounced.

• Homelessness
• Social housing
• Affordable housing
• Healthcare
• Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP)
• Ontario Works (OW)

Public Health

The responsibility for public health, which includes sanitation, infectious diseases and related education, is shared between the three orders of government: federal, provincial/territorial and local or municipal. However, these services are generally delivered at the provincial/territorial and local levels.

Sources

• Distribution of Legislative Powers – THE CONSTITUTION ACTS 1867 to 1982
• The constitutional distribution of legislative powers – Intergovernmental Affairs Canada (2021)
• In It Together: Clarifying Provincial-Municipal Responsibilities in Ontario
• Levels of Government in Canada: Who Does What?
• Federal-Provincial Program Overlap – Economics Division (1992)