Responsible Government

Since Stephen Harper and the Conservatives lost a vote of non-confidence on Friday March 25, Canadians will be going to the polls on May 2, 2011. In Canada the executive branch of government must have the approval of the legislative branch of government in order to stay in power. This is known as Responsible Government, and its development in British North America (BNA) is an interesting story.

It started when Britain took control of Quebec away from France in the Seven Years War. Soon after that time Britain was having difficulties with its American colonies to the south concerning taxes, and so used the Quebec Act to secure the loyalty of the residents of Quebec. In the Quebec Act, the French were not given democracy, but were given language and religious freedom. But then after the American Revolution, many of those who had remained loyal to Great Britain during the Revolutionary War moved to Quebec. The Loyalists posed a problem for the British authorities since they spoke English, were not Catholic, and were used to the democracy they had enjoyed in the American colonies. So in the Constitutional Act of 1791 the British divided Quebec into two colonies, Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec), and provided each colony with an elected assembly.

It would appear that democracy had arrived in BNA but that was not the case. Britain believed that the American colonies had rebelled because they had had too much freedom, and thus did not want to make the same mistake in BNA. At the same time they needed to placate the Loyalists who were used to the elected assemblies of the 13 American colonies. So Britain provided elected assemblies in the Canadas, but in essence all real power was in the hands of the governor and his appointed councils who were unelected officials, and could veto any law proposed by the elected assembly. Thus the Constitutional Act of 1791 gave the appearance of democracy but real power was in the hands of a small group of people. In Upper Canada this group became known as the Family Compact, because of the intermarriage of its members. A similar group in Lower Canada was known as the Chateau Clique.

By the 1830s many colonists in both Upper and Lower Canada were frustrated that the Family Compact and the Chateau Clique held all the power. While most colonists did not approve of rebellion some radicals in both Canadas did openly rebel in 1837. These rebellions were easily put down but did cause the British government to take notice, so in 1838 they sent Lord Durham, who had fought for liberal reforms in Britain, to Canada to head an inquiry. He concluded that the rebellions, at least in Upper Canada, were the result of too much power in the hands of the Family Compact and not enough in the hand of the colonists. He proposed that Responsible Government, already practiced in Britain be introduced in Canada.

In order to understand how Responsible Government works one needs to first understand the different branches of government. In the evolution of government in Britain, power came to be divided into three branches, the executive branch which does the day to day ruling, the legislative branch which passes laws and holds the purse strings and the judicial branch which enforces the laws. Historically, the King was the executive branch and with his appointed advisers would rule the country. Parliament was the legislative branch and was called upon to pass laws and okay taxes. In the 18^th century the Prime Minister, who was a Member of Parliament began to take on many of the responsibilities of the King. He would choose his cabinet members from the Parliament as well. So it came to be that the executive branch became responsible to the legislative branch, and had to have its confidence, in order to stay in power.

Durham’s recommendation took a decade to come to pass, but ever since then the executive branch of government is selected from those who have a seat in the legislative branch and as such must have its confidence. On Friday, March 25, Stephen Harper lost that confidence. While most of us feel an election at this time is unnecessary, I’m sure that we appreciate that we are not ruled by an oligarchy like the Family Compact.