As I noted a few months back when writing about the 50th anniversary of the Canada Student Loans Program, CSLP was at the heart of one of the federation’s key moments in fiscal federalism.  In 1964, Lester Pearson was running into opposition in Quebec on two of his major policy initiatives: the Canada Pension Plan and the Canada Student Loans Program.  A deal on both was eventually struck: any province could “opt-out” of a federal program and receive a compensating “alternative payment”, so long as they ran a program that provided citizens with essentially the same benefits.  The actual clause in the Canada Student Loans Act (stripped of some confusing jargon) reads as follows:

16. (1) Where the government of a province has, at least twelve months before the commencement of a loan year, informed the Minister in writing that a provincial student loan plan will be in operation in that province in that loan year and that [the province does not wish to participate in the CSLP], the Minister shall pay to the province… an alternative amount calculated as provided in this section.

Through to the early 90s, this was the standard way to create new programs in Canada.  If a province wanted out, you simply lopped-off a portion of the program’s budget and handed it to them.  It was only ever Quebec that wanted to do this, but in theory it was available to every province.

Now, along comes the Canada Apprentice Loans, announced in last year’s budget.  They have their own legislation, the Apprentice Loans Act, which became law last year via the budget omnibus legislation. This is a point worth underlining – it means that these loans are administered on a different legal basis than Canada Student Loans.  And what’s immediately apparent when you read the legislation is that not only has the concept of opting-out gone out the window, but it’s turned around, smashed the glass, and done a serious crowbar-job on the frame, too.

Here’s the new wording:

7. The Minister may pay a province the amount that is determined in accordance with the regulations if:

(a) the Minister determines that apprentices registered with the province are unable to enter into agreements for apprentice loans under section 4;

(b) the province has in place a program providing for financial assistance to apprentices; and

(c) the Minister considers that the purpose of the program is substantially similar to the purpose of this Act.

Put simply, provinces do not have the right to opt-out under the new Act.  The minister can choose to setup a deal and give compensation to a province if she/he chooses (which of course was immediately done with Quebec), but it’s a gift of the Minister.  If Alberta set up its own program and asked for treatment similar to Quebec, the Minister would be legally within his rights to tell them to take a long walk off a short pier.

The fact that this passed essentially unnoticed tells you something about the state of our federation.  Even ten years ago, this wording would have made Quebec go ballistic, and probably Alberta as well.  Now: nothing.  And so the government led by the man who drafted the Alberta firewall letter enacts the most centralist piece of new legislation in fifty years.

Kind of fascinating.