Origin of the Function

In 1864, as a result of Great Britain’s waning interest in its North American colonies, delegates from these colonies met in Charlottetown and Quebec City to consider the feasibility of constituting of a federal union for political as well as for economic reasons.  

From a political viewpoint, the British North American colonies feared invasion by United States. The memory of the Anglo-American War of 1812 was still fresh and potential fall-out from the American Civil War was feared the most, especially as the Fenians, a secret society of Irish radicals, wished to invade Canada from the United States to force the United Kingdom to give independence to Ireland. From an economic viewpoint, the abolition by Great Britain of its protectionist legislation along with the end of the free trade agreement between the Province of Canada and the United States in 1866, was also one of the reasons mentioned.

At the Quebec City Conference, in October 1864, delegates then present adopted 72 resolutions¹ which are essentially the provisions found in the British North America Act (act known since 1982 as the Constitution Act, 1982)²

Resolutions 3 and 4 called for a constitution for Canada similar to the British Constitution, the authority of the government being vested in the reigning British monarch, as follows.

3. In framing a Constitution for the General Government, the Conference, with a view to the perpetuation of our connection with the Mother Country, and to the promotion of the best interests of the people of these Provinces, 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 are found in the first preamble of the British North America Act which reads as follows:

"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."

It should be noted that there were few examples, in 1864, of a republican form of government, almost all European countries being monarchies or empires. It is true that a republic was established in France (the Second Republic) in July, 1848. However, that republic was not well viewed in Quebec which was under the influence of the ultramontane movement. The Second Republic ended four years later with the coup of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte.

These 72 resolutions specified the general political and administrative structures of the new Dominion as well as the division of legislative powers between the federal and provincial authorities. Thus, section 33 states that for « each of the Provinces there shall be an Executive Officer, styled the Lieutenant Governor,[…]», a disposition found in section 59 of Constitution Act, 1967.

L’histoire du Québec à travers ses lieutenants-gouverneurs, work of the historians Frederic Lemieux, Christian Blais et Pierre Hamelin, devotes a chapter to each Lieutenant Governor since 1867. The illustrated book is available in French from the Les Publications du Québec

It should also be mentioned that National Assembly Website presents a biography of each Lieutenant Governor. More information can be found at the following link: http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fr/patrimoine/lieutenant.html