n. — usually attributively, Finance, Administration
a grant from the federal government to a province in order to achieve equality among provinces regarding the social services they provide.
Type: 1. Origin — Originally (in the 1930s and 1940s), the term referred to agricultural payments, such as payments from the Wheat Board to a particular province (see the 1936 quotation). After World War II, equalization payments were more and more applied to assist have-not provinces in providing services available in richer provinces (have province), see, e.g. the 1975 quotation.
See also COD-2, s.v. "equalization payment", which is marked "Cdn", Gage-1, s.v. "equalization grant", which is described as "in Canada", Gage-3, s.v. "equalization" (2), which is marked "Cdn.", ITP Nelson, s.v. "equalization" (2), which is described as in "Canada".