The office of the registrar general of Canada has traditionally been associated with the responsibility of overseeing corporate affairs, by virtue of its function in registering all letters patent.

The economic development function of the portfolio can be traced from the office of the minister of trade and commerce, which was created in 1892.

In 1967 the passage of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act (FPFAA) replaced the policy of direct federal grants to the universities with a system of transfers to the provincial governments to support the operating costs of universities, which are a provincial responsibility under the 1867 British North America Act.

[8] Several avenues were investigated by the Canadian Cabinet, including the nomination of the Royal Society of Canada as the exclusive distributor of federal "governmental science and technology contract services" funds for post-secondary education, in a "national academy of science" type arrangement but this avenue was rejected because of the provincial responsibility factor.

[14] The effect of the GOSA Act was dramatic, as reported by Rogers and McLean: "since 1979-80, federal support for self-initiated, non-contractual research in education has increased from C$126,000 to more than C$1.7 million" in 1986.

Fisher and Rubenson write that "both types of funding are disbursed by federal granting agencies [such as the Tri-Council bodies] on a competitive basis and awarded in accordance with federal criteria, which includes merit and national interests", observance of human rights and the general direction of state.