DCHP-3

transfer payment

DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
n. — Politics, Administration

a payment made by a higher level of government to a lower to compensate for reccurring expenses, e.g. in tertiary education, universal health care.

Type: 3. Semantic Change — Transfer payment as defined in W-3 and AHD-5 is a payment by the government to an individual but not for goods or services rendered, e.g. welfare payments, etc. This meaning is preserved in Canada in certain instances (see, e.g. the 1985 quotation), but the more common meaning is a transfer of funds from a higher level of government, most often the federal government, to a lower one, usually the provinces and territories. In the 1962 quotation, the phrase "the money Ontario is getting is a kind of transfer payment" suggests that the term was then not normally applied to government; however, in recent years, this sense is the most frequent in Canada. COD-2 gives lists both definitions, but only the latter is marked as "in Canada".
See also Gage-5, s.v. "transfer payment", which is marked "Cdn", and ITP Nelson, s.v. "transfer payment", which is marked "Canadian", COD-2, s.v. "transfer payment, 2.), which is marked "Cdn".

Quotations

1962
Mr. Pitman charged that the money Ontario is getting is a kind of transfer payment from the Federal Government to the Department of Education in Toronto.
1977
Because grants and transfer payments from the senior levels of government probably won't increase, Mr. Richmond said, a large part of any Metro budget increases will have to come from property taxes.
1985
[What should have followed was a list of which tax expenditures it would abolish and how large a surtax it proposed to apply to transfer payment recipients whose incomes were over what income level. That would tell us how much money would be available for an income supplement for poor families, which is all that is needed to fill the hole in the income security safety net.]
1999
They define "fiscal balance" as the need to restore federal transfer payments to provincial treasuries to previous levels to pay for expensive health care, welfare and education.
2008
[...]it appears many people are delighted with the promise of "transfer payments by the Conservatives to the provinces so they can be more flexible in the programs they can offer."
2013
The newly named head of Quebec's oil and gas lobby says Quebec is "like a social assistance recipient" that needs to shake off its reliance on wealthier provinces through a new transfer payment system that won't penalize it for developing its abundant natural resources.
2016
Premier Brian Gallant says Ottawa is "open to the idea" of a federal program that would be rolled out first in New Brunswick to address the fiscal impact of an aging population. [...] The talk has long been for a demographic "top-up" to transfer payments to support the provinces in delivering high quality care to their aging populations.

References

  • AHD-5
  • W-3
  • COD-2
  • Gage-5
  • ITP Nelson