Conservative Quebec MP Maxime Bernier is calling for an end to federal transfers to provinces, saying the current system violates the sprit of the Constitution's separation of powers.

In a speech to the Albany Club in Toronto on Wednesday, Bernier said the federal government "intervenes massively in provincial jurisdictions, and in particular in health and education, two areas where it has no constitutional legitimacy whatsoever."

He blamed this intrusion on federal spending power.

Maxime Bernier says the federal government should stop intruding on provincial jurisdictions. ((Tom Hanson/Canadian Press))

Bernier, a former cabinet minister, said it's time to bring back balanced federalism envisioned by the founders of Confederation, who never intended for Ottawa to encroach on provincial jurisdiction as it does today.

"This would be done by putting an end to all federal intrusion into areas of provincial jurisdiction," said Bernier, a backbench MP widely seen as unveiling a key plank in an eventual Conservative leadership campaign. "Instead of sending money to the provinces, Ottawa would cut its taxes and let them use the fiscal room that has been vacated. Such a transfer of tax points to the provinces would allow them to fully assume their responsibility without federal control."

A province no longer dependent on federal dollars could raise the money necessary to manage its own problems, be more inclined to experiment and copy successful public policy of other regions, Bernier said.

"This way, each province, each region, each community, develops according to its citizens' preferences. It allows unique particularities to be expressed. And it prevents conflicts."

Bernier predicted more federal-provincial tensions in the future, with provinces already pressing Ottawa to increase health transfers when the 10-year health agreement expires in 2014.

"There would no longer be any ambiguity if each province stopped depending on federal transfers and raised the amount of money necessary to manage its own problems," he said.