1 v. — Administration, Politics
transfer costs to a higher level of government.
Type: 3. Semantic Change — Upload has been used to refer to data transfers in computing since at least the 1970s (see OED-3, s.v. "upload" [2]). In Canada, when used in a financial context, the term refers to the transfer of costs from a lower level of government to a higher one. The meaning was developed independently of internet terminology, as the antonym download precedes the internet age.
See also COD-2, s.v. "upload"(2), which is marked "Cdn".
See also: provincialization download three orders of government
- 1997  Abolish municipal government in Metro Toronto as we know it. Create a megacity. Upload education costs. Download social services costs. 
- 2004  And so, the premiers latched on to a last-minute proposal they were presented by B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell -- that the provinces "upload" the full costs of their provincial drug plans to the federal treasury. 
- 2013  The budget also continues to upload the cost of social services, which were shifted onto municipalities during the era of the Mike Harris Conservatives. Hamilton is one of the few municipalities in Ontario that's only beginning to see major benefits from the provincial upload. Other municipalities have already seen all or most of their social services costs uploaded back to the province. 
2 v. & verbal n. — in extended use, Administration, Politics
to transfer something to a higher organization level.
Type: 3. Semantic Change — The concept is no longer limited to financial costs alone, but is most often used in the phrase to upload responsibility.