The constitution is less precise about the division of powers in health than most people realize. This reflects a distinction between health and health care. The provinces are responsible for delivering health care to the majority of Canadians, but the federal government has a number of constitutional powers in areas that affect health. And, even in the relatively narrow field of health care proper, the exercise of spending power in support of the Canada Health Act is not without foundation. The three main areas of constitutional power are criminal law, spending power, and peace, order and good government.
Criminal law is one of the most straightforward of the powers.
It is the basis, for example, of the Narcotics Control Act and the Food and Drugs Act , both of which have a large impact on health. The second is Spending power . The Constitution gives the federal government the power to levy taxes and appropriate funds. This could have been narrowly interpreted to restrict spending power only to areas within federal jurisdiction, but that would have condemned the poorer provinces to either higher levels of taxation or lower levels of services. Early legislation, such as the Old Age Pension Act , provided precedents for a broader interpretation.