The federal spending power

The debate over the use and legitimacy of the federal spending power rests on different visions of the nation and the purpose served by the use of this power. [...] Or does it usurp the powers and the autonomy of the provinces by enabling the federal government to legislate in areas exclusively belonging to the provincial governments?. [...] Two implications flow from this opinion: first, as already mentioned, the Court implicitly acknowledged the federal spending power; second, the Court indicated the independence of the federal government in exercising this power: the federal government cannot be forced to spend money, even if it committed to doing so in the past. [...] Following is a list of some of the major programs established by the federal government through the use of the federal spending power: • The spending power was first used in 1912 when the first conditional grant in the field of agriculture education was established. [...] However, the fact remains that with this system in place, it is the province that sets up and administers the social program, thereby rendering the financial role of the federal government invisible to the citizen of the province which chooses to opt out.