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Monarchy in the Canadian provinces
The monarchy of Canada forms the core of each Canadian provincial jurisdiction's Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government in each province. The monarchy has been headed since 8 September 2022 by King Charles III who as sovereign is shared equally with both the Commonwealth realms and the Canadian federal entity. He, his consort, and other members of the Canadian royal family undertake various public and private functions across the country. He is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.
Royal assent and the royal sign-manual are required to enact laws, letters patent, and Orders in Council. The Constitution Act, 1867, leaves the monarch's direct role in the provinces in question and many royal duties in these regions are specifically assigned to the sovereign's provincial viceroys, known as lieutenant governors, who are appointed by the King's federal representative, the governor general. Further, within the conventional stipulations of constitutional monarchy, the Crown's direct participation in any of these areas of governance is limited, with most related powers entrusted for exercise by the elected parliamentarians, the appointed ministers of the Crown generally drawn from amongst them, and the judges and justices of the peace. The Crown today primarily functions as a guarantor of continuous and stable governance and a nonpartisan safeguard against the abuse of power, the sovereign acting as a custodian of the Crown's democratic powers and representing the "power of the people above government and political parties."
In all provinces, the monarchy's roots lie in the British Crown, while in some, mostly in Eastern Canada, the French Crown also had influence. Over the centuries, the institution throughout the country has evolved to become a distinctly Canadian one, represented by unique symbols for each province.
The Canadian monarchy is a unitary institution over all eleven of Canada's governmental spheres (one federal and ten provincial); the monarch reigns impartially over the nation as a whole, with the headship of state neither federal nor provincial jurisdiction. At the same time, the one Crown operates separately within each area of governance; it is so central a part of the various governments that any constitutional amendment that affects the monarchy in any or all of them requires the unanimous consent of all the provincial legislatures, along with the federal parliament, rather than the two-thirds majority necessary for most other amendments. There is one monarch, who "acts in different rights". Such is demonstrated when the sovereign takes on different legal personas in a case wherein a provincial government files a lawsuit against the federal and/or another provincial government. Also, as it was put in Attorney-General of Canada v. Higbie: "When the Crown, in right of the Province, transfers land to the Crown, in right of the Dominion, it parts with no right. What takes place is merely a change of administrative control." The Canadian Crown thus both remains above and links together all of the jurisdictions in Confederation; it has been described as a "divided crown," or a "compound monarchy".
The arrangement provides that each of Canada's provinces are all sovereign of each other and the federal realm. The sovereignty of the provinces is passed on not by the governor general or federal parliament, but through the overreaching Crown itself to the monarch's viceregal representatives in the provinces, the lieutenant governors, and the limitation that they act, in the monarch's name, only on the advice of the relevant provincial ministers of the Crown or legislature. The Supreme Court found in 1918 that provincial legislation cannot bind the federal Crown except "by express terms or necessary intendment", nor can the monarch in his federal council or parliament legislate for the provinces beyond the provisions of the constitution. The provincial Crown "exists to safeguard the independence of each province".
Since the Queen transcends and encompasses both the central and provincial governments, the Canadian headship of state is not a creature of either jurisdiction. Through the offices of the Governor General and Lieutenant Governor, the Queen reigns impartially over Confederation as a whole.
The system was set up as such by the Fathers of Confederation because they saw such a use of constitutional monarchy as a bulwark against any fracturing of the Canadian federation. In 1939, Sir Shuldham Redfern, then Secretary to the Governor General, said that, without a common allegiance to the Crown, the regions of Canada might break up. The British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), was written so as to reflect the view of John A. Macdonald and the Earl of Derby that the provinces were subordinate to the federal Crown, with the lieutenant governors appointed by the governor general and not—as is done with the governors of the Australian states and was suggested be integrated in Canada by the 1979 Task Force on National Unity—by the Queen herself. Further, while the lieutenant governors did each hold a great seal, summoned and prorogued parliament in the Queen's stead, and granted royal assent to bills that bore the Queen's name, it was still expected that the latter be given in the name of the governor general.
That rule was never followed in Ontario and Quebec, though, and the other provinces soon followed suit. Then, in 1882, the legitimacy of the lieutenant governors as direct representatives of the monarch was established by the Lord Watson of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of Maritime Bank v. Receiver-General of New Brunswick. In his ruling, which discovered a provincial guise of the Crown and thus further empowered the provinces, Watson stated, "the Lieutenant Governor [...] is as much a representative of Her Majesty, for all purposes of provincial government, as the Governor General himself is, for all purposes of Dominion government." This was further confirmed with the Referendum Act, 1919 and the Judicial Committee found in 1932 that there was a definite separation between the provincial and federal treasuries; "it is true there is only one Crown, but, as regards Crown revenues and Crown property by legislation assented to by the Crown, there is a distinction to be made between the property in the province and the revenues and property in the Dominion. There are two purses." The Lord Denning of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ruled in 1982 that "the Crown became separate and divisible, according to the particular territory in which it was sovereign... It was separate and divisible for each self-governing Dominion or province or territory."
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Monarchy in the Canadian provinces AI simulator
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Monarchy in the Canadian provinces
The monarchy of Canada forms the core of each Canadian provincial jurisdiction's Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government in each province. The monarchy has been headed since 8 September 2022 by King Charles III who as sovereign is shared equally with both the Commonwealth realms and the Canadian federal entity. He, his consort, and other members of the Canadian royal family undertake various public and private functions across the country. He is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.
Royal assent and the royal sign-manual are required to enact laws, letters patent, and Orders in Council. The Constitution Act, 1867, leaves the monarch's direct role in the provinces in question and many royal duties in these regions are specifically assigned to the sovereign's provincial viceroys, known as lieutenant governors, who are appointed by the King's federal representative, the governor general. Further, within the conventional stipulations of constitutional monarchy, the Crown's direct participation in any of these areas of governance is limited, with most related powers entrusted for exercise by the elected parliamentarians, the appointed ministers of the Crown generally drawn from amongst them, and the judges and justices of the peace. The Crown today primarily functions as a guarantor of continuous and stable governance and a nonpartisan safeguard against the abuse of power, the sovereign acting as a custodian of the Crown's democratic powers and representing the "power of the people above government and political parties."
In all provinces, the monarchy's roots lie in the British Crown, while in some, mostly in Eastern Canada, the French Crown also had influence. Over the centuries, the institution throughout the country has evolved to become a distinctly Canadian one, represented by unique symbols for each province.
The Canadian monarchy is a unitary institution over all eleven of Canada's governmental spheres (one federal and ten provincial); the monarch reigns impartially over the nation as a whole, with the headship of state neither federal nor provincial jurisdiction. At the same time, the one Crown operates separately within each area of governance; it is so central a part of the various governments that any constitutional amendment that affects the monarchy in any or all of them requires the unanimous consent of all the provincial legislatures, along with the federal parliament, rather than the two-thirds majority necessary for most other amendments. There is one monarch, who "acts in different rights". Such is demonstrated when the sovereign takes on different legal personas in a case wherein a provincial government files a lawsuit against the federal and/or another provincial government. Also, as it was put in Attorney-General of Canada v. Higbie: "When the Crown, in right of the Province, transfers land to the Crown, in right of the Dominion, it parts with no right. What takes place is merely a change of administrative control." The Canadian Crown thus both remains above and links together all of the jurisdictions in Confederation; it has been described as a "divided crown," or a "compound monarchy".
The arrangement provides that each of Canada's provinces are all sovereign of each other and the federal realm. The sovereignty of the provinces is passed on not by the governor general or federal parliament, but through the overreaching Crown itself to the monarch's viceregal representatives in the provinces, the lieutenant governors, and the limitation that they act, in the monarch's name, only on the advice of the relevant provincial ministers of the Crown or legislature. The Supreme Court found in 1918 that provincial legislation cannot bind the federal Crown except "by express terms or necessary intendment", nor can the monarch in his federal council or parliament legislate for the provinces beyond the provisions of the constitution. The provincial Crown "exists to safeguard the independence of each province".
Since the Queen transcends and encompasses both the central and provincial governments, the Canadian headship of state is not a creature of either jurisdiction. Through the offices of the Governor General and Lieutenant Governor, the Queen reigns impartially over Confederation as a whole.
The system was set up as such by the Fathers of Confederation because they saw such a use of constitutional monarchy as a bulwark against any fracturing of the Canadian federation. In 1939, Sir Shuldham Redfern, then Secretary to the Governor General, said that, without a common allegiance to the Crown, the regions of Canada might break up. The British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), was written so as to reflect the view of John A. Macdonald and the Earl of Derby that the provinces were subordinate to the federal Crown, with the lieutenant governors appointed by the governor general and not—as is done with the governors of the Australian states and was suggested be integrated in Canada by the 1979 Task Force on National Unity—by the Queen herself. Further, while the lieutenant governors did each hold a great seal, summoned and prorogued parliament in the Queen's stead, and granted royal assent to bills that bore the Queen's name, it was still expected that the latter be given in the name of the governor general.
That rule was never followed in Ontario and Quebec, though, and the other provinces soon followed suit. Then, in 1882, the legitimacy of the lieutenant governors as direct representatives of the monarch was established by the Lord Watson of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of Maritime Bank v. Receiver-General of New Brunswick. In his ruling, which discovered a provincial guise of the Crown and thus further empowered the provinces, Watson stated, "the Lieutenant Governor [...] is as much a representative of Her Majesty, for all purposes of provincial government, as the Governor General himself is, for all purposes of Dominion government." This was further confirmed with the Referendum Act, 1919 and the Judicial Committee found in 1932 that there was a definite separation between the provincial and federal treasuries; "it is true there is only one Crown, but, as regards Crown revenues and Crown property by legislation assented to by the Crown, there is a distinction to be made between the property in the province and the revenues and property in the Dominion. There are two purses." The Lord Denning of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ruled in 1982 that "the Crown became separate and divisible, according to the particular territory in which it was sovereign... It was separate and divisible for each self-governing Dominion or province or territory."