E. The Road to Responsible Government

From HCO Jr

5. Conflict & Change: The Rebellion Years → A. Background of Discontent → B. Lower Canada Rebellion → C. Upper Canada Rebellion → D. Invasion & Aftermath → E. Road to Responsible Government

Introduction

Lord Durham had recommended that Upper and Lower Canada be united into one colony. When the British government created the Act of Union this was done. Upper and Lower Canada were now the Province of Canada. Upper Canada was now called Canada West, and Lower Canada was now called Canada East. One government was created to control this new colony.

How would this new government work? Would the British governors sent to Canada respect the idea of responsible government? Would the French and English politicians in Canada be able to work together? There were many questions when the new government of the Province of Canada met. This chatper outlines what happened, and how responsible government finally came to the Province of Canada. This chapter will also explain how responsible government was achieved in teh Maritime colonies as well.

What is Responsible Government?

A brief explanation of responsible government is in the previous chapter. However, it is important to understand all elements of responsible government. Why were some people in favour of it? Why did some people oppose it?

Under the old system of government in Upper and Lower Canada, the governor of each colony chose who he wanted for the executive and legislative councils. They did not even have to be people who were elected by the people. The governor did not have to chose these people from the political party that had the most seats in the legislative assembly.

This is very different from how Canada's federal and provincial governments work today. In our modern governments the party that wins the most seats in an election forms the government. Sometimes a party might not win a majority of seats. If this happens it will form a coalition with another political party. This party then chooses its cabinet (or executive). It usually chooses from its own party since it won the most seats. Once the government is formed it is responsible to legislature (the House of Commons if it is the federal government, or the provincial legislature if it is a provincial government).

Under the old system the legislative council, executive council, or the governor could refuse to pass bills that the legislative assembly had agreed to. Today this does not happen. The power to create new laws is held by the House of Commons or the provincial legislatures. In the federal parliament there is a Senate. Senators are appointed by the government. It is rare for the Senate to refuse to pass government bills. The Governor-General of Canada can refuse to pass government bills, but this rarely happens today. Everyone recognizes that political power is with the party that holds the most seats in the House of Commons or the legislture.

Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine, c1838

Why would some people oppose responsible government? Many people who were in politics in the 1800s did not like the idea of giving average people more political power. Some people, like those that were in the Family Compact and the Chateau Clique, though that democracy was a dangerous idea. They did not think that the people could be trusted to make political decisions.

People who opposed responsible government were conservative. This does not mean that they belonged to the Conservative Party (it did not exist in the mid-1800s). A conservative at this time did not want things to change. They wanted to conserve the way politics worked. They did not want to change anything if it meant they might lose some of their political power.

The traditional way that politics worked was wealthy people held political power. Only men who owned a certain amount of property and possessed a certain amount of wealth were allowed to vote or become a politician. Conservatives wanted to preserve this.

The Act of Union

Lord Durham had recommended unifying Upper and Lower Canada. Durham had also recommended responsible government. However, what happened was an act that unified the colonies, but did not really create a stable government.

In 1841 the British government passed the Act of Union. It unified Upper and Lower Canada. It created the Province of Canada. Canada West (Upper Canada) and Canada East (Lower Canada) were the two parts of this new colony. Almost immediately the new Province of Canada had political problems.

French politicians in Lower Canada did not like the Act of Union. Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine was an important French politician. He realized that the Act of Union was designed to assimiliate the French. English politicians from Canada West (and the few English politicians from Canada East) would always outnumber the French politicians in the new government.

Lafontaine and his assistant, George-Étienne Cartier, wanted the number of politicians from Canada East and Canada West to be chosen through representation by population. This meant that Canada East and Canada West would send politicians based on how many people lived in their part of the colony. Canada East had a population of 650,000 at this time. Canada West only had 450,000 people. Canada East, therefore, should send more politicians to the legislature.

Denis-Benjamin Viger

Lafontaine and Cartier were also upset about the new rules for the legislature. Only English could be used in the new legislature. More than half of the population of the new Province of Canada was French.

There was one other problem for Lafontaine, Cartier, and other politicians who wanted government reformed. There are many jobs in government that are appointed. This means the government decides who gets the job. Under the Act of Union the governor of Canada decided who received certain jobs. Lafontaine and other reformers thought that the political party with the most seats in the legislature should make that decision.

The Reformers Unite

Many of the problems that Lafontaine had with the Act of Union were shared by Reformers in Canada West. A reformer in Canada West, Francis Hincks, helped to bring French and English reformers together. In 1841, Hincks wrote a newspaper article sayign that English and French reformers should work together. If they cooperated there was a greater chance that they could change the way government worked. Hincks also did not like the Act of Union for many of the same reasons that Laftontaine did not.

Eventually Hincks became the leader of the Canada West Reformers and Lafontaine led the Canada East Reformers. During the election of 1841 it was clear that the Reformers had to work together. The new governor of the Province of Canada was Lord Sydenham. He supported the conservatives (or the Tories). During the election Governor Sydenham made it very clear that he supported the Tories. Mobs of men would attack and beat up people who supported the Reformers. Six people were killed during the election because of fighting.

Very few Reformers won in Canada East and West because of this violence. It was not a fair election. Lafontaine lost his seat in Montreal even though the vast majority of people in his riding were French. When supporters of Lafontaine tried to vote they were met by a mob of English Canadians. To avoid a violent fight (and people dying), Lafontaine withdrew from the election. Laftontaine had been cheated out of his position in government.

Governor General Lord Sydenham Opens Union Parliament, Kingston, 1841

Sydenham refused to appoint Lafontaine to any position in government. Another Reformer, Robert Baldwin, bothered Governor Sydenham so much about this that the governor dismissed Baldwin from the legislature.

Sydenham was going to stop responsible government from happening. He opposed the Reformers constantly. Luckily, however, Sydenham fell off his horse one day. He injured himself and died a few days later. Sydenham was now out of the way. A new governor was appointed, Charles Bagot. The British government ordered Bagot to bring Lafontaine and other French politicians into his government.

Today a politician can only represent one riding. At that time, however, they could represent more than one. Baldwin gave up one of his ridings so Lafontaine could be brought into the government. Governor Bagot appointed both men to his executive council. Governor Bagot also brought several more French Canadian politicians into his executive council.

This was the first step towards responsible government. Many of the Tories did not think that English and French Reformers could work together. Once they did, however, they became a powerful political force in the new Province of Canada.

Lafontaine became such an important politician that some people consider him to be Canada's first prime minister (even though that position did not exist at that time). Lafontaine had many new laws passed that reformed how government worked. For example:

He changed election laws that reduced violence during elections.
He gave an amnesty to the people who took part in the Rebellions of 1837.
He moved the capital of the Province of Canada from Kingston to Montreal
He worked to give the majority party more control over government appointments.

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Testing Responsible Government

Lord Metcalfe

Government in the Province of Canada was very unstable. The Lafontaine-Baldwin government only lasted one year. In 1843 Governor Bagot stepped down. Charles Metcalfe became the new governor. He was oppossed to responsible government. Metcalfe ignored all the changes that the Reformers had brought in.

Reform politicians were so angry that they all resigned their seats in the legislature. This forced a new election. This election was even worse than the one in 1841. There was a lot of violence as people who supported the Tories attacked and intimidated people who supported the Reformers. In the end the Tories won a majority government, and controlled the Province of Canada for four years.

The Tory government was not very good. It tried to undo many of the reforms. It seemed like the Province of Canada was going to revert back to the old days of Upper and Lower Canada when the Tories controlled the government. However, in 1848 Metcalf died and a new governor was brought in: Lord Cathcart. He only lasted on year, and was replaced by Lord Elgin.

Metcalfe Opens Parliament, 1845

1848 was a very improtant year. Reformers in both Canada East and Canada West won a majority of the seats. Lafontaine became the prime minister since the French Canadian Reformers had a few more seats than Robert Baldwin's Reformers. However, Baldwin was appointed co-prime minister. It was a true coalition. They formed a strong government that the Tories could not defeat. Since the Reformers controlled the legislature they could force through reforms and not lose.

Lord Elgin

More importantly, Lord Elgin supported the idea of responsible government. He believed that which ever party (or parties) had a majority in the legislature should control the government.

Elgin's beliefs were put to the test in 1849. The Reform government created a new bill: the Rebellion Losses Bill. This bill would compensate people in Canada East who suffered property damage during the Rebellions of 1837 (a similar bill had been passed for Canada West in 1845). However, it would also compensate people who supported the Rebellions. Many people in both Canada East and Canada West were oppossed to this bill. They did not think rebels should receive any money from the government. Elgin agreed with this belief. He did not support the Rebellion Losses Bill. However, it was passed by the legislature. If Elgin believed in responsible government he would sign the bill into law even though he did not support it.

On April 25, 1849, Elgin went to the Canadian Parliament in Montreal, and signed the bill into law even though he personally oppossed it. When the governor left Parliament, an angry mob threw rocks and eggs at his carriage. Eventually the mob attacked Parliament, and burned it to the ground.

Parliament on Fire

Crowds Watch Parliament Burn

This was a very important moment in Canadian history. When Elgin signed the Rebellion Losses Bill he helped insure that responsible government would stay in Canada.

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Responsible Government in the Maritimes

The Maritime colonies achieved responsible government in a much easier fashion than Upper and Lower Canada. This was for a few reasons.

There was no French/English divide in the Maritimes like there was in Lower Canada.
The ruling class in the Maritimes was less powerful than the Family Compact and Chateau Clique.
The legislative assemblies in the Maritimes had more poltical power than the assemblies in Upper and Lower Canada.
Reformers in the Maritimes were not called disloyal by those who opposed change. In Upper and Lower Canada, Reformers were often thought to be too close the American political idea.

Nova Scotia was the first Maritime colony to push for responsible government. The politician who led this was Joseph Howe. As early as 1839 there were reform politicians in the Executive Council of Nova Scotia. In Upper and Lower Canada there was little chance of reformers being brought into the Executive Council.

Joseph Howe Wins the Election

In 1847 the reformers in Nova Scotia won a majority in the legislative assembly. They appointed members of their party to the Executive Council. Once this was done, and accepted by the governor, the idea of responsible government was set in Nova Scotia.

In New Brunswick the reformers pushed the members of the Executive Council to listen to the demands of the majority party in the Legislative Assembly. By 1848, members of the Executive Council were being appointed from the majority party in the assembly.

Joseph Howe

The Victory of Responsible Government

The new system of responsible government replaced the older tradition. This was an important moment in Canadian history. It helped to create the political system that we have today. In Canada today whichever political party wins the most seats (in either a provincial or federal election) creates the government. The leader of that party becomes prime minister (or premier of a province/territory). The prime minister decides who he/she wants in her cabinet.

The cabinet is responsible to the House of Commons. During Question Period other MPs question cabinet ministers and ask them questions about government policies and legislation. If an election is held and a different political party wins the most seats than it forms the government. Its leader becomes prime minister and picks her/his cabinet.

Today if the Canadian government creates a new law it has to pass a vote in the House of Commons. It is then approved by the Senate. After that the governor-general signs the bill into law. Even if the governor-general personally does not like the bill they will sign it into law. This precedent was set when Governor Elgin signed the Rebellion Losses Bill in 1849. While a modern governor-general can still refuse to sign a government bill they no longer do this.

The Rebellions of 1837 and the achievement of responsible of responsible government marked a significant watershed in the development of Canada's constitutional and political history.