Lieutenant governor (Canada)
In Canada, a lieutenant governor is the representative of the King of Canada in the government of each province. The governor general of Canada appoints the lieutenant governors on the advice of the prime minister of Canada to carry out most of the monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties for an unfixed period of time—known as serving "His Excellency's pleasure" — though five years is the normal convention. Similar positions in Canada's three territories are termed "commissioners" and are representatives of the federal government, not the monarch directly.
The offices have their roots in the 16th and 17th century colonial governors of New France and British North America, though the present incarnations of the positions emerged with Canadian Confederation and the British North America Act in 1867, which defined the viceregal offices as the "Lieutenant Governor of the Province acting by and with the Advice the Executive Council thereof." The posts still ultimately represented the government of Canada until the ruling in 1882 of the Lord Watson of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of Maritime Bank v. Receiver-General of New Brunswick, whereafter the lieutenant governors were recognized as the direct representatives of the monarch. The Constitution Act, 1982 provides that any constitutional amendment that affects the office of the lieutenant governor requires the unanimous consent of each provincial Legislative Assembly as well as the House of Commons and the Senate.
History
The position of lieutenant governor has existed in Canada since before Confederation in 1867. In 1786, the post of Governor-in-Chief of British North America was created as a central viceregal office overseeing the British colonies of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Quebec, whose governors then became lieutenant governors, though that of Quebec was occupied simultaneously by the governor-in-chief. This structure remained in place until the partitioning in 1791 of the Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada, which then each had an office of lieutenant governor. The Governor in chief continued to be the lieutenant governor of Lower Canada.In 1867, when Canada was created as a federal state, it had four provinces, each with their own lieutenant governor. Under the British North America Act, 1867, the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia and Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick continued essentially as before. New positions of Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and Lieutenant Governor of Quebec were created for the new provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Thereafter, when other colonies joined Canada, their governors became lieutenant governors, while the creation of new provinces out of Rupert's Land and the Northwest Territories—which each had their own lieutenant governors—led to the establishment of new viceregal posts.
Beginning immediately after confederation, the Dominion government and the Colonial Office in London considered the lieutenant governors as representatives of, and subordinate to, the governor general in Ottawa, reflecting the view of Sir John A. Macdonald and the Earl of Derby, who set up the Constitution Act, 1867, so as to have the lieutenant governors appointed by the governor general, and who expected that Royal Assent would be given in the name of the governor general, rather than the. This was a deliberate constitutional choice in reaction to the American Civil War, which had proven a potent "disastrous outcome of the doctrine of states' rights" that characterized American federalism. A ruling by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1882 altered this view, establishing that the lieutenant governors represented the Queen in the provinces as much as the governor general did in the federal jurisdiction. Nevertheless, unlike in the Australian federation formed in 1901, lieutenant governors remain selected on the advice of the federal prime minister rather than the provincial premiers, and federal governments remain theoretically capable of disallowing provincial legislation, whether from the reservation by a lieutenant governor or not.
Selection and appointments
Unlike the federal viceroy, the Canadian lieutenant-governors have been since 1867, if not Canadian-born, at least long-time residents of Canada and not of the peerage, though a number, up until the Nickle Resolution in 1919, were knighted. While required by the tenets of constitutional monarchy to be nonpartisan during their time in office, lieutenant-governors have frequently been former politicians and some have returned to politics following their viceregal service. Canadian lieutenant governorships have also been used to promote women and minorities into a prominent position: The first female viceroy in Canada was Pauline Mills McGibbon, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1974 to 1980, and many women have since served in both that province and others. There have been two Black and several Indigenous lieutenant governors. Norman Kwong, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta from 2005 to 2010, was Chinese-Canadian and David Lam, the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia from 1988 to 1995, was Hong Kong-Canadian. Former Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec Lise Thibault used a wheelchair, while David Onley, the former Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, had polio as a child and used crutches or a scooter.The lieutenant-governors are appointed by the Governor General of Canada on the advice of the prime minister. There is no constitutional requirement or consistent practice for the Prime Minister to consult with the province's premier on the appointment of the lieutenant governor.
File:Lieutenant Governor's Commission of Appointment, 1925.jpg|thumb|Lieutenant Governor's Commission of Appointment, 1925. Appointing James Robson Douglas as lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia.
File:Lieutenant Governor's Commission of Appointment, 2006.jpg|thumb|Lieutenant Governor's Commission of Appointment, 2006. Appointing Mayann E. Francis as lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia.
Besides the administration of the oaths of office, there is no set formula for the swearing-in of a lieutenant-governor-designate. Though there may therefore be variations to the following, the appointee will generally travel to the legislative assembly building in the provincial capital, where a guard of honour awaits to give a general salute. From there, the party is led by the speaker of the legislative assembly to the legislative chamber, wherein all justices of the province's superior court, members of the legislative assembly, and other guests are assembled. The governor general's commission for the lieutenant-governor-designate is then read aloud, and the required oaths are administered to the appointee by either the governor general or a delegate thereof; the three oaths are: the Oath of Allegiance, the Oath of Office as lieutenant-governor, and the oath as keeper of the province's great seal. With the affixing of their signature to these three solemn promises, the individual is officially the lieutenant governor, and at that moment the Viceregal Salute is played and a 15-gun salute is conducted outside. The lieutenant governor then receives the insignia of the province's order or orders. Since the appointment in 1956 of John J. Bowlen as Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, newly installed lieutenant governors will, at some point in the first year of their mandate, be invited to a personal audience with the monarch.
File:Ruth & George Stanley.jpg|thumb|left|George Stanley, designer of the Canadian national flag and lieutenant governor of New Brunswick from 1981 to 1987, with his wife, Ruth
Though incumbents are constitutionally mandated to serve for at least five years, unless the federal parliament agrees to remove the individual from office, the lieutenant-governors still technically act at the governor general's pleasure, meaning the prime minister may recommend to the governor general that a lieutenant governor remain in the Crown's service for a longer period of time, sometimes upwards of more than ten years. A lieutenant governor may also resign and some have died in office.
The governor general also has the power to appoint a person as "administrator of the Government", under a dormant commission to act in the place of a lieutenant-governor who is unable to act, for example due to illness or absence from the province. Since 1953, the practice has been that the chief justice of the province has a standing appointment to act as administrator. If the position of lieutenant governor is vacant, for example due to the death of the lieutenant governor, the administrator is not able to act until a new lieutenant governor is appointed.
This situation arose in Saskatchewan in 1978, when the Lieutenant Governor, George Porteous, died suddenly on February 6, 1978. The administrator, Chief Justice Culliton, declined to exercise any powers of the Lieutenant-Governor, on the basis that he had no power to act when the office was vacant. The federal Department of Justice and the Prime Minister's Office took the same position. As a result, the Saskatchewan Government could not recall the prorogued Legislative Assembly, nor pass any orders-in-council to proclaim statutes in force, pass regulations, or exercise any other statutory powers requiring an order-in-council. This situation lasted until the federal government appointed Porteous's successor, Irwin McIntosh, on February 22, 1978.
Role
As the Canadian monarch is shared equally amongst the ten provinces of Canada, as well as the federal realm, and the sovereign lives outside Canada's borders, a lieutenant governors' primary task is to perform the sovereign's constitutional duties on their behalf, acting within the principles of parliamentary democracy and responsible government as a guarantor of continuous and stable governance, and as a nonpartisan safeguard against the abuse of power. The office is the core of authority in a province.For the most part, the powers of the Crown are exercised on a day-to-day basis by elected and appointed individuals, leaving the lieutenant-governors to perform the various ceremonial duties the sovereign otherwise carries out when in the country; at such a moment, a lieutenant-governor will decrease their public appearances, though the presence of the monarch does not undermine any lieutenant-governor's ability to perform governmental roles.