Origin of the Role

In 1867, the founders of the Canadian Confederation decided to establish a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government, maintaining a link with England. As a result, Canada’s current sovereign, His Majesty King Charles III, is represented federally by the Governor General and provincially by the Lieutenant Governor. Here are a few historical facts about the creation of this regal role.

In 1864, representatives of the British North American colonies (Province of Canada – Québec and Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) met in Charlottetown and then Québec City to discuss the possibility of forming a federal union for both political and economic reasons. This union was motivated by Britain’s waning interest in its northern British colonies, fear of invasion by the United States, which was then in the midst of its Civil War, and the abolition of protectionist laws in Great Britain

At the Québec Conference in October 1864, the delegates adopted 72 resolutions, which form the core of the provisions found in the British North America Act, known since 1982 as the Constitution Act, 1867.

Resolutions 3 and 4 call for Canada’s constitution to be modelled on the English constitution and for the power of government to be vested in the British sovereign:

3. “In framing a Constitution for the General Government, the Conference [...] desire to follow the model of the British Constitution, so far as our circumstances will permit.”
 

4. “The Executive Authority or Government shall be vested in the Sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and be administered according to the well-understood principles of the British Constitution, by the Sovereign personally, or by the Representative of the Sovereign duly authorized.”

The essence of these two resolutions is echoed in the first preamble of the British North America Act:

“Whereas the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom.”

These 72 resolutions specified the political and administrative structure of the new dominion, as well as the division of powers between the federal authorities and the provinces. Resolution 38 states that “For each of the Provinces there shall be an Executive Officer, styled the Lieutenant Governor,” a provision that is found in section 59 of the Constitution Act, 1867.

It should be noted that, in 1864, there were few examples of republican governments, since almost all European countries were monarchies or empires, with the exception of France, which had instituted a republic (the Second Republic) in July 1848. That republic was not highly regarded in Québec, which was then under the influence of the ultramontane movement. The Second Republic came to an end with Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte’s coup in December 1851.

The illustrated book L’histoire du Québec à travers ses lieutenant-gouverneurs (2005, Publications du Québec), by historians Frédéric Lemieux, Christian Blais and Pierre Hamelin, covers the changes in the duties of the Lieutenant Governor and devotes a chapter to the 27 people who have filled the role since 1867. The Québec National Assembly website also presents the role and biographies of each Lieutenant Governor (in French).