Which government is responsible? Municipal vs Provincial vs Federal

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

Responsibilities

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Definitions

Federal

The federal government has the power “to make laws for the peace, order and good government of Canada” except for subjects where the provinces are given exclusive powers. According to the Constitution Act, 1867, everything not mentioned as belonging to the provincial governments comes under the power of the federal government.

Provincial

The Provincial governments are responsible for issues that are explicitly given to them in Canada’s written constitution­ the Constitution Act, 1867.

The province directly funds or transfers money to institutions to ensure the delivery of these important responsibilities. The provincial legislature also has power over all municipal institutions in the province.

Municipal

The powers of municipal governments are determined solely by their provincial government. Municipal governments in Ontario are responsible for providing many of the services within their local boundaries.

Municipalities are entirely creatures of provincial statutes. Accordingly, they can only exercise those powers which are explicitly conferred upon them by a provincial statute.

Supreme Court of Canada – R. v. Greenbaum (1993), 14 M.P.L.R. (2d) 1 [at para. 20]

Section 92(8) of the Constitution Act, 1867 assigns to provinces exclusive legislative authority regarding “Municipal Institutions in the Province”. Municipalities incorporated under this authority therefore hold delegated provincial powers; like school boards or other creatures of provincial statute, they do not have independent constitutional status (Public School Boards’ Assn. of Alberta v. Alberta (Attorney General), 2000 SCC 45, [2000] 2 S.C.R. 409, at paras. 33‑34). The province has “absolute and unfettered legal power to do with them as it wills”

Supreme Court of Canada – Toronto (City) v. Ontario (Attorney General) (2021) 20 M.P.L.R (6th) 1

Federal and provincial overlapping responsibilities

There is some overlap between the federal and provincial levels of government, known as areas of concurrent jurisdiction. In certain areas, such as taxation, agriculture, old age pensions, and natural resource extraction, both levels of government can pass laws, though if there is a conflict, the dispute may be settled through the justice ​system.​

• Healthcare

Shared 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

• Municipalities, The Constitution, and the Canadian Federal System
• In It Together: Clarifying Provincial-Municipal Responsibilities in Ontario
• The role of municipalities within Federalism – IRPP
• Levels of Government in Canada: Who Does What?