5. The Road to Responsible Government

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E. Conflict and Change →→ 1. Background of Discontent → 2. Rebellion Events in Lower Canada → 3. Rebellion Events in Upper Canada → 4. Invasion and Aftermath → 5. The Road to Responsible Government →→ A. The Road to Confederation

The achievement of responsible government was a true watershed in Canada's evolution. It marked the transition from decades of colonial status to eventual Confederation. Responsible government on the British cabinet model indicated that the peoples of British North America could work together, that they could improve their economies, that they could provide for their common defense, and that they would soon be ready for full independence. However, as important as the attainment of responsible government was, it certainly did not become a reality either easily or quickly. It only came about with considerable debate, acrimony, and effort.

Baldwin & LaFontaine

First all, in order to appreciate the significance of this moment, an understanding of what constitutes responsible government is necessary. It is something much more specific and precise than merely saying that the government is responsible to the people. For example, both at this time and currently, the American government is recognized as the hallmark of democratic system. Nevertheless, it is not a responsible system.

A responsible governmental system is one in which the executive branch of government, the branch that initiates and then administers laws, is accountable to the elected legislative branch, which passes the laws. That is achieved through a number of means. First, the individual that heads the executive branch is the leader of the party that wins the greatest number of seats in the legislative branch. Today, we call that person the prime minister. Second, the prime minister selects from among his own party members who, like him, have won seats in the legislative branch, to become members of his inner council, or cabinet. Third, if the cabinet is defeated on a major government bill, it must resign and a new election is called. Fourth, from time to time, the opposition parties within the legislative branch can initiate a motion of non-confidence. If it passes after a vote, again, the ruling government must resign and a new election is called. Finally, the governor has very limited powers, specified in the constitution, and that office evolves into a largely ceremonial position.

Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine, c1838

So, a responsible governmental system is certainly "responsible" and accountable to the people. However, it is achieved through some very precise methods. The path to attaining such a system was marred with a number of difficulties, problems, and challenges, all of which were eventually overcome. Colonists may have experienced a desire for reform that would institute such a system. However, the ties of loyalty and tradition appeared, for a time, to be even stronger. After all, it was only a minority that had supported Papineau in Lower Canada and Mackenzie in Upper Canada.

The Act of Union

Although Durham had recommended responsible government in his 1838 Report, the idea was almost defeated before it could be tried. Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine, the recognized leader of the French Canadian reformers, opposed the passage of the Act of Union. He feared that, given the terms of the Act, the end result would be assimilation of the French Canadians. He distrusted the motives of the British legislators. They had rejected Durham's suggestion of an electoral system of representation by population in the proposed united parliament. Durham was willing to tolerate a brief French Canadian minority in the opening years of the new government, fully confident that with the influx of British immigration, the French Canadians would shortly be out-numbered.

Denis-Benjamin Viger

British politicians were unwilling to make that kind of accommodation. They wanted English control both in the immediate and the long term. Thus, the Act of Union, passed July 23, 1840, called for equal representation, 42 members for Canada East and 42 members for Canada West. However, to LaFontaine. his assistant George-Étienne Cartier and others, such a system appeared both unfair and undemocratic. The 1841 census revealed that Lower Canada had 650 000 people, while Upper Canada had just slightly more than 450 000. And yet, the new legislation called for the same number of elected representatives! The nearly half a million French Canadians in Lower Canada felt cheated.

However, electoral machinations were not the only objection that LaFontaine raised about the proposed new system. When he was informed that English would be the sole language that could be used in the new government, he was livid. That flew in the face of his sense of equality and fairness. Once again, that half a million group of French Canadians felt resentful.

Another problem upset LaFontaine. Patronage was a powerful tool of persuasion and control. Hundreds of individuals obtained their jobs through government appointment. It was a method of rewarding friends and political allies. The Act of Union proposed to give the power of appointment over a large number of positions to the Governor General. Furthermore, the Act suggested that scores of such positions would have the salaries of the office holder publicized but that the Legislative Assembly would not have the power to review or reject an appointment. Yet again, this struck LaFontaine and the reformers as undemocratic.

Lord Sydenham

A final problem emerged. Finances, and more specifically the way in which public funds were allocated, was yet another irritant for LaFontaine and the French Canadians. Huge sums were being spent on major projects such as the Welland and St. Lawrence canals. That benefited the people west of the Ottawa River - and enriched a few prominent financiers - but did little for the people of Lower Canada. The new Governor General, Lord Sydenham, discovered a perfect way to get Upper Canadian approval for the new governmental scheme. He simply planned to use the revenues from taxes and duties on Montreal manufactures and shipping to pay off Upper Canada's heavy debt burden. Not surprisingly, Upper Canada voted strongly in favour of union.

An early issue that surfaced revolved around government appointments. Arguably, the litmus test of a responsible system was that the governor's advisors should be accountable and answerable to the elected members in the Legislative Assembly. Ideally, such advisors, if the system was to be viable, had to come from the party with greatest number of seats in the Assembly. However, Lord Sydenham continued to appoint his friends and allies. While he did appoint Robert Baldwin to be the solicitor general, he was more a token appointment meant to appease the growing clamour from the reformers.

The Reformers Unite

The Act of Union came into effect on February 10, 1841. Almost immediately, LaFontaine lobbied to have it revoked. All the issues came together for him to make the new system untenable and unacceptable. However, LaFontaine did a complete about-face. Crucial in changing LaFontaine's view was a Toronto newspaper article by Francis Hincks, which argued that peaceful reform was achievable through a uniting of French and English reform movements. The protests of the nationalists and the Tories could be countered most effectively with such a union. Hincks and Baldwin became the leader of the Canada West reformers, LaFontaine, the leader of the Canada East reformers.

In 1841, Sydenham called an election for a new Legislative Assembly. Beginning in March and running almost a month, it produced widespread intimidation, bribery, and resentment. The Governor was not above barefaced electioneering in aid of his Tory supporters. His side also resorted to strong-arm tactics. An angry mob prevented LaFontaine's supporters from voting. Half a dozen people were killed during the campaign. (Remember that the secret ballot would not come for another 30 years.) French Canadian nationalists wanted to go their own separate way and wanted to have nothing to do with the English Canadians. Led by John Neilson and Denis-Benjamin Viger, they wanted to repeal the Act of Union. Their message found a receptive audience in Canada East and as a result, they did well in the election. LaFontaine did not, as he lost the seat he had held for eight years. (Another irony was not only that he was the incumbent for Terrebonne, just outside of Montreal, but also that the French Canadian population in the riding outnumbered the English Canadian by more than ten to one.)

Baldwin managed to hold onto his seat. When Sydenham appointed him to his council, Baldwin made a bold move. He insisted that French Canadian reformers be invited to sit with him on the Executive Council. When Sydenham refused, Baldwin continued to badger the Governor. Sydenham had had enough and dismissed the Canada West reformer.

Governor General Lord Sydenham Opens Union Parliament, Kingston, 1841

The initial session of the new parliament opened in Kingston, the first capital of the new Province of Canada, on June 14, 1841. There was tremendous expectation, especially in Canada East, as their representatives had not met for three-and-a-half years. Baldwin and only five other reformers had been returned from Canada West. Canada East reformers had fared only slightly better. Yet, LaFontaine, the logical and pragmatic politician, persuaded his supporters to try to work within this new system.

A few months later, events took an unusual turn. Baldwin, who had been elected in two Toronto area ridings, invited LaFontaine to run in a by-election in one of them. LaFontaine accepted and won York District's fourth riding in September. Sydenham died from complications from falling off his horse and was replaced by Charles Bagot. Bagot had been instructed to try to appease the French Canadians by bringing them into the government. Thus, he invited LaFontaine and several other French Canadian reform members in the Assembly to join his Executive Council. In a role reversal, this time LaFontaine asked that Baldwin also be invited.

In September 1842, a new Executive Council was announced. Baldwin and LaFontaine were both appointed as their respective region's Attorney General. Gradually, LaFontaine began to emerge as the true power within the new system. He instituted a number of reforms - negotiating amnesties for leaders of the Rebellions of 1837, moving the capital from Kingston, where it had been for a scant three years, to Montreal, and changing election laws to diminish the likelihood of the kind of violence that had occurred in 1841. By having so much input into both government appointments and agenda, he arguably earned the title of "first prime minister".

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Lord Metcalfe

Testing Responsible Government

The LaFontaine-Baldwin ministry lasted only a year. In 1843, Bagot resigned and was replaced by the much more intractable Charles Metcalfe. Metcalfe began undoing many of the changes that the reform ministry had successfully implemented. He decided not to consult with the Executive Council on government appointments. As a result, in late November, the reformers resigned en masse from the Council. The ensuing election was, if anything, even more corrupt and violent than the 1841 one had been. The reformers were defeated and for the next four years, LaFontaine had to be satisfied with the position of leader of the official opposition in the Assembly. The pro-British and nationalist factions provided a ready supply of candidates for Metcalfe to parachute into the Council.

Metcalfe Opens Parliament, 1845

Metcalfe died, and was replaced by Lord Cathcart in 1847. Cathcart lasted less than a year in the job, being succeeded by James Bruce, the eighth Earl of Elgin, making it four different governors in four years. (Interestingly, Lord Elgin's wife was Lord Durham's daughter.)

The 1848 election was a monumental one. Both Baldwin in Canada West and LaFontaine in Canada East were able to win majorities for the reformers. This double majority enabled them to force through their demands for constitutional reform. The fact that the Tory and nationalist members of the Executive Council resigned, made the reformers' task that much easier. Elgin invited LaFontaine and Baldwin to form a new government and in March 1848, they were sworn in. LaFontaine was again appointed Attorney General for Canada East. Because he had the larger following, both in the united Province and in the Assembly, he became 'prime minister.' Baldwin was Attorney General for Canada West and 'co-prime minister.'

Lord Elgin

The ultimate test case for responsible government occurred in the following year. In February 1849, LaFontaine introduced a bill into the Legislative Assembly to compensate those who had suffered property damage during the rebellions in Lower Canada. A similar bill had passed in Canada West almost four years earlier. There were many innocent victims on Canada East who had suffered during the 1837 uprising. The Glengarry Scots had looted with impunity. British soldiers had burned scores of farms and homes. French Canadians' sense of justice demanded 100 000 pounds, two and a half times what had already been given to victims in Canada West.

Passions ran high during the debate over the Rebellion Losses Bill. There were marches and demonstrations; fights and brawls. Tories argued that such a bill rewarded traitors. Elgin himself was personally opposed to the bill. However, it passed the final vote in the Legislative Assembly by a majority of forty-seven to eighteen. On April 25, 1849, Elgin signed the Rebellion Losses Bill into law.

The business of the day over, Elgin passed through a line of soldiers, rushed into his carriage and drove rapidly away. A mob on foot and horseback followed the coach, pelting it with stones, horse manure and rotten eggs - one hit him in the face - and chased him halfway up Mount Royal to "Monklands", the Viceregal mansion.

A fateful moment had been passed. By signing a bill he personally disagreed with, Elgin had upheld the principle of responsible government. Even the ensuing riots in Montreal could not reverse the forces of change.

Parliament on Fire

The Tories called for a meeting that night on the Place d'Armes, and soon restless crowds were loitering in the streets, kept back from the Parliament building by troops of horse that galloped up and down. The old St. Anne market building was half-surrounded by a mob of about 1,500 people, held back by a few city police. Soon the door to the chamber was forced open, guards pushed aside, and part of the mob gained entry,

Crowds Watch Parliament Burn

Once inside the House, a "gutter Cromwell" lounged in the Speaker's Chair and proclaimed the dissolution of this "French Parliament." The Mace and a painting of Queen Victoria were passed to the crowd outside, busy pitching stones at the great windows of the building. The gas pipes were ripped open and the document room of the chamber set on fire. Soon flames roared out of the broken windows into the cold starry night. The mob held off the firefighters, and within a few hours, the old market was a heap of smoking ruins, a gutted monument to the fury of the fight between races. The mob ruled for three days, until all its hatred and frustration had spent itself. The houses of Hincks and Nelson were wrecked; every window was broken in Baldwin's house; but for LaFontaine, the mob saved the greater part of its obscene fury; his stables were burned down, his furniture smashed to bits, every piece of china shattered, all his paintings were slashed, and every book in his well-stocked library torn apart and thrown into the street.

Responsible Government had passed its trial of fire, but never again would Montreal serve as a seat of provincial government.

Responsible Government in the Maritimes

The path to responsible government in the Maritimes was considerably less difficult than it had been in the Canadas. First, in Atlantic Canada there was no racial conflict as there was in Lower Canada. Further, the oligarchies in the Maritimes were far less entrenched and autocratic than those of Upper and Lower Canada. The Atlantic assemblies were able to acquire power over government revenues that served to lessen animosity. Finally, there was not the stigma and branding of disloyalty and republicanism in the Atlantic colonies as had happened in both Upper and Lower Canada.

Joseph Howe Wins Election

The movement for responsible government in the Maritimes was mercifully shorter and more peaceful. It also came earlier in Nova Scotia. In Nova Scotia, Joseph Howe was one of the leading proponents of responsible government and through a combination of bluster and argument, he was able to achieve it. In Prince Edward Island, the issue of absentee landowners made the fight somewhat more volatile but responsible government came before it did in the Canadas. In New Brunswick, the issue of crown lands caused some debate and lengthened the advent of responsible. Nevertheless, once again, it was achieved earlier and easier than in the Canadas..

As early as 1839, the Nova Scotia governor, Colin Campbell, appointed three reform members, including the fiery Joseph Howe, into the Executive Council. That precedent meant that council members did not automatically have to be drawn from the ranks of the oligarchy. Campbell's successors were unsuccessful in trying to appoint reformers into the coalition government.

The reformers won a landslide victory in the crucial 1847 election in Nova Scotia and as a result, were called upon to form the new government. J.B. Uniacke, the leader of the reform party in the House, appointed members from his own party to the Executive Council. Responsible government was a reality in Nova Scotia.

Joseph Howe

New Brunswick had a fairly long history of attempting to obtain responsible government. As far back as the late eighteenth century, elected members struggled with the governor for control of government finances. By the 1830s, reformers had succeeded in making appointed members of the Executive Council accountable to the elected members of the Legislative Assembly. Officially, however, responsible government did not come to New Brunswick until 1848 when councilors were appointed from the ranks of the majority party in the Assembly.

Prince Edward Island long burdened by the challenges posed by absentee landowners did not see responsible government until 1851. Newfoundland, which had to wait for representative government until 1832, was the last colony to win responsible government. That did not come until 1855.

The Victory of Responsible Government

The new system of responsible government replaced the older oligarchic tradition. And as it did so a major milestone in Canada's development had been reached. Several fundamental principles of responsible government marked it as qualitatively different from what had been experienced before. The leader of the winning party in the legislative branch would become prime minister and select his cabinet from members of his party who had won seats in the Assembly lay at the heart of this new responsible system. Thus, the executive branch was responsible to the legislative branch. The position of the governor would evolve into one above the political process and more a ceremonial office.

Governments would have to resign when the majority in the Assembly voted against a major government bill or when a motion of non-confidence was passed.

In short, the Rebellions of 1837 and the achievement of responsible of responsible government, which it helped to usher in, marked a significant watershed in the development of Canada's constitutional and political history.