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Canadian Inatttuta for Historical IMicronproductiaM / Institut Canadian da mlcraraproduGtions Matoriquaa
995
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Tliii it«n is filmad at th« raduction ratio ctiackad btlow/
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1^
^ /1PPLED IM/GE Ine
jM
THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT
BY
SIR JOSEPH POPE
REPRINTED FROM
CANADA AND ITS PROVINCES
A HISTORY OP THE CAKADIAH PEOPLE
AND THEIK INSTITUTIONS
BY ONE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES
BDITED BY
ADAH SHORTT AND A. G. DOUGHTT
m?
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT
SIR JOSEPH POPE
K.C.M.Q.
TORONTO
GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY
1914
42544
This Volume conaute of a Reprint, for
private circulation only, of the Forty-
■eventh Signed Contribution contained in
Canada and its Provinces, a History of
the Canadian People and their Institutions
by One Hundred Associates.
Adam Shortt and Arthur G. Doughty,
General Editors
CONTENTS
The Governor-General
The Governor-Genbrai.'b Secretary
The PRIVT Council ....
The Parliament ....
The Senate
The Hoube of Commons
The Cabinet .....
The Prime Minister
The President of the Privy Council
The Minister or Finance .
The Treasury Board
The Auditor-General
The Minister of Justice
The Solicitor-General
The Secretary op State
The Department of Extehnai. Affairs
The King's Printer ....
The Minister of Public Works
The Minister of Rmlways and Canals
The Minister of the Interior
The Department of Indian Affairs
The Minister of Agriculture
The Dominion Archives
The Postmaster-General .
The Minister of Marine and Fisheries
The Department of the Naval Service
The Minister of Customs
The Minister of Trade and Commerce
The Department of Mines
The Minister of Militia and Defence
The Minister of Inland Revenue
The Royal North-West Mounted Police
The Minister of Labour
The Deputy Ministers
Private Secretaries to Minioters
The Library of Parliament
The Civil Service Commission
The Commission of Conservation
The International Joint Commission
The High Commissioner
The Agent of Canada in Paris ,
The Supreme Court ....
The Exchequer Court
Page
272
277
278
279
280
286
300
304
308
311
314
315
316
320
320
322
324
325
327
328
331
333
334
336
341
343
345
348
349
351
354
356
357
357
362
363
369
370
371
372
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
IT is proposed in the following pages to set forth the
system on which the government of Canad.i is
organized ; to describe this system in its actual opera-
tion J to inquire into the nature and source of the authority
by which the Dominion is ruled ; to ascertain by whom,
under what conditions, and subject to what limitations, this
authority is administered ; to understand the relations in
which the two great councils of the nation — the executive
and the legislative — stand towards the crown and each
other : to visit the various departments of state, and to see
how the business of the country is carried on from day to
day.
The pntamble of the British North America Act, 1867,
proclaims the desire of the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick to be federally united into one Dominion
under the crown of Grea. Britain, with a constitution similar
in principle to that of the United Kingdom ; and in accord-
ance with this intention the 9th section declares that the
executive government and authority of and over Canada
shall continue to be vested in the sovereign of Great Britain
and Ireland. The king therefore is the supreme ruler of
the Dominion, but, inasmuch as His Majesty is unable to
be actually present in Canada, he is represented in the person
of his deputy— an officer styled the governor-general — to
whom is delegated the royal authority.
In view of the dignity and importance of his great office,
it is fitting to begin this review by a description of the mode
of appointment of the governor-general ; to define with some
degree of particularity his powers and functions, and to make
clear his part in the actual working of the machinery of
government.
373
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
The Governok-Genekal
The govemor-general of Canada is appointed by the
king on the advice of the secretary of state for the Colonies,
by letters patent under the great seal of the United Kingdom
Pnor to 1878 It was the practice to issue new letters patent
to each govemor^eneral on appointment, but in that year
letters patent were issued, making permanent proviaon for
the office, and ordaining that all future incumbenta should
be appomted by special commission under the royal sign
manual and signet. Accompanying the general letters
patent, and bearing even date therewith, are instructions
for the governor's guidance in the execution of the high trust
committed to his charge. In 1905 the general letters patent
and mstructions issued in 1878 were revoked, and fresh
instruments of the same tenor were substituted therefor
the change apparently being deemed necessary by reason
of the addition to the govemor-generars style and titles
of the phrase 'Commander-in-Chief of the Dominion of
Canada. The letters patent and royal instructions, read
in conjunction with the British North America Act set
forth the powers of the govemor-general, who, it is important
to remember, is not clothed with the plenary authority of
the sovereign. He is not a viceroy, and can exercise only
such functions as appertain to his office by law, or are dele-
gated to him, either expressly or impliedly, by the king
Among these are the power of appointing to office all public
functionaries, and of suspending or removing therefrom such
as hoW their positions during the pleasure of the crown j
of summoning, proroguing and dissolving pariiament • of
exeraang the prerogative of mercy by the grant of pardons
or reprieves, and generally of doing all things necessary to
the proper ar'mmistration of his office. In the exercise of
these functions ae is guided by the advice of responsible
ministers, who in turn must possess the confidence of the
House of Commons. The doctrine of ministerial responsi-
bility, which has now reached its full development, was of
gradual growth in Canada. Thus, it is only within com-
THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL
a73
paratively recent years that the exercise of the pardoning
power has been withdrawn from the individual discretion
of the represenutive of the crown. Before 1878, while the
governor-general was required (in capital cases) to consult
his ministers in respect of all applications for clemency, he
was not bound to follow their advice. On the contrary,
he was enjoined to decide each case according to his own
judgment, whether his advisers concurred or otherwise, and
to act on his personal responsibility as an imperial officer.
In 1878, largely through the instrumentality of Edward
Blake, at that time minister of Justice in the Mackenzie
cabinet, a change in this procedure was determined upon,
and the royal instructions issued to the Marquis of Lome
in 1878 directed the governor-general not to pardon any
criminal offender without first receiving, in capital cases,
the advice of his council, and, in other cases, the advice of
one, at least, of his ministers.
The prerogative of the crown as the fountain of honour,
unless specially delegated, does not appertain to the governor-
general. His Excellency, in his qualiQr of an imperial officer,
from time to time makes recommendations touching the
bestowal of honours to the secretary of sute for the Colonies,
who, if he sees fit, submits them to His Majesty with his own
advice. It is highly probable that as a general rule, before
making such recommendations, the governor-general con-
sults his chief adviser, and it is equally probable that the
prime minister's wishes, both positive and negative, in regard
to the bestowal of honours upon Canadians resident in the
Dominion, possess much weight, in turn, with the governor-
general, the secretary of state and the sovereign j but con-
stitutionally, the responsibility for advice tendered in such
matters rests with His Majesty's government. With this
exception, and saving rare occasions in which imperial
considerations are distinguished from exclusively Canadian
interests, the governor-general acts only on the advice of his
ministers, who are responsible for every act of the crown in
relation to the public affairs of the Dominion, and to whom,
so long as they are sustained by parliament, he is called upon
to extend his unreserved confidence and loyal support.
«74
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
While the governor-general'i commission give* to him
the dtle of commander-in-chief, and enjoins all military
officers to obey him, he is not thereby personally invested
with any military command, which is exercised by the
governor in council, to whom, under parliament, belongs the
direction •uid control of the armed forces of the Dominion.
The impression prevails in some quarters that under the
practical working of the Canadian constitutional system
the governor-general has ceased to be a Uving factor in the
government of the country, that the office, while retaining
its ceremonial attributes and social prestige, and valuable
as the visible link connecting Canada with the motherland,
no longer serves any useful functions that might not — to
use a favourite expression of the late Professor Goldwin
Smith— be equally well performed by a rubber stamp. This
is a misapprehension. The governor-general, while bound
to take the advice of his responsible ministers upon all ques-
tions appertaining to the government of Canada, whether
it is or is not in accordance with his own opinion, possesses
in a variety of ways opportunities for modifying that advice
in cases in which he may consider its acceptance contrary
to law or injurious to the public interest. His elevated
position as the king's representative ; his aloofness from
the prejudices and passions of party strife; and in many
instances his wider knowledge and experience of men and
affairs, acquired by mingling in the larger sphere of imperial
statesmanship : — all these considerations combine to render
his influence upon the policy of his ministers far from
negligible.
While, as has been said, the governor-general should, in
all ordinary matters of administration, defer to the views of
his advisers, he should do so in an intelligent manner. He
is called upon to see that the authority of the crown is not
used in regard to any act of government without his express
sanction. It is equally his duiy to examine the reports of
the Privy Council submitted for his approval— to call for
the fullest information, and, if necessary, explanations, in
regard to all matters treated of therein. He can refer back
to his ministers for reconsideration any recommendations
THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 475
made to him, and, by suggestion, exhortation and remon-
strance, seek to prevail upon them to modify or abandon
a policy of which he may be unable to approve. Should
they persist in their advice, the governor-general, as a last
resource, can demand the resignation of his ministers, or
dismiss them from oflice, and call to his councils a new
administration. Such an extreme step, however, as the
dismissal of a ministry appears in Canada to be reserved to
lieutenant-governors. No governor-general has ever resorted
to it. When differences arise between a governor-general
and his cabinet with respect to a question of public policy,
it sometimes happens that fuller inquiry enables the governor-
general to overcome his objections to the suggested course,
or, it may be, that his representations successfully appeal
to his ministers and induce them to modify or withdraw
their proposals.
One would naturally be disposed to surmise that disinter-
ested and friendly co-operation of the character indicated, on
the part of a prudent and tactful govenior-general, could
scarcely fail to prove of distinct mutual advantage, at once
to the representatives of the crown and to his advisers ; and
so indeed it has proved. Thus Lord Lansdowne, in his letter
of farewell to Sir John Macdonatd, observes : ' I have often
made the reflection that the position of a Governor-General
in this country is one that might be very agreeable or almost
unendurable, according as his relations with his Prime Minister
were or were not friendly, frank and characterized by com-
plete trust on each side ' ; and several of the prime ministers
of Canada have publicly acknowledged the benefits they de-
rived from association with various governors-general whom
they served, and to whose wise and prudent counsels they
have declared themselves much indebted.
A governor-general is appointed during pleasure, but in
the absence of any specific provision in that regard his tenure
of office is limited to six years. The Colonial Office regula-
tions are quite clear upon this point. Notwithstanding this,
the practice has been, at any rate up to a comparatively
recent period, to consider the term as one of five years, and
any extension beyond that period as a matter of arrangement
376
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
between the leaetaiy of state for the Colonies and the in-
cumbent of the office.
The goveraor-general is empowered to appoint from time
to time a deputy or deputies to act for him in the exercise of
his powers. This he generally does before visiting remote
portions of the Dominion, in order that public business may
not suffer by reason of his absence from the seat of govern-
ment. The choice is his own. As a matter of fact it gener-
ally falls on the chief justice of Canada, or failing the chief
justice, on the senior available judge of the Supreme Court.
Such appo' qnent may be limited to the performance of a
single offi.iul act, such as giving the royal assent to a bill, or
the prorogation of parliament ; or the commission may be
general in its terms and may operate during pleasure. The
power to dissolve the House of Commons is not usually
delegated by a governor-general.
In the event of the death, incapacity, removal or absence
from the country of the goveraor-general, it is provided in the
letters patent constituting the office that his powers and
functions shall, pending any appointment by the king, become
vested in the chief justice of Canada for the time being, or,
failing him, in the denior judge of the Supreme Court, who,
upon taking the prescribed oath, becomes the administrator
of the government, and is clothed with all the attributes of
the office during the absence or incapacity of the governor-
general.
The opinion is sometimes expressed by persons without
mucii practical acquaintance with the conduct of public
affairs, that it would more comport with the dignity and
growing importance of the Dominion that a Canadian should
be selected to represent His Majesty in the office of goveraor-
general. This view is not shared by those best qualified to
judge. In 1910, in his farewell eulogy of Lord Grey, Sir
Wilfrid Laurier declared this feeling to be ' a laudable, but
to my mind a misguided expression of national pride.' He
added that the system of appointing imperial statesmen to
the office, which had been in operation since Confederation,
has worked well, and that any change in that system ' would
not, I am sure, be productive of good results, but perhaps on
1 i
THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S SECRETARY 177
the contimry would jeopsrdixe loinething which we hold
dear."
The appointment of a governor-general i« usually an-
nounced lome months before he actually assume* ofKce. At
a convenient date he sails for Canada. He is met on landing
by the administrator of the goi'emment — the retiring gover-
nor-general, as a rule, having left the Dominion before the
arrival of his successor — the prime minister and the other
members of the cabinet. His Excellency's commission is
then publicly read. He takes the oath of ofHce and receive*
the great seal of Canada from the secreury of He, to whose
hands he immediately returns it. He then signs the pro-
clamation announcing his assumption of office, and the cere-
mony is over.
The Goveknor-General's Secketary
In former times the governor-general of Canada had two
official secretaries, a civil and a military secretary. To the
civil office only was a salary aiuched. Up to the year i860
the civil secretary held from the imperial government a com-
mission as superintendent-general of Indian Affairs. Since
about the year 1870 the two secretaryships have usually been
united in the person of a military officer, appointed military
secretary by the govemor-Renetal personally, and gazetted
to the civil office as well, under the title of ' Secretary and
Military Secretary to his Excellency the Governor-General.'
Occasionally, however, the governor-general's secretary is a
civilian, and there is no military secretary.
The duties of the military secretary are purely ceremonial,
and call for no extended notice here. In his quality of civil
secretary he is the head of the office which deals with
the governor-general's official correspondence. Original dis-
patches are received, entered and docketed in this office,
and previous to the establishment of the department of
External Affairs were distributed to the Privy Council office,
or to the departments direct, as the case might be. The
replies of the government in the form of minutes of the Privy
> Debates, House of CommoDs, May 3, 1910.
»78
THL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Coundi, or reporu direct from individual miniitai, wtn
•ent to the govemor-generkl'i oAke, wlience tliey were for-
warded to tlieir deetination under cover of diapatclm pre-
pared in the goveraor-general'e office, and ligned by Hii
Excellency. Now, everything that the govemor-genenl
desirea to refer to hie miiUtten !a lent direct by the (ovemor>
general's eecretary tc the eecretary of atate for External
Affaire, who make* the dii*-ibution, and reporti direct to the
governor-general, or to the governor-general in council, ai the
caw may be, for every department of government. Other-
wiae the procedure ia unchanged. The government of Canada
continues to communicate with the secretary of state for the
Colonies, His Majesty's ambassador at Washington, and else-
where outside Canada, through the governor-general's office,
precisely as before.
The staff of the office of t i governor-general's secretary,
as regards appointment, promc ion, etc., is under the control
of the prime minister. The governor-general's private
secretary, though generally holding a clerkship in the office
of the governor-general's secretary, performs services alto-
gether of a confidential and personal nature.
The Privy Councu.
Having descr'bed the functions of the governor-general,
in whom is vested the supreme executive authority, it is now
proper to consider the mode in which his powers are exercised
in the administration of the affairs of the Dominion. The
British North America Act provides that there shall be a
council to aid and advise the governor-general, which shall
be styled the King's Privy Council for Canada. The members
of this council are appointed by the governor-general on the
advice of his ministers, .".nd may be removed by the same
authoi ity. Otherwise their tenure of office is for life. ' Once
a Privy Councillor always a Privy Councillor ' is substantially
true. George in struck Charles James Fox's name from
the roll of his Privy Council, and a few similar cases are re-
corded in the long course of English history, but, so far, none
in Canada. A privy councillor takes a special oath of secrecy
THE PARLIAMENT
a7»
and kign* the council-mil in th« praicncc of the g vernor-
gcnenl. He receive* no commiHion or other evidence of
appointment, nor does any emolument atuch to the oflice.
The poaition, uevertheleM, carriea with it a. high place in the
•odal and official world, and it a distinction rarely beitowed
on any public man other than as a necnsary qualification for
cabinet office. Memben of the Priv>- Council are entitled to
be ttyled ' Honourable,' and thit for life.
llie membenhip of the Privy Council ia not limited in
number. In 191a there were Mxty-nine privy councillor!.
Of tbete eighteen were in the cabinet ; forty-two had held
cabinet office, but were not in the miniitry ; eight, although
never holding cabinet office, had been speakers of the Senate
or of the House of Commons. The remaining member was
Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal.
The Canadian Privy Council, as distinct from the cabinet,
has never been called together. A fitting occasion for such
an interesting ceremony would have been the death of Queen
Victoria, or, again, that of King Edward vil, when the whole
council might have been summoned to join with the governor-
general in proclaiming the new sovereign. Such an unusual
proceeding would have been eminently constitutional and
proper, and would have established a precedent to be followed
by future generations. Advanuge, however, was not taken
of the opportun. ty.
In theory the Privy Council is the body upon whose
advice the government of the country is carried on, but it
has been superseded in practice by the cabinet, to wbic-.
have passed the advisory and consultative functions whit h
in times gone by were exercised by it.
The Paruahent
The parliament of Canada consists of the king, repre-
sented by the governor-general, the Senate and the House
of Commons, tiie concurrence of all three branches being
necessary to the enactment of every law. Technically each
branch is equally free to give or withhold its assent at pleasure.
Here, however, as in many other instances, a wide divergence
380
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
has grown up between the theory and the practice ol the
constitution. The crown has long ceased to use the pre-
rogative of veto, and while the upper house may, and does
on rare occasions, assert its right of rejecting a government
measure sent up from the House of Commons, it employs
such discretion in so doing that its action commonly has no
effect upon the ministry other than that of subjecting it,
perhaps, to temporary inconvenience and annoyance. On
the other hand, the House of Commons, by requiring the
governor-general's powers to be exercised through ministers
responsible to it, has become in reality, if not in form, the
source and centre of le^slative authority.
No more ingenious and effective scheme for the conduct
of public affairs has been devised by the wit of man than
that known as ' Responsible Government,' under which the
balance of the old-time contending elements in the state is
harmoniously adjusted without doing violence to cherished
convictiors. The crown maintains unimpaired its ancient
dignities and splendour, and rests far more securely upon the
affections of the people than at any previous time in history ;
while the controlling power of government has passed tn the
people's representatives in the House of Commons. As a
constitutional writer has well observed : ' Such is the wonder-
ful elasticity and adaptability of our system of government,
that modem life has taken possession of the ancient form and
has not rent it. It has expanded with every stage of national
growth, for while the ancient prerogatives still exist, they can
be lawfully exercised only upon the advice and sanction of a
responsible minister— a minister and a ministry responsible
to the Commons House of Parliament.'
Tbe Senate
The Senale of Canada in 191 1 consisted of 87 members,
of whom 34 were from Ontario, 34 from Quebec, 10 from
Nova Scotia, 10 from New Brunswick, 4 from Prince Edward
Island, 4 from Manitoba, 4 from Saskatchewan, 4 from
Alberta, and 3 from British Columbia. Although for reasons
of convenience senators are usually associated in debate, and
THE SENATE
281
even elsewhere, with specific localities — genenlly those in
which they reside — they are, with the exception of those from
the Province of Quebec, appointed for their province at large,
and not for any constituency or group of constituencies. In
Quebec a senator is appointed for each of the twenty-four
electoral divisions of Lower Canada, which in pre-Confedera-
tion days returned members to the legislative council.
The composition of the Senate was arranged with the
idea of affording protection to the smaller provinces which
they might not always enjoy in a house where the represen-
tation was based on numbers only. It is for this reason
that the Maritime and the Western provinces have a larger
proportional representation in the Senate, compared with
Ontario and Quebec, than they possess in the House of
Commons.
Senators are appointed by the governor-general in council
on the advice of the first minister, and, subject to certain
conditions, hold their places for life. It is doubtful if, as in
the case of a member of the House of Commons, the acceptance
of an office of emolument under the crown vacates a senator's
seat, but in the circumstance of a senator being appointed
to office, it is customary to require from him the resignation
of his senatorship in writing.
The qualifications for the office of senator are :
I. He must have attained the age of 30 years.
3. He must be a British subject either by birth or
naturalization.
3. He must be possessed oi real property to the value
of t4000, free from all encumbrances.
4. He must be resident in the province for which he is
appointed.
5. In the case of the Province of Quebec he must either
have his real property qualification in the dis-
trict for whidi he is appointed, or be resident in
that division.
A senator forfeits his seat in any of the following cases :
I. If for two consecutive sessions of parliament he fails
to attend in his place.
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Li
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2. If he becomes a subject or citizen of a foreign power.
3. If he becomes a bankrupt or defaulter.
4. If he is attainted of treason, felony, or of any in-
famous crime.
J. If he ceases to be qualified in respect of property
or of residence.
A senator is entitled, as such, to the distinction of ' Hon-
ourable ' 80 long as he holds the office, but no longer. He
receives an allowance of $3500 for each session extending
over thirty days, subject to a deduction of $15 a day for every
day's absence. Where the session is less than thirty-one days
he receives $20 for each day's attendance. He is also paid
his actual travelling expenses to and from the seat of govern-
ment.
The Senate has co-ordinate powers of legislation with
the House of Commons, uxcept in the case of bills involving
a charge upon the Treasury, or bills imposing any tax or
impost, which must originate in the lower house. The
Senate can neither originate nor amend such bills, though it
may reject them.
The speaker of the Senate is appointed by commission
under the great seal and holds office during pleasure. Except
in name this office presents little analogy with that of speaker
of the House of Commons, who almost ostentatiously stands
aloof from all questions of party politics. The speaker of the
Senate, on the other hand, is frankly ministerialist, sometimes
a member of the cabinet, and necessarily a supporter of the
administration of the day.
In common with his brother senators the speaker has a
vote in all cases, and when the votes are equal the decision
is deemed to be in the negative. Though he seldom exercises
the privilege, the speaker may join in debate, in which event
he comes down from the chair and speaks from the floor
uncovered. He receives in salary and allowances about
$6000 per session in addition to his indemnity as a senator,
and is provided with handsome quarters in the parliament
buildings.
The functions of the speaker are limited, being virtually
confined to presiding over the deliberations of the Senate.
THE SENATE
a83
He decides questions of order, subject to an appeal to the
Senate. The members do not address ihe speaker in debate,
but speak to the house at large. Except in certain cases
arising under the Civil Service Act of 1908 and its amendments
no patronage appertains to his office.
It is contrary to usage of either house of parliament to
mention in debate the other chamber by name. Thus a
senator wishing to allude to something that has happened in
the House of Commons will refer to the incident as having
occurred in ' another place.' Conversely, the same practice
prevails in the House of Commons.
The chief officers of the Senate are the clerk, the clerk
assistant, the law clerk, the gentleman usher of the Black Rod,
and the sergeant-at-arms.
The clerk records the proceedings of the Senate in the
form : : minutes, and generally performs the duties suggested
by his office. He administers the necessary oaths to newly
appointed senators, pronounces the royal assent to bills at
the appointed ceremony in that behalf, or announces their
reservation. He also acts as cashier.
The clerk of the Senate is also styled the ' Clerk of the
Parliaments,' and, as such, is the custodian of the original acts
of the legislatures of Upper and Lower Canada, of the late
Province of Canada, and of the Dominion of Canada.
The gentleman usher of the Black Rod is the ceremonial
officer of parliament. He has the direction of the arrange-
ments for the opening and closing of parliament, bears the
governor-general's messages to the House of Commons to
attend His Excellency in the Senate, and performs -ther
formal offices.
The sergeant-at-arms attends the speaker with the mace
at the daily opening and adjournment of the house, and on all
state occasions j maintains order and decorum in the chamber,
galleries and lobbies during the sittings of the Senate, and
generally is responsible for the carrying out of the speaker's
orders. He likewise keeps and certifies a list of senators
present at each sitting, as does also the gentleman usher of
the Black Rod.
The clerk of the Senate, the sergeant-at-arms and the
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384
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
gentleman usher of the Black Rod are appointed by the
governor in council and hold office during pleasure. The
clerk assistant, law clerk, translators, and other officers and
clerks are appointed by the Senate on the recommendation of
the Committee of Internal Economy and Contingent Accounts,
of which the speaker is not even a member. The clerk and
the clerk assistant ordinaniy sit at the table during the
sessions of the house, as on special occasions do the law clerk
and theclerk of the crown in Chancery. The sergeant-at-arms
and the gentleman usher of the Black Rod also have seats on
the floor.
Divorce is granted by the parliament of Canada in the
form of a private bill in each case, which goes through all
the stages in both houses exactly as any other private bill.*
Bills of this nature originate in the Senate, the petition being
referred to the Standing Committee on Divorce, which
examines witnesses, and after due inquiry into, and con-
sideration of, all the circumstances of each individual case,
makes its report to the house. Applications for divorce are
received from residents in the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec,
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta only, the Provinces of
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and
British Columbia having divorce courts of their own.
Divorces are granted by parliament only after the
establishment to the satisfaction of the Senate committee
of charges which include adultery. In this respect wives
are on an equal footing with husbands, the adultery of either
being held sufficient to warrant the dissolution of the bond.
In the forty-five years which have elapsed since Confederation
the parliament of Canada has granted one hundred and sixty
divorces, an average of less than four a year.
The Senate holds its sittings and regulates its adjourn-
ments within a session, at pleasu ;, but prorogation terminates
its proceedings until parliament is again summoned by the
crown. In former days there was occasional conflict between
the two houses, the legislative council of the Province of
Canada once guing to the length of throwing out the Supply
^ Previous to the Be»ion of 1879 divorce bills were reserved for the sigQifica-
tioa of the ruyal pleasure, in coniormity with the govenior.geiieral's iDstructioas.
THE SENATE
885
Bill ; and since Confederation the Senate has rejected three or
four important government measures ; but within recent yean
acute differences have been rare, the upper house for the most
part being content to follow the lead of the Commons. This
arises, in part at least, from a uniformity of political com-
plexion, which, in turn, is to be ascribed to the long continu-
ance of one party in power. When the conservatives went out
in 1896, after having enjoyed uninterruptedly eighteen years
of office, there were not more than a dozen liberal senators.
In 1911, after fifteen years of liberal rule, the position of
parties in the Senate was almost reversed.
It cannot be denied that the Senate has not fulfilled the
expectation of its founders, who proposed to themselves an
independent body, exercising a moderating and restraining
infiuence upon the legislation of the country. Such an m-
fluence is universally admitted to be advantageous, yet more
and more the Commons seems to absorb all rule and authority
and power, at the expense of the Senate, which correspond-
ingly suffers in prestige. This surely is not to the advantage
of the state. Various remedies have been suggested. The
mode of appointment is commonly criticized, many holding
that the Senate would be more influential if its members were
elected instead of being, as now, nominated by the prime
minister. More influential it might be— it certainly would
be more partisan j and, when it contained a majority opposed
to the government of the day, it would be more contentious
and less amenable to those moderating counsels which gener-
ally govern therein, even when a majority of its members are
unfriendly to the party in power. Others there are who
consider that the remedy lies with the executive. In 19"
onW one cabinet minister sat in the Senate, the other seven-
teen being in the Commons. It is rare indeed for a govern-
ment measure to be introduced in the upper house. The
consequence is that for more than half the time the Senate
has nothing to do.
This is not owing to any lack of legislative capaaty, for
it is a recognized fact that '.ne standing special committees
of the Senate devote moie pains to, and deal more satis-
factorily with, the bills referred to them than do those of the
386
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Commona. While it is no doubt expedient that the prime
minister, the minister of Finance and the heads of the large
spending departments should be in the Commona, there does
not seem to be any reason why the minister of Justice, the
secretary of state, the minister of Agriculture and the post-
master-geneial, or some of them, might not, with advantage
to the public service, sit in the upper house. If th&e were
three cabinet portfolios in the Senate, and if a reasonable pro-
portion of government measures was initiated therein, it is
the view of some that the Senate would recover much of its
old-time importance, and take that place in the administra-
tion of the country's affairs which it was originally intended
it should fill.
The House of Commons
The business of the great council of the nation, which we
call parliament, is not confined to the making of laws, but
includes the consideration of all matters of public concern.
Parliament may advise the crown on subjects of general
policy. It possesses the right of inquiry into all acts of
administration by the ministers to whom it has entrusted
the management of the country's affairs. It regulates taxa-
tion, and provides money for tjie requirements of the public
service. In respect of the two last-named functions the
House of Commona has the exclusive initiative, and in all
others a preponderating influence.
Parliament is called together by the governor-general,
who, on the advice of his ministers, issues a proclamation
summoning both houses to assemble on a day appointed by
him. No date is fixed by the constitution for the meeting
of parliament, the only limitation being that twelve months
must not intervene between the last sitting in cje session
and the first sitting in the next session.
For a long time parliament used to meet early in February.
Some years ago the date was changed to November, in the ex-
pectation of thereby avoiding summer sessions — an expecta-
tion not always realized. As a rule the sessions are not less
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 287
than six months m length, and there does not seem any
prospect that they may become shorter.
On the occasion of the opening of the first session of a
new parliament the members assemble at Ottawa, and take
the oath of allegiance before commissioners appointed for that
purpose. At the appointed hour the governor-general, either
in person or by deputy, proceeds to the Se-iate chamber and
takes his seat upon the throne (the deputy governor sits in a
chair at the foot of the throne). The speaker of the Senate,
being commanded in that behalf, directo the gentleman usher
of the Black Rod to acquaint the House of Commonaof the
governor-general's pleasure that they attend him in the
chamber of the Senate, whereupon they all troop up and
stand in studied disorder outside the bar. The speaker of
the Senate then informs them that His Excellency the gover-
nor-general does not see fit to declare his reasons for summon-
ing the present parliament until a speaker of the House of
Commons is elected according to law, whereupon they with-
draw to their own house, where the leader of the government,
addressing himself to the clerk (who, standing up, points to
him with outstretched finger in silence, and then sits down),
proposes (seconded by a cabinet minister) that Mr. A. B.
do take the chair as speaker. It is open to any two members
to propose and second any other member for the office, in
which case the house makes its selection by vote. When
the i«sult is declared, the proposer and seconder of the
successful candidate conduct him to the chair, whence he
returns his humble acknowledgment to the house for the
honour done him, and sits down. The mace, the symbol of
authority, which before lay under the table, is then laid upon
the table.
Next day the governor-general again comes down to
parliament, this time in person and in full state. He takes
his seat upon the throne. Again Black Rod is dispatched on
his mission to the Commons, who arrive with the speaker-
elect at their head, preceded by the sergeant-at-arms bearing
the mace. Standing outside the bar, the speaker-elect makes
a reverence to the throne, and in historic phrase acquaints
His Excellency that the House of Commons has elected him
I
388
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
in apeaker, despite his unfitness for tlie office, and at the
same time claims, on behalf of the Commons, freedom of
speech, and access to His Excellency's person at all seasonable
times. He does not, as in England and in some Canadian
provinces, seek the royal approval of his election. The gover-
nor-general, having, through the speaker of the Senate, con-
firmed the Commons in the exercise of all their constitutional
privileges, proceeds to read his speech both in English and
French, after which the Commons withdraw. Upon reach-
ing their own chamber the speaker recounts what happened
in the Senate up to the reading of the speech, of which, he
•ays, ' to prevent mistakes ' he has obtained a copy. The
leader of the house then asks leave to introduce a bill gener-
ally styled ' An Act respecting the administration of Oaths
of Office,' which is read a first time and never heard of again.
In fact, there is no such bill. The form is gone through at
the beginning of each session to assert the right of the Com-
mons to proceed to business before considering the speech
from ttic throne, which is then read. On a day fixed for its
consideration a private member, by arrangement, moves
an address of thanks to the governor-general for his gracious
speech, which is duly seconded, and affords the first test of
^e government's popularity. Should the numerical strength
of parties in the house be anything like equal, it ' , customary
for the opposition to move an amendment to this motion,
censuring the government for some act of commission or
omission, or simply declaring that they do not possesa the
confidence of the house. If such an amendment carries, the
ministry must resign, and the governor-general ' sends for '
the leader of the opposition. An adverse vote on the speaker-
ship is not necessarily regarded as a vote of want of confi-
dence, because, while the leader of the government generally
proposes the speaker, he does so in his capacity as leader
of the house rather than of the government. In England
the speaker is no ionger regarded as the nominee of a
party, and is always proposed and seconded by unofficial
members.
Parliamentary procedure is too elaborate and intricate a
subject to be gone into at any length here. It may be well,
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS a8»
however, briefly to note « few point* of intwwt connected
with the conduct of burinew in the Houte of Commoni.
He who hu witnewed for any length of time the govern-
mental lyrtem of Canada in actual operation cannot fail to
have marked the rtrength of party diadpUne, and particularly
the control exeici«ri by the adminirtration over its parha-
mentary following. Thi., peAap., is to be ascribed to •
concurrence of more or lea* favouring conditions. In the
parliament of Canada there are only two parties, and the
division between them is clear cut. 'Groups are unknown.
There is no organiied labour or socialistic vote to harass the
ministry. Majority and minority are alike homogeneous.
Then, too, since Confederation successive adnimstrations
have posseaed ample majoriti»» in parliament, and it may
be added that, for by far the Uuger portion of the time, each
side in turn has enjoyed the immense advantage of a suigu-
larly magnetic leader, whose commanding personality haa
evoked the respect and devotion of his entire following.
This manifestation of party discipline— lack of independ-
ence it is sometimes called— has at least the advantage of
imparting an element of permanence and stabiUty to Canadian
institutions, the lack of which is a misfortune to more than
one popular assembly in the world. _ , j
The rules of parUament assign two days (Tuesday and
Friday) in each week to government business. Before the
session is very far advanced the leader of the house moves
that for the remainder of the session government ordere have
precedence on Thursdays. A few weeks Uter he takes
Wednesdays by the same process ; then Mondays. Last of
all he appropriates Saturdays, and so has them all.
A great deal of the work of the House of Commons, mclud-
ing all private legislation, is performed in the standing com-
mittees which are struck at the beginning of each session.
By arrangement between the leaders, both poUtical parties
are represented on these committees in somewhat the same
numerical proportion that they occupy on the floor of the
A private member may introduce a public bill, by which
is meant a biU dealing with matters of a pubUc nature, but
VOL. VI '"
i
ago THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
unkM he doe* to at an early period of the MMion, then i*
not much chance of iu reaching a third reading, unlee* he
can penuade the miniitry to tranifer it to government oidert.
Money bills (i.e. meaeuree involving a charge upon the
people) can be ptopoeed only by a member of the government,
who must announce, when moving the house into committee
of the whole to consider the resolution upon which a bill of this
nature is founded, that the governor-general is acquainted
with the subject-matter of the resolution and recommends
it to the house.
Lined up in battle array, the two political parties confront
one another on the floor of parliament, with the speaker as
umpire, each vigilant to detect and talce advantage of any
opportunity that may present itself to score against its adver-
sary. The chief onslaughts of the opposition are made when
the minister of Finance moves that the spealcer leave the
chair and the house go into committee ' to consider of the
supply to be granted to His Majesty.' In conformity with
the old rule that redress of grievances must precede supply,
such occasions afford the most favourable opportunity for
assailing the ministry. It is then open to the opposition to
move an amendment against any portion of the government's
policy, censuring the ministers for what they have done or
left undone. Each time the minister moves the house into
committee of supply, a fresh amendment may be moved.
Such amendments constitute votes of want of confidence,
and, if carried, entail the resignation of the government.
To ensure the regular attendance of their supporters, each
side has several ' whips ' (i.e. aides^ie-camp to the leader
of the government and of the opposition respectively), whose
principal duty it is to see that the members under their sur-
veillance are in their places when the division bells ring,
steadfast in their allegiance, or, to adopt the shibboleth of
party, prepared to ' vote right.' The whips, who are of
course members of the house, perform services of the highest
importance from a party point of view — services which one
is tempted to think cannot always conduce to their personal
popularity. They are supposed to know where every member
of their party is at any time, and sometimes appear — no
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS a9i
doubt involanttrily— in the rtle of diituriien oJ convivial
atberingi. In important debatea they arrange the order
o< apeakera, pair membera who cannot be preaent at a divi-
alon, and In other waya contribute to the amenitiea of political
warfare. It la true, indeed, that one doea not hear much
of them i in thla reapect they resemble • the engineers of
a big transatlantic steamer whom the passengers never see,
but on whose abiUty, skill and resource the safety of the
mighty vessel largely depends.' '
Though very real personages, the whips are quite unknown
to the forms of pa.liament. Nor do the journals of the
house contain any reference to another reality, that mysteri-
ous body known as the 'caucus,* of whose proceedings,
though veiled in secrecy, vague rumours occasionally reach
the press. The caucus, in its simplest form, is the aggregate
of the supporters of the government or of the opposition in
both houses. From time to time the members of either
party meet together, to discuss with their leaders questions
of policy, to take counsel of one another, to agree on a common
course of action upon occasions of emergency. Such a meet-
ing is a ' caucus.' The chairman of the caucus is always a
private member, generally an old party war-horse of approved
adelity and worth.
Ministerial caucuses are summoned by the whips at tne
instance of the prime minister ; those of the opposition at
their leader's call. No member of either house is supposed
to attend the caucus unless he receives a notice from the
whips to this effect, and stringent precautions are sometimes
taken to see that this rule is observed.
Politics play so large a part in the real life of the House
of Commons that it is somewhat amusing to be told that
officially the house knows nothing of party stnie. Its
journals conuin no allusion to political divisions, and in the
sututes (with one incidental exception in recent yei..,s)
they are equally unknown. This was illustrated in the
» T*# Bock of Parliamtnt, by Michael MacDooagb, pp. 367-8.
• The 30th section of ' An Act respecting the Senate and House of Commons
(R S C cap. 10) provides that 'To the member occupying the recognised
position ol leader ol the Opposition in the House of Commons there shall be paid
ao at^ditional sessional allowance of seven thousand dollars.'
I
49* THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
iinpabl parliament not long rinoe, when A. J. Balfom, then
leader of the oppon'tion, wiehing to refer to hie following,
apoke of them, not directly ae an oppoaition under hia Imdcr
ahip, but as ' guntlemen who uaually act with me.'
The oiiice of ipeaker of the Holm of Commona ia one
«f great dignity and importance. He is the mouthpiece of
the houae. He puta all mntiona and announcea the result
of votee. In the chair he controla the deliberations of the
ass em bly and enfottxa hia rulings. He ia the iudge of all
questions of order, subject to an appeal to the jouse. He
interprets the rules of debate. He reprimands membeii
when necessary, and in cases of grossly disorderly conduct
may ' name ' a member, which involves the immediate with-
drawal of the offender.
The speaker cannot join in debate while presiding over
the house, though in committee of the whole he may give
expression to his views — a privilege of which he rarely availa
himself. Sometimes, however, he may find it necessary to
explain certain matters connected with the management of
the affair* of the house, or to represent the views of his con-
stituents. The speaker has a casting vote in the event of a
tie, but not otherwise. While in such a contingency he is
free to vote as he pleases, the etiquette of the occasion
requires that he shall so vote as not to preclude further con-
sideration of the subject by the house.
The business affairs of the House of Commons arc regu-
lated by a board styled the Commissioners of Internal
Economy, composed of the speaker and four members of
the Privy Council, being at the same time members of the
House of Commons, appointed by the governor-general.
These commissioners form an advisory board to assist the
speaker in regard to appointments, promotions, increases
of salary, superarmuation, and co ingent expenses of the
house.
An officer styled the chairman of conunittees, whose duty
it is to preside over all committees of the whole house, is
elected at the first session of each parliament for the life of
the parliament. By the Act R. S. C, 1906, cap. 13, when-
ever the speaker of the House of Commons, through illness
*-*^.
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
193
or any other cauK, finds it neccMvy to leav* the chair, ha
may oJl upon the chairman of committeea, or, in hia abacnce,
any member of the hoiue, to talce the chair and act as deputy
speaker during the remainder of such day, unlesa he himself
naumes the chair before the close of the sittings for that day.
Whenever the house is informed by the cleric at the table
ci the unavoidable absence of the speaker, the chairman of
committees, if present, takes the chair, performs the duties
and enrdses the authority of speaker in relation to all the
praoeedings of the house, until the meeting of the house on
the next sitting day, and so on from day to day until the
house otherwise orders. Should the house adjourn for more
than twenty-four hours, the deputy speaker continues to
perform the duties and exercise the authority of speaker for
twenty-four tiours only, after such adjournment.
The salary of the deputy speaker is $3000, voted each
session, in addition to his indemnity as member.
The speaker at a dissolution of parliament is deemed
for purposes of administration to be the speaker until his
successor is chosen by the new parliament.
The chief oificers of the House of Commons are the clerk,
the sergeant-at-arms, the law clerk and the clerk assistant.
The clerk and the sergeant-at-arms are appointed hy com-
mission under the great seal, and hold office during the
pleasure of the crown. The clerk assistant, the bw clerk,
and the chief clerks at the head of the various branches, as
well as the other membeia of the f taff, including tko clerks
of committee, are appointed by the speaker.
The clerk sits at the table (as does also his assistant).
He is supposed to prepare the daily record of the proceedings
of the house, which is called the ' Votes and Proceedings,"
though this work is now done under his responsibility by
a special officer. The clerk has the custody of all papers
of the house, and generally assists the speaker. The clerk
assistant reads whatever requires to be read to the house,
calls out the names of the members when a division is being
taken, and reads the titles of all bills.
The sergeant-at-arms occupies a special seat near the
bar. He attends the speaker with the mace, carries out the
I
394
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
orders of the house, arrests ail persons ordered to be taken
into custody, and is responsible for their safe keeping ; he
preserves order in the precincts of the house, and exercises
a general supervision over the messenger service.
The clerk of the crown in Chancery, though appointed
by commission under the great seal, and consequently a
crown officer, is, in some respects, an officer of parliament as
well. He issues writs for elections of members of the House
of Commons, and at the opening of the first session of a new
parliament is present at the table of that house, where he
hands the clerk the coll containing the names of the members
elected to serve. He also attends in the Senate chamber
at the ceremony of giving the royal assent, and from his
place at the table reads the titles of the bills about to become
law. Proclamations summoning, proroguing and dissolving
parliament, though issued under the great seal, emanate, by
command, from the office of the clerk of the crown in Chan-
cery ; and until recent years writs of summons, addressed to
senators, now attested by the secretary of state of Caiuida,
were signed by him.
No system of closure or other impediment to the freedom
of debate exists in the parliament of Canada. Every member,
provided he conforms to the rules, may speak to a motion
without any limitation of time. Upon rare occasions of
persistent obstruction, mutterings are sometimes heard of
the necessity for the introduction of some such restriction,
but the privilege of free speech remains uncurtailed.
The House of Commons consisted in 1912 of 221 members,
of whom Ontario sent 86, Quebec 65, Nova Scotia 18, New
Brunswick 13, Manitoba 10, Saskatchewan 10, British
Columbia 7, Alberta 7, Prince Edward Island 4, Yukon
Territory i. The representation is directly proportional to
population, and is based on that of Quebec. After every
census the populatipn of Quebec is divided by sixty-five, and
the quotient forms the unit of representation in the other
provinces. The members are elected under the provincial
franchises. No property qualification is required, but a
member must have attained the age of twenty-one years and
be a British subject by birth or naturalization.
k.
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 295
When a bill passes both houses it is examined by the
minister of Justice, who submits it to the goveraor-gtneral,
with a certificate to the effect that in his opinion there exists
no objection to the royal assent being given thereto, where-
upon the governor-genera' ~. tei on each bill the words, 'I
assent to this Bill in Hit Majesty's nai. ? ' and signs it. At
the ceremony of pioro ;itirn the cli r'. of the crown in
Chancery reads the titU.i ci all the bi Is passed during the
session, after which the der'' of fhe Senate announces that
' In His Majesty's name His Excellency the Governor-
General doth assent to these Bills."
In the case of the Supply Bill the procedure is somewhat
varied. This important measure is presented by the speaker
of the House of Commons in the following words :
May it please Your Excellency :
The Commons of Canada have voted the supplies re-
quired to enable the Government to defray the expenses
of the public service. In the name of the Commons I
present to Your Excellency a bill intituled ' An Act for
granting to His Majesty certain sums of money for tte
Fublic service of the financial year, ... to which Bill
humbly request Your Excellency's assent.
The royal assent is then pronounced by the clerk of the
Senate in these quaint words :
In His Majesty's name His Excellency the Governor-
General thanks his loyal subjects, accepts their bene-
volence, and assents to this Bill.
The original acts are then confided to the custody of the
clerk of the parliaments.
By the British North America Act, 1867, the governor-
general, with reference to bills passed by the houses of pariia-
ment, is directed to declare according to his discretion, but
subject to the laws and to the royal instructions, either that
he assents to a bill in the king's name, or that he withholds
the king's assent, or that he reserves the bill for the signifi-
cation of His Majesty's pleasure. Previous to 1878 the
governor-general's instructions forbade him to give the
royal assent to
■96 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
I. Any Bill for the divorce of persons joined together
in holy matrimony.
a. Any Bill whereby any grant of land or money, or
other donation or gratuity, may be made to yourself.
3. Any Bill whereby any paper or other currency may
be made a legal tender, except the coin of the reahn or
other gold or silver coin.
4. Any Bill imposing differential duties.
5. Any Bill, the provisions of which shall appear in-
consistent wim obligations imposed upon Us by Treaty.
6. Any Bill interfering with the discipline or control
of Our forces in Our said Dominion by land and sea.
7. Any Bill of an extraordinary nature and importance
whereby Our prerogative, or the rights and property of
Our subjects not residing in Our said Dominion, or the
trade and shipping of the United Kingdom and its de-
pendencies may be prejudiced.
8. Any Bill containing provisions to which Our assent
has been once refused, or which has been disallowed by
Us :
Unless such Bill shall contain a clause suspending the
operation of such Bill until die signification in Our said
Dominion of Our pleasure thereupon, or unless you shall
have satisfied youi^elf that an ui^;ent necessity exists,
requiring that such Bill be brought into immediate opera-
tion, in which case you are authorized to assent in Our
name to such Bill, unless the same shall be repugnant to
the law of England or inconsistent with any obligations
imposed on Us by Treaty. But you are to transmit to
Us tnr the earliest opportunity the Bill so assented to,
together with your reasons for assenting thereto.
When the governor's instructions were revised in 1878,
under circumstances already set forth in this article, all
directions respecting the reservation of bills for the significa-
tion of the royal pleasure were omitted, and since that date
the number of reservations has been very small. There are
no instances on record of a governor-general of Canada
mthholding the royal assent, as distinguished from reserving
a bill for the signification of the sovereign's pleasure.
When a bill is to be reserved, the practice is that im-
mediately after the royal assent has been given to the other
measures passed during the session, but before the Supply Bill
%
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 297
is assented to, the clerk of the crown in Chancery reads the
title of the offending measure, whereupon the cleric of the
Senate announces that ' His Excellency the Governor-General
doth reserve this Bill for the signification of His Majesty's
pleasure thereon,' and the measure remains inoperative until
the royal assent is announced by proclamation of the governor-
general in the Canada Gatelte.'-
Acts of the parliaments of Canada are subject to disallow-
ance by the king in council at any time within two years of the
receipt thereof by one of His Majesty's principal secretaries
of state. An instance of the exercise of this power before
Confederation is afforded by the disallowance, in 1847, of the
act of the Province of Canada (lo-li Vict. cap. 43) for the
incorporation of the town of Bytown (now Otta- s). Only
one act of the Dominion parliament has suffered this fate —
33 Vict. cap. 14, commonly known as the Oaths Bill, which
was disallowed in 1873 as being ultra vires of the parliament
of Canada.
The House of Commons may last for five years from the
date of the return of the writs summoning it, but is subject
to earlier dissolution by the governor-general. The preroga-
tive of dissolution is virtually vested in the prime minister,
a power which adds enormously to his authority and prestige.
This is not to say that a governor-general is bound automatic-
ally to grant a dissolution in the case of, say, a newly elected
parliament, at the mere caprice of his chief adviser. As the
guardian of the prerogative, it is at once his right and his duty
to require a reason justifying its exceptional exercise, and
no prime minister would lightly expose himself to the risk
of refusal by advising a course in defiance of constitutional
precedent. At the same time the constitution is flexible, and
when the expediency of a dissolution is manifest the reasons
for granting it are seldom wanting.
The form in which advice is tendered to the governor-
general will be explained later. Let it suffice to say here that
when a prime minister has decided to dissolve, he causes a
* On Jane a, 1886, ' An Act further to amend the Act raepecting fishing by
foreign vessels ' was rewrved for Her Majesty's pleasure. The royal assent thereto
was given on November 26, 1886, and the fact was announced by proc lam a ti no
dated December 24, 1886.
VOL, VI a P
i
398 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
minute of council to be passed recommending the issue of a
proclamation dissolving die existing House of Commons, and
calling a new parliament to meet on a certain day. The
minute submits the date of the writs, the date of nomination,
and the date of the return of the writs. On the approval of
the governor-general being given the proclamation issues
accordingly. Another minute is passed recommending the
appointment of the returning officers, which when approved is
sent to the clerk of the crown [n Chancery, who thereupon
dispatches the writs with all speed, together with the requi-
site topies of the necessary proclamation to be posted up in
each constituency, ballot-papers, ballot-boxes, and the whole
paraphernalia of an election. When the polling is over the
returning officer endorses the result upon the writ and returns
it to the clerk of the crown in Chancery, who gazettes the new
member.
In recent times there has been much public discussion
of mandates and pledges and referendums. The unwritten
portion of the Canadian constitution is anything but fixed.
A constant development seems to be in progress. Perhaps in
the course of evolution the day may arrive when a member
of parliament will no longer be a representative, but merely
a delegate, a sort of telephone *hrough which his constituents
will convey their wishes to the go'/emment of the day. So
far, however, the parliament of Canada has proceeded on the
ancient lines of the British constitution, under which a
member represents not merely his own constituency but the
whole country, and is sent to parliament to act according to
his best judgment in the interest of his constituents. These
should look up to him for guidance, not he to them, like
the French revolutionist who pleaded in excuse for his
excesses : ' Had I not to follow them ? Was I not their
leader ? '
The mandate theory has never been applied in Canada.
The Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 was negotiated in the last
days of an expiring parliament. Confederation was agreed
to in March 1865 by a legislature elected nearly two years
before on quite different issues. The North- West Territories
were acquired, the Canadian Pacific Railway contract was
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
499
entered into, and the Transcontinental Railway waa buiU on
the authority of parliaments elected to adnunister the affairs
of Canada, but without any mandate m respect of these
particular policies. Apart from the enormous expense and
difficulty involved in appealing to the people on every occasion
where a policy which did not happen to have been under
discussion at the preceding general election is proposed by the
government, it is not easy to see how such a system could
work in practice, without changing the whole character and
functions of parliament. j • . .
Should a ministry suffer defeat at the polls by a decisive
majority, it is customary for it to resign without waiting for
an adverse vote in pariiament, notwithstandmg that it is
only through the House of Commons that the will of the people
can be constitutionally expressed. This procedure^ dictated
by reasons of convenience, was inaugurated by Disraeli in
1868 and, though pronounced at the time to be an unusual
course,' has since been followed both in England and m
Canada, the defeated ministiy remaining in office only long
enough to complete unfinished business and to set its affairs
in Older. The length of the interval between the date ot
polUng and the resignation, though dependent upon circum-
stances, does not ordinarily extend beyond three weeks.'
ShouU, however, the result of the elections be inconclusive
ministers, even though there may appear to be a smal
majority against them, are justified in holding office until
they learn their fate from a vote of the House of Commons.
In such a contingency the new parliament should be sum-
moned without delay. .. ^ . a j j t^,t „t
The propriety of a ministry which has suffered deteat at
the polls advising appointments before going out of office
has been a question of periodical interest in tecent years.
Until 1878 it seems to have been the recognized practice tor
an outgoing government to fill vacancies existing on the day of
polling. The Mackenzie administration was overthrown on
• Th.MKfc:n«ie goveram. -it, delwted at the poU» on S.ptembo 17, >378.
„^Ji in cffic. until October .6; but Sir Ch«l» Tnpper, del»t^ on
5une 23. .8,6, resigned on Jnly 8. and Sir Willnd Launer, defeated on
September ai, 1911, resigned on October 6.
T. f. I
'!4J
300 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
September 17 of that year. Yet between that date and tlw
■wearing in of hi* succeaaor, Mackenzie appointed a Supreme
Court judge, a judge of the Superior Court of Lower Canada,
and filled other important vacancies then exiating, both in
the inside and outside service, as a matter of coune. His
action provoked no adverse comment. Upon the defeat of
Sir Charles Tupper in 1896 the govemor-general of the day
(Lord Aberdeen) refused to allow certain judgeships and
aenatorships to be filled, on the ground that his advisen
had lost the confidence of the people. This precedent was
accepted by the Laurier government in igu, and apparently
commends itself to popular opinion. Nevertheless, the prac-
tice of allowing a defeated ministry to fill up vacancies seems
more conformable, at once to the best traditions of English
public life, and to those chivalrous instincts which in all
civilized, and some uncivilized, communities prompt generous
treatment of a fallen foe.
The CABDrer
The cabinet is in name and in fact a committee of the
Pnvy Council, selected by the prime minister from among
those councillors who possess the confidence of the House of
Commons. It is also in a real and true sense, as Bagehot
well says, ' a board of control chosen by the legislature out
of persons whom it trusts and knows, to rule the nation. . . .
A combining committee— a hyphen which joins— a buckle
which fastens the legislative part of the state to the executive
part of the state. In its origin it belongs to the one, in its
functions it belongs to the other."
As will be inferred from the foregoing, a cabinet minister
must possess a seat in one or other branch of the legislature—
not necessarily on appointment, but within a convenient period
thereafter. If not actually a privy councillor, he must be
sworn of that body as a condition precedent to his entry into
the cabinet, for it is from the ranks of the Privy Council
that cabinet ministers are drawn. In law the Privy Council
remains the advisory body— the cabinet is unknown. It is
undoubtedly a singular fact that this body, all-powerful under
;|f
THE CABINET JM
the British syttem of government, should have no legal
existence. The cabinet is never mentioned in any act of
parliament It keeps no record of its own proceedings, or
even of its meetings, which are secret. No secretary or clerk
is present thereat. Its number is not fixed. The names of its
members are not to be found collectively in any public docu-
ment They are not even officially announced, save by the
prime minister, verbally on the floor of parliament, and then,
it may be, months aft^r the cabinet has been formed. Should
the life of a ministry lie wholly within a parliamentary recess,
that is to say, should the new cabinet never have met parlia-
ment, its composition might not be officially known at all.
No formalities attend admission into its ranks, nor is any oath
taken by a member of the cabinet as such.
The function of the cabinet is to advise the governor-
general in all matters appertaining to the carrying on of the
government To this end its members meet together and
deliberate upon affairs of sUte calling for consideration and
action. Questions are freely discussed at cabinet meetings,
and, in cases of pronounced differences of opinion, are some-
times decided by vote ; but once a line of policy is agreed upon,
whether by general assent, by the rule of the majority, or
by the dominating influence of the prime minister, all the
members are equally responsible for the decisions arrived at
and are equally bound to support and defend them or resign.
There is not a fixed number of cabinet ministers. The
first Dominion ministry contained thirteen members, and this
number has never been grtatly departed from. In 191 2 there
were fifteen portfolios, held by the president of the Privy
Council, the ministers of Finance, Justice, Public Works,
Railways and Canals, Customs, Inland Revenue (who is also
minister of Mines), Marine and Fisheries (who is also minister
of the Naval Service), Militia and Defence, Agriculture, the
Interior (who is also the superintendent-general of Indian
Affairs), Trade and Commerce, Labour, the secretary of state
of Canada (who is also secretary of state for External Affairs,
and presides over the department of the King's Printer), and
the postmaster-general.
In the formation of a cabinet among many practical
It
m
I
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THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
considerations to be borne in mind, care must be taken to
see that the various geographical and racial divisions of the
Dominion are represented, with some regard to their relative
importance. Thus, at present (1912), Onurio has 7 members,
Quebec 5, the Maritime Provinces 2, the Prairie Provinces 3,
and British Columbia i, but there is no fixed rule in the
matter, and it is to be hoped that Canadians will soon out-
grow the parochial spirit which, by insisting upon such pro-
vincial limitations, hampers the choice of the prime minister.
While the heads of public departments of the government
of Canada are always cabinet ministers, it is well to remember
that the cabinet minister, who is at the same time head of a
department, occupies a dual position. He is an adviser of
the crown. As such he receives no formal appointment. He
takes no oath of office, is paid no salary, and his tenure is
wholly dependent upon the prime minister. But, in addition
to this, he is head of a department of government. As such
he fills a public office to which he is appointed by commission
under the great seal. He receives a salary for the discharge
of duties which he takes an oath to perform. This office he
holds, irrespective of the life of the prime minister of the
cabinet, until he resigns or is superseded. Thus it is that
after the dissolution of a cabinet by the prime minister's death
or resignation, the heads of departments continue to perform
ministerial functions until their successors are appointed.
A cabinet may contain one or more members who hold no
ministerial office. These are called ministers without port-
folio. They are simply members of the Privy Council in
respect of whom the prime mnister has directed the clerk to
send a notice of the cabinet meetings. Without further
ceremony they attend. Such members have the same status
and voice at cabinet meetings as the holders of portfolios.
The solicitor-general is a member of the ministry, but not
of the cabinet. He is not necessarily a privy councillor, and
is therefore not an adviser of the crown.
Though adhering to the British constitutional principle
which requires every act of the crown to be performed on the
advice of responsible ministers, the Canadian practice has
not maintained that distinction between the cabinet and the
o'jr,^:3?5iewaa
THE CABINET 303
Privy Council which exi«t» in England. There the cabinet
aiMmble* informally to advise the aovereign on matters of
public policy, not to perfonn any ministerial act. Its meet-
ings are quite distinct from those of the Privy Council, which
ari held for the transaction of the business of state, such as
the issue of proclamations, orders-in-council bringing sutu-
tory provisions into effect, anH other formal acts of govern-
ment, for it is only through \.Avy councillors that the crown
candoanytiiing. A Privy Council may be composed of three
or more councillors— not necessarily cabinet ministers-
drawn from members c.' the government, the great officers of
state, or other members of His Majesty's household, and
members of either house of parliament in political sympathy
with the government. Its function is to carry into effect
advice given to the sovereign by the cabinet, or to discharge
duties imposed upon it by statute. The king is never present
at cabinet meetings. His Majesty, however, frequently pre-
sides at Privy Councils. On extraordinary occasions a full
meeting of the Privy Council is convened, with the sovereign
in the chair, to which every privy councillor is summoned (on
the advice of the cabinet), but this ceremony is very rare.
Canada has in actual practice combined the functions of
these two bodies. The cabinet stands in the same advisory
and consultative relation to the governor-general in respect
of general questions of policy as the English cabinet occu-
pies towards the sovereign. It sits also, at the same time,
as a committee of the Privy Council, and as such transacts
a vast amount of administrative business which in England is
dealt with through the Privy Council, or departmentally by
individual ministers. This is indeed its principal function.
The business dealt with by the cabinet in its executive
capacity is of the most varied character, and includes practi-
cally every act of importance pertaining to the administration
of the military, naval, financial and postal sen/ices — the regu-
lation of matters relating to trade and commerce j navigation
and shipping ; the fisheries. Dominion lands, Indians ; the
letting of contracts for public works ; the approval of railway
plans and specifications ; appointments to office of all ranks
and degrees, from a lieutenant-governor to a tide-waiter;
i
30*
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
cxteraal aflaira, the dvil lervice, and a hoat of other raatten,
many of which, one ii tempted to think, might with advan-
tage be dealt with departmentally.
In all thea>- matters the cabinet acts only in an advisory
capacity. It is the governor-general's approval that makes
the cabinet's recommendations effective.
Cabinet meetings are summoned by the clerk of the Privy
Council, who notifies each minister in the following terms :
Sn,
I am directed to request you to attend a meeting of the
Committee of the Privy Council to be held to^lay at
. . . o'cijck.
Four ministers are considered necessary to form a quorum
for a cabinet council. In pre-Confederation days the governor-
general was enjoined by his instructions not to permit his
council to proceed to business unless one-third of the members
were present In the instructions issued to Lord Dufferin in
1873 the one-third was changed to four members. \A/hen the
governor-general's commission and instructions were revised
in 1878 in tni- manner already explained, all reference to a
quorum wis oti i cted, but the tradition requiring four members
has endured till the present day.
The governor-general never attends the deliberations of
his cabinet, though he has been known formally to preside at
a council summoned for the performance of a ceremonial act,
such, for example, as the first meeting with his ministers, or
the swearing in of a privy councillor.
Thb Pewe Minister
The leading personage in the government unquestionably
is the prime minister — the choice at once of the governor-
general and of the people, and the principal intermediary
between the two. As chief adviser of the crown, it is he who
moulds and directs the policy of the administration. To
him belongs the right of choosing his colleagues, subject to
the approbation of the governor-general. He can at any time
call for the resignation of any minister, and his withdrawal
THE PRIME MINISTER 30S
fn>m office c»rrie« with It the diiwlution o» Ae »biii*t.
The decUioM of the miniitty on queitioiii of public policy lie
communicated to the govemor-gaierel by the prime mimiter,
who u the •pokeman for the cabinet, end upon whom reett
in a very ipecial degree the reeponiibiUty for advice tendered
to the lovcnign'* repreienUtive.
While thus influential in the coundla of the crown, the
prime minister ii at the Kune time the acknowledged chief
of the dominant party in parliament, and U thui entitled u>
speak in the name of the whole nation. Vet, etrange a» it
mayappear, thia office, which unitea in itielf the authority
of the crown and of the people, is unknown to the consUtutoon.
and. with one trifling exception,' is untecogniied by law.
The prime minister, as such, has no precedence over any
other member of the Privy Council, and in die cabinet may
find himself overruled or outvoted. It is of course riways
open to him to force the resignation of one or all of tas col-
leagues at any time, and in this way he possesses a reserve
power which he can bring into play whenever he conceives
the question at issue of sufficient moment to warrant its
exercise. This naturally gives him a degree of weight not
enjoyed by any other minister, but a wise prime minister dooj
not often invoke his supreme authority, and as regards all
ordinary acts of administration is content to abide by the
judgment of his colleagues.
The office of prime minister is conferred by the governor-
general, who upon the resignation of his advisers ' sends for
—in theory, whomsoever he pleases— in practice for the
recognized leader of the opposition in parliament, and en-
trusts him with the formation of a new admimstratton. The
person to whom this duty is confided confers with the leading
members of his political party, and when ready submits the
names of his proposed colleagues to tiie governor-general,
who signifies his approval of the arrangements. Thereupon
the ministry is formed. Such of the members designated as
do not belong to tiie Privy Council are tiien sworn of tiiat
> R S C. duptBT 4, ■«ction 4, luhMCtioil 2, provide. U»t • Th. Member ol tte
Ki.,? Privi^cil holdi,., the ™cop.i«d p»ita. 01 Fu.t Mm»t.r d»U
leodve in Jditioo [to hi. «J«y a. minister) five thoo-nd dolUr. p« "mom.
VOL. VI ' ''
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306
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
body, after which Mch om is appointed by coromiMioa under
the great teal to the portfolio awigned to him. Before aeeum-
ing chaiga of hie department the newly appointed miniater
takei the oath of office in the presence of the governor-general.
Should the penon commiieioned by the govemor-genenl to
fbcm a ministry fail in the task, he so acquaint* His Excel-
lency, who thereupon invites suggestions as to whom he should
call upon, or seeks advice elsewhere.
During the interval between the resignation of one ad-
ministration and the assumption of office by another, the
outgoing ministers, though no longer in a position to advise
the crown collectively, continue to discharge their ministerial
functions as heads of departments until their successors an
appointed.
For a considerable period in the history of Canada the
office of prime minister was not in reality held by one person,
but might almost be said to have been in commission. From
die union of the two Canadas in 1841 down to Confederation,
if the leader of the government were from Upper Canada, hi*
most influential French-Canar^ian colleague shared with him
the authority and prestige of the first minister. If, on the
other hand, the leader came from Lower Canada, his English
lieutenant was associated with him in the office of chief adviser
of the crown. Thus there was successively the La Fontaine-
Baldwin, the Hincks-Morin, the Macdonald-Cartier, the
Brown-Dorion, the Macdonald-Sicotte, and the Tachi-Mac-
donald administrations. So unsatisfactory was this felt to
be that, when entrusting Sir John Macdonald with the for-
mation of the first Dominion ministry, the governor-general
deemed it necessary to observe to him : ' In authorizing you
to undertake the duty of forming an administration for the
Dominion of Canada, I desire to express my strong opinion
that in future it shall be distinctly understood that the position
of First Minister shall be held by one person, who shall be
responsible to the governor-general for the appointment of the
other ministers, and that the system of dual First Ministers,
which has hitherto prevailed, shall be put an end to.' And
this was done.
The governor-general selects his prime minister, and the
THE PRIME MINISTER sn
nime miniiter aelecti hii colle«guM. Both cooititutioiially
Iuv« entire freedom of choice, yet both are drcuoucnbed in
in tmvin. For, u the governor-general it virtually re-
■tikted in hi* choice of a chief adviaer to the leader of the
oppoiition or to the penon whom that gentleman may recom-
mend, the prime minister, in turn, ii limited in the forma>-
tioo of hia cabinet by various consideratiooi, one being that
hit new colleague* muit be member* of one or other branch
of the legislature, and must also be accepuble to the House of
Commons, or more particularly to the members coming from
the province which they are to represent in the cabinet. It
i* alM> extremely desirable that a cabinet minister should be
pasima pala with, or at least not personally objectionable to,
the governor-general, for although the constitutional obliga-
tions of his office might require a governor to subordinate his
own feelings, even in such a case, to the exigencies of the public
•ervice, those exigencies must surely be grave which would
justify B prime minister in forcing upon the representative of
the crown as a confidential adviser one with whom, for one
reason or another, all personal relations might be distasteful,
if not Impossible.
While all appointments under the crown are made on the
advice of the cabinet, certain high positions are, by custom
and common consent, held to be peculiarly in the gift of the
prime minister. Chief among these are the offi r,es of cabinet
minister, lieutenant-governor, privy councillor, the speaker
of the Senate, and chief justices of all courts. The clerks
of the Senate and House of Commons, the sergeant-at-arms
and other crown office™ of the upper and lower houses, the
librarians of pariiament, members of the Treasury Board
and of the Committee of Internal Economy of the House of
Commons, likewise are made on his recommendation. To
him also belongs the special right of advising the crown in
respect of the convocation and prorogation of parliament, as
well as the dissolution of the House of Commons.
In filling the higher offices of state— as, for example,
lieutenant-governorships— it is customary for the prime
minister to acquaint the governor-general, in advance of the
formal minute of council, with the name of the person whom it
n
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308
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
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i ■ I
M
Ai
is intended to recommend, together with a few particulan
not contained in the official aubnuarion, indicating his fitnen
for the position. Tliia is done as a matter of courtesy, in
order that the governor-general may Icnow something before-
hand of the person whose appointment he is to be aslced to
sanction.
Though on all important questions of public policy the
prime minister is the intermediary between the crown and
the cabinet, individual ministers have the right, as privy
coundllors, to communicate directly with the governor-general
in respect of matters pertaining to their several departments.
It is now proposed to consider tiiese departments somewhat in
detail.
Tbk Psesident of the Peivy Council
The president of the king's Privy Council for Canada,
like all political heads of departments, is appointed by
commission under the great seal, and holds office during
pleasure. There is no direct parliamentary creation of this
portfolio, nor of the Privy Council office over which the
president has charge, which therefore, strictly speaking, is
not a department of state, though for practical purposes
accounted as such. The principal duty of the president is to
preside at cabinet councils, of which, when present, he and not
the prime minister is chairman. The latter, as has been said,
enjoys on such occasions no formal pre-eminence over his
colleagues. In the present cabinet (1912) the prime minister
is the president of the council, but such has not always been
the case. Sir John Macdonald successively united several
portfolios with the office of first minister, and at the time
of his death was minister of Railways and Canals. Alexander
Mackenzie was minister of Public Works during the whole
course of his premiership. Sir John Thompson was minister
of Justice ; Sir Charles Tupper secretary of state. In the
earlier years of Confederation the presidency of the council
was generally filled by the junior minister, and, with the
exception of a few months in 1877, during which Edward Blake
held the portfolio, this continued to be the rule until 1883,
II
THE PRESIDENT OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL 309
when Sir John Macdonald took the office of president, which
in 1889 he rel' quished for the portfolio of Railways and
Canals. In 1891 Sir John Abbott, and in 1894 Sir Maclcenxie
Bowell, held the presidency of the council in conjunction with
the premieiahip, and their example was followed in 1896 by
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, whose long tenure of the position almost
identified it in the public mind with that of first minister,
from which, however, it is distinct.
Business of the various departments requiring the sanction
of the governor in council comes before that body in the form
of reports from the minister at the head of the department
concerned, addressed 'To His ExceUency the Governor-
General in Council.' These reports are laid before the council
for consideration. Such of them as relate to matters of finance,
revenue, expenditure, including appointments to the civil
service and promotions therein, are referred, without altera-
tion, by the president to the Treasury Board, a body whose
functions will be explained later. The remaining reports Me
minuted in the Privy Council office, that is to say, while
preserving their substance, they are so changed in form as to
become reports of the cabinet, or rather of the committee of
the Privy Council, as the cabinet is always officially styled.
In this form they are known as minutes of council. At
cabinet meetings these minutes are read one by one byj*^
president, who signs each minute as it is agreed to. The
minutes passed at a sitting are combined to form one report,
which is entitied ' Report of a Committee of the Privy Council
on matters of state referred for their consideration by Your
Excellency's command." This report is submitted by the
president to the governor-general, who approves each minute
separately by writing thereon the word ' approved," followed
by his name and the date, and returns them to the president.
They are thence correctly known as approved minutes of
council, or, in general parlance, ' orders-in-council," though
there may be nothing mandatory about them.
In certain cases corresponding to those which in England
call for action by the Privy Council, such as the carrying
into effect of statutory provisions, the cabinet passes what
are rightly desigMted ' ordera-in^ouncil.' Any issue of
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THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
tiie Canada Gantte, taken at random, contains aevcfal
wch orden-in-coundl. One amends the regulations govern-
ing the administration of timber lands widiin the Rocky
Mountains. Another establishes certain standards of quality
for beverages and fruit juices. A third disallows an act of a
provincial legislature. A fourth directs the issue of a pro-
clamation fixing a public holiday. A fifth approves a seal of
office.
In their original form all these are reports to the gowcmor-
gensial in council from ministers at the heads of departments.
As such they reach the Privy Council office, whtra, instead
of being turned into minutes, they are given a mandatory
form.
When a minute or order-in-coundl is passed, that is,
when it is approved by the govemor-general, a copy, certified
by the clerk of the Privy Council, is sent with all convenient
speed to the department especially concerned, and if the
subject-matter in any way relates to the payment of money a
second copy is supplied to the auditor-general.
Cabinet meetings are held with greater or less frequency
according to the requirements of public business. During tbt
seanon of parliament a meeting is called for every day on
which the house sits, in order to enable ministers to talk over
tha order paper and agree upon their course of procedure in
parliamsnt. On Saturdays during session the cabinet gener-
ally sits all day, disposing of departmental business which has
accumulated through the week. During the summer months
the cabinet meetings are shorter and less frequent, but with
the approach of autumn and a new session they increase in
number and in length. Any member of the cabinet can cause
m meeting of the council to be summoned by instructing the
clerk to diat effect.
Apart from presiding over cabinet meetings, the president's
duties, as president, are largely nominal, though he may be
assigned other functions by the governor in council. The
permanent head of the council office is styled the clerk of the
Privy Council. He ranks as a deputy head of a department,
or, rather, before all deputy heads. There ia an assistant
clerk of the council and a staff of thirteen clerks.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
3"
The Minister of Finance
Unlike the practice wliich obtains in England, where the
ofiicial status of a cabinet minister is detennined by the
office he holds, Canadian miniBtere of the crown take rank
accoiding to their individual seniority on the roll of the Privy
Council, irrespective of the portfolios assigned to them.
Thus the minister of Justice might be the senior privy coun-
cillor in the cabinet, in which case he would take precedence
of all his colleagues, while his successor in that office, if
but recently sworn of the Privy Council, might be the junior
at the council board.
Although this order is observed in Canada on all ceremonial
occasions, the rule otherwise finds an exception in the person
of the minister of Finance, who, irrespective of his seniority
as a privy councillor, is, as regards weight and influence,
generally looked upon as second only to the prime minister.
This is illustrated in the House of Commons, in which assembly
he sits on the prime minister's right hand, and, in the absence
of the latter, leads the house— marks of deference whi^a are
partly accounted for when his relation towards that body is
understood. ,
The minister of Finance and receiver-general— to give him
his full title— is the member of the cabinet primarily respon-
sible to parliament for the finances of the country— a matter
always of special concern to the House of Commons. He
has the principal voice in the imposition and regulation of
taxation. He negotiates the loans from time to time required
for the public service. He largely controls the expenditures.
It is his business to ask parliament to vote the amounts
necessary to the carrying on of the government. Nor is his
influence in fiscal matters confined to the House of Commons.
It is felt in every branch of the executive government,
and is a potent factor in the council chamber itself, where
he sometimes discharges the not altogether agreeable duty of
criticizing and, it may be, of opposing such projectt of his
colleagues as would involve a larger expenditure than, in
his judgment, the resources of the country should be called
upon to bear.
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Some weeks befoie pariiament meeto, eitiinates of the
sums needed for the «ervice» of the ouuing year ue lub-
mitted by the various departments to the minister of Finance,
who lays them before the cabinet, where they are discussed item
by item. In these discussions the minister fills the r61e of a
censor, with a view to curtailing, as far as may be consistait
with the requirements of the pubUc service, the demands of his
colleagues upon the Treasury.
The estimates, when finally agreed upon, are brought
down to the House of Commons by message from the gover-
nor-general, without whose authority no measure mvolvmg
any charge upon the people can be received or considered.
This message is presented by the minister of Finance, who
moves that it and the estimates be referred to the Committee
of Supply. Parliament votes the money in the form of a
grant to the sovereign. When the royal assent is given to
die Supply Bill, a minute of the Privy CouncU is ia«ed, on
the recommendation of the minister of Finance, by which
the govemor-general, as the representative of the crown,
' releases ' these supplies, placing them at the disposal of the
several departments. When a department wishes to draw
upon any special vote, the deputy minister asks *e auditor-
general for a credit on any of the banks m whidi pubhc
moneys are kept. These credits are issued by the mmistw of
Finance on the appUcation of the auditor-general, who first
satisfies himself that parliament has provided the money,
and that the amount asked for is not in excess of the appro-
priation. The advances are subsequently recouped to the
bank by the minister of Finance. In certain circumstances,
instead of a credit, cheques are issued, but in both cases it is
'ie minister of Finance who holds the purse, and thus eju
cises in the manner described an effective check upon tie
public expenditure.
Another point of contact between the several departtnente
and that of Finance is to be found in an officer of the minister
of Finance, styled the ' accountant of contingencies, who
deaU with the contingent accounts of the whole inside service.
BilU for printing, stationery, telegraphing, postage, travel-
ling expenses, extra clerks, and all manner of petty expenses,
li
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
313
after Having been certified by the deputy head under whooe
authority they were incurred, are sent to the accountant of
contingencies for payment.
The department of Finance was originally known as that
of the inspector-general. In 1859 (by 23 Vict. cap. 14) the
name was changed to its present designation. There existed
in those days, and for some years after Confederation, another
financial department — that of the receiver-general — whidi
also was presided over by a minister of the crown. This
office seems to have been largely a sinecure, and in 1S79 was
merged into that of the minister of Finance, who became, ex
officio, receiver-general (42 Vict. cap. 7). It is in the name
of the receiver-general that the government moneys are kept
in the banks, and all sums from whatever source paid into
the Treasury to the credit of the government are deposited
to the credit of tne receiver-general.
The Fmance department is charged with the management
of the public accounts, debts and obligations of the Dominion.
It also controls the currency, including the issue and re-
demption of Dominion notes. This branch is managed by an
officer called the ' coraptrotler of currency,' acting under the
direction of the deputy minister of Finance.
The department also administers Government Savings
Banks established at Toronto, Halifax, St John, Winnipeg,
Victoria, Charlottetown and a few other places in the Mari-
time Provinces. These institutions (which are distinct from
the Post Office Savings Banks) are in charge of a local officer
called the assistant receiver-general, who, in addition to his
duties as manager of these banks, is an agent of the minister
of Finance for the issue and redemption of Domini- » notes.
The department of Insurance is likewise under the direc-
tion of the minister of Finance, through an officer known as
the superintendent of Insurance, who has the rank, and, quoad
the administration of the Insurance Act, the powers, rights
and privileges of a deputy head. The expenses of this office
are met by an annual assessment upon all insurance com-
panies doing business in Canada, in proportion to the gross
premiums received in the Dominion during the previous year.
The payments connected with the maintenance of the
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314 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint are made by the miniater
of Finance.
Thb Treasury Board
The Treasury Board is, in law, a board appointed to act
as a committee of the Privy Council, composed of the minister
of Finance and any four of his colleague* in the government,
nominated by the governor in council. In fact, it is a sub-
committee of the cabinet, empowered to deal with such
matters relating to finance, revenue and expenditure as may
be referred to it by the council or to which the board may
think it necessary to call the attention of the cabinet.
A report touching a matter falUng under any one of tne
above heads, made by a minister at the head of a department
to the governor in council, is, in the ordinary course, referred
by the president to the Treasury Board, in order that the
proper inquiries may be instituted as to whether the neces-
sary conditions have been compUed with, and everything la
in regular form. The board holds its sittings in the office of
the minister of Finance, who is ex offida chairman, the deputy
minister of Finance being the secretary. A quorum of three
ia necessary to the dispatch of business.
When the board has duly inquired into a matter refenwl
for its consideration and arrives at a conclusion thereon, it
so reports to the governor in council, either favourably or
unfavourably, as the case may be. The council, if it concur
in a favourable report, adoptt it as its own, and submits it
for the approval of the governor-general. If the counal
adopt an unfavourable report, that is the end of the matter.
Should the council disagree with a report of the board, whether
favourable or unfavourable, it can refer it back for recon-
sideration. . . J.
Speaking generally, the cabinet exerases its discretion m
respect of references to the Treasury Board. For instance,
although it is usual to refer all appointments to office to the
board, there is nothing to prevent the counal from dealing
with such matters, without reference to the board. On the
other hand, there are certain classes of subjects, such as the
THE AUDIT"R-GENERAL
315
KmiMlon of duties, which the Uw requites that the Treasury
Board must first recommend before they can be dealt with
by tlie governor in council.
The Audros-General
Closely associated with the Treasury Board is the auditor^
general, an officer appointed by the governor in council at
the instance of parliament, for the more complete examination
of the public accounts, and for reporting thereon to the House
of Commons. In order to ensure his independence of the
executive, it is provided that he shall hold office during good
behaviour, that is to say, he can be removed from his position
by the governor-general only on an address of the Senate
and House of Commons.
The duty of the auditor-general is to keep watch oyer
tile public expenditure, to see that no cheques issue for which
there is not a direct appropriation by parliament, or without
the authority of the governor in council. He is also requir«l
to satisfy himself in the case of applications foi payments in
respect of work done for, or material supplied to, the govern-
ment, that such work has actually been performed, that such
material has been furnished, and that the price charged is
according to contract, or, if there be no contract, that it is
fair and just. The auditor-general examines and audits the
accounts of the several departments, and lays them before
the House of Commons in an annual report, which is always
awaited with interest by gentlemen on the left of the speaker.
He reports to the governor-general in council through the
minister of Finance, who also piesenU his reports to the
House of Commons. In the event of the minister of Finance
failing to do this, the auditor-general is directed by law to
present them himself.
For the due exercise of his functions the auditor-general
is vested with large powers. He can apply to a High Court
judge for a subpoena compelling the attendance of any witness,
no matter of what rank or degree. He can examine such
witness on oath or affirmation. Should a witness fail, without
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3,6 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
valid ituoo. to attend, or refuse to produce any do™"*"* 'j
pertin^Tquestion. he Uy. him«« open for e«h failure or
"'r'^'wht* X auditor-^eral d«dine. to ^^
' hz^ siTu^ "rtTe fuffi^^-'of^nibiron::
S:" whS? t ri^fr Sustain him or overrule him at it.
^pf ^ns of convenience the auditor^neral i, ~m-
*^%'r:rb:'s^:r^rthtfr^sw*^'^r"r«^
Kale, the govemo.- in counal, the Treasury uoara, unu
"""^ThelXl L inside service of the Finance de^mnent.
exdurile of the office of the auditor-general and of Aesupe^
tattXt of Insurance, consists of the deputy head, the
S^t deputy h»ad and about seventy clerks.
The Minister of Justice
The minister of Justice is the chief legal adviser of the
ronnected with the administration of justice not fallmg
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE
317
within the juri»diction of the provincial authoritie* ; to adviie
the Bovemor-general upon all legal matter., and ^rticularly
with reference to (i) the giving or withholding of the royal
aiKnt to all bilU that pass the Senate and House of Commons,
(a) the exercise of the power of disallowance in regard to
provincial legislation, (3) the grant or refusal of petition of
right, (4) the exercise of the prerogative of mercy.
As attorney-general he advises the heads of the several
departments of the government upon all matters of law
connected with such departments ; he is charged with
the settlement and approval of all instruments that pass
the great seal of Canada; and he conducts all Utigation
for or against the crown or any public department m re-
spect of any subject within the authority or jurisdiction
of Canada. , , . <
The responsibilities of the minister of Justice are ot no
ordinary character. The periodical examination of the acta
of nine provincial legislatures in itself entails an enormous
amount of careful work. The exercise of the pardoning
power also involves much labour. Applications for clemency
—as many as 1500 in one year— are received and virtually
decided by him. After considering the circumstances of
each case, he appends to the petitio;-. his recommendation
in respect thereof, either that the unexpired portion of the
convict's term be remitted and the prisoner be released from
custody, or that no interference be made with the sentence-
adding a brief risumi of the reasons which have guided him
in his conclusion. The petition, with this advice, is there-
upon submitted by the secretary of state to Ae govemor-
gmeral. Upon His Excellency's approval being signified,
the necessary instructions are transmitted to the officer m
whose custody the prisoner is. Applications for the con-
ditional liberation of convicts, commonly known as tickets
of leave, follow a similar course. . .
In capital cases the minister of Justice, after reviewing
the evidence and considering the report which the trial judge
is required by law to furnish, submits his report to the
governor-general in council. The question whether the sen-
tence of death pronounced against the prisoner shall be set
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318 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
uide or commuted, or whether the Uw ihall be alloved to
take itt courn, U Wt to the deteiminatioii rf the ohmet,
which •• • nite confirma the dediion arrived at by ita chief
The extradition of fugitive criminala ii a matter which
come* under the purview of the mtoiiter of Jurfce. A
judge iMuea hit warrant for the apprehendon of a fugitive
to Canada, on luch evidence ai teemi to him nifficient, and
commit! the fugitive to priton. He report* the facta totte
minister, who, upon the providon* of the law having btm
complied with, iiauea a warrant under hii hand and seal ot
office, directing the gaoler who ha. the fugitive in charge to
deliver him to the person duly authorired by the foreign
itate to receive him. ...... »i..
In the case of extradition of a Canadian fugitive from the
justice of a foreign state with which there is an extradition
arrangement, the minister of Justice, on the completion of
certain formalities, advises the issue of a Warrant of
Recipias," addressed to the police officer selected for the duty,
authorizing him to receive the prisoner and bnng him back
to Canada. This warrant is signed by the governor-general,
and issued by the secretary of state under the pnvysMl.
Fugitive offendere coming to Canada from any other part
of His Majesty's dominions are returned by warrant of the
govemor-general. on the advice of the minister of Justice,
who also is charged with the superintendence of the peniten-
tiaries of Canada. This branch of his department is managed
by two inspector* of penitentiaries, whose annual report the
minister lays before parliament. v t »i..
The Dominion Police force forms another branch of tne
same department. This force consists of one commissioiiei,
one inspector of poUce, one inspector in the secret service,
one inspector in the Identification Bureau, seven sergeants
and over seventy constables. , . , .
The power of disallowance of provincial legislation is
exercised by the govemor-general in council on the advice
of the minister of T-stice. In the instructions to lieutenant-
governors, furnish, to them on appointment, there is a
clause directing that within ten days after assenting to a
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THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE 3>9
bill pund by their mpective legidatum, they shall tend an
authentic copy thereof to the aecratary of etate. The year
within which nich act may be dieallowed ii reckoned from
the date of the receipt of the act by the eecretary of etate.
When eueption ii taken to a provincial act, the practice
ia for the minister of Justice to communicate to the lieutenant-
governor, through the secretary of state, the grounds of his
objections, and, in cases of sufficient gravity, to require an
assurance that the matter complained of will be righted by
the legislature within the period set for disallowance. There
ii always disinclination on the part of the Dominion govern-
ment to Invoke the power of disallowance against the pro-
vinces, and it is only in imperative case* that this extreme
step is resorted to. , ,
When disallowance is determined upon, the mmister of
Justice submits to the governor-general in council a recom-
mendation to this effect, whereupon an order-in-council is
passed and a copy thereof (with a certificate under the privy
seal of His Excellency the governor-general testifying to the
date of the original receipt of the act by him) is communi-
cated by the secretary of state to the lieutenant-governor,
whose duty it is to make the fact known by speech or message
to his legislature, or by proclamation, and the act is annulled
{nrni the date of such announcement.
Judges of all courts are appointed by the governor in
council on the recommendition of the minister of Justice,
through whose department tl\ey are granted leave of alwence
from time to time, and are finally retired. The registrar
and officera of the Supreme and Exchequer Courts of Canada
are under his supervision.
When to these duties is added the daily task of advising
the various departments of sute upon a multitude of legal
questions which constantly arise in the carrying on of public
business, it will readily be understood that the portfolio of
Justice is one of the most onerous and responsible of the
cabinet offices. The staff of the inside service of the depart-
ment consists of the deputy head, four legal officers (one of
whom is secretary to the department), one assistent legal
officer and about ten clerks.
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THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
• i
The SoLiatOT-GEHMAL
The ■oUdtor^enenl it an officer appointed by the governor
fa .S^-^TSTminiater of Juatic. in the coun«l work
S W?^pi?t!;S.t. m p«cti« he ha. a «.t in pjr^meM.
ud ii > member of the miniatry. though not of Ae cabinet,
ir^O^«m»ponding iomewhat to that of . p«h.-
mentary under-aeaetary in EngUnd.
The Secretaky of State
The ancient office of tecretary of aUte plays an imP«^«
_-Ji„ fh, woiUns of the Canadian conititutjonal system.
?k"s^rrS^t^?e?.. fo'the public, thechannelof approach
^ thT^i^ and the official mouthpiece of the governor-
lieSl^Tthe yeam immediately succeeding Cmfedera-
*^^i'«.««™. tW secretaries of state-one for Canada,
Z^oZior^^T^U ln.873thelatt«de^n.
t«,tXcame merged in the former. The combmed offices
SL« ^fo^Tone department presided oyer by the
i^retary of state of Canada, who«! functions .t » now pro-
'^elS^S.^of tute is the medium of commu„i«tion
betw«n ^o^mment of Canada and those of the prov,nc«.
^"^pondence between the two govemmentt « con-
ductSX him with the lieutenant-governor, towhom he
SLnS in somewhat the same reUtion as the secretary of
iStt f<^ the Colonies does to the governor-general. He
iCco^eys the decisions of the governor-general, m respect
oftlfron^ct cases, to the sheriffs and gaolers whose duty
°ti"ve effect thereto, and generally replies to formal
communications addressed to *e government^
The secretary of state is, as has been observed, «•«"«-
todian of^he gr^t seal of Canada. The general rule govem-
I^Ae usTofTe gre.,; seal is that it should be put only to
n!t^men« the LTe of which is authorized by statute or
bvT governor in council, and which bear thejovern"'-
^LeVal's signatiirx; or that of his duly authonzed deputy.
^o-^l^oTof appointment. Dominion land-grants, wnt.
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THE SECRETARY OF STATE
331
of election and proclamation*, ate among the document!
tliat fulfil thete conditiom.
Tbe great aeal of Edward vil, which it itiU (1912) in uie,
it of tteel, five inchei in diameter. The central figure it
that of Hit late Majetty, teated on hit throne, crowned and
holding orb and tceptre. About him are diiplayed the
thieldt of the four original province! of Confederation,
Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Bruntwick, and
below, the ihield of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, die whole lurrounded by the legend, ' Eduardui
VII. D: G: Britt: Et Terrarum Tranimar: Quae In Dit:
Sunt Brit: Rex F. D: Ind: Imp.,' and in a legment of an
inner circle under the king'a feet, the wordt and figuret
' In Canada Sigillum 1904.'
When the tecretary of ttate leavea office he tetumt the
great teal into the hand! of the governor-general, who
delivers it to hit tuccettor. On the demite of the crown, the
new sovereign issues a warrant under hit sign manual, author-
iring the continued use of the old seal until a new one is
prepared. The old teal, on being defaced, becomes, by
custom, the property of the secretary of state holding office
at the time of the change.
The secretary of state it also the custodian of the privy
teal, which bears as a device the private arms of the governor-
general encircled by his name and dignities. This seal is
not bestowed on the secretary of state with any ceremony,
and is left behind by the retiring governor-general. It is
commonly employed to teal lest important documents than
those which past the great seal, such as passports, certi-
ficates, warrants and the like j generally speaking, things
done on the recommendation of one minister, at dis-
tinguithed from those performed on the advice of the
council, which are reserved for authentication under the
great seal.
In addition to his ceremonial functions the tecretary of
ttate discharges duties of a more prosaic character. He
administers the Companies Act, the Naturalization Act,
the Canada Temperance Act, and is charged with all mattert
not tpedally attigned to any other minister. Addresses
4
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THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
and orders of the Senate and House of Commons are sent
to him in the first instance. It is the duty of his officers to
call upon the various departments for the information desired
by parliament, to combine, in cases where an inquiry relates
to more than one department, the answers received from
those concerned, and to see that no unnecessary delay takes
place in the bringing down of these returns.
The secretary of state is also the registrar-general, and,
as such, registers all proclamations, commissions, charters,
land patents, and other instruments issued under the great
seal, also bonds, warrants, surrenders, and other public
documents requiring registration. Patents of Dominion
lands are, for reasons of convenience, recorded in the depart-
ment of the Interior by officials specially authorized for that
purpose under the hand and seal of the registrar-general.
The Dominion Archives (for many years a branch of the
department of Agriculture) were placed under the care of the
secretary of state in March 1912.
The Department of External Affairs
This department, as its name imports, administers what,
for lack of a better phrase, is commonly termed the ' external
affairs ' of the Dominion, whether relating to the motherland,
the sister dominions and colonies, or to foreign countries.
The department of External Affairs dates from the year 1909,
having been constituted by the act 8-9 Edw. vii, cap. 13,
and placed under the direction of the secretary of state for
Canada, with the title of secretary of state for External
Affairs. Before its creation the impression very generally
prevailed, even within the service, that Canada's external
relations were conducted through the secretary of state, but
such never was the case. The department of die secretary of
state for Canada — to refer to the English system — offers a
certain analogy t» the Home Office and to the Colonial Office
as well, but it bears no affinity to the Foreign Office, or to
the United States department of state, for the reason that
its sphere of action is circumscribed by the bounds of the
Dominion. With the conduct of negotiations with foreign
THE DEPARTMENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS 323
countries, or in respect of questions whose scope and bearing,
though within the Empire, lie beyond the limits of Canada,
it has no official cognizance. All such matters reach the
government of Canada through dispatches addressed to the
governor-general. Under the old system these dispatches
were referred by His Excellency to the Privy Council, which
in turn referred them to the minister concerned, who in due
course made his report thereon to the governor in council.
This report was minuted in the Privy Council office, in die
manner already explained, and, when approved by His
Excellency the governor-general, became the government's
reply to the dispatch on which it was based. This method
was open to several objections. No doubt the more important
questions of policy in regard to external affairs were discussed
and agreed to in council, but the terms of the report in which
that policy was set forth frequently received but scant
consideration. In the preparation of these reports too little
regard was given to what had gone before, which is not surpris-
ing, as it not infrequently happened that the draughtsman
was not in possession of all the correspondence on the subject.
A dispatch does not -Iways disclose upon its face enough to
determine readily from a hasty glance just what department
it concerns, and the fact that it relates to more than one
department might easily escape notice. Thus it became
possible that a department might get the first and third
dispatch of a series, while the second and fourth had been
referred elsewhere. And so the feeling grew that cabinet
councils were not, after all, the place for the reading and
distribution of lengthy dispatches, and that this had much
better be done elsewhere. The result was the establishment
of the department of External Affairs.
Under the new order of things all dispatches received by
the governor-general which His Excellency desires to com-
municate to his advisers are referred direct to the secretary
of state for External Affairs, who in turn refers them to the
several departments. These departments furnish him with
all available information, together with the views of their head
upon the subject-matter to which the dispatch relates, and,
having informed himself by this means, the secretary of state
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makes hia •tBort to the governor in council. In thi» way
the responsibility for the proper conduct of this branch of
the public business rests upon one department, which, free
from the disadvantages of the old system, is enabled to secure
for these important subjects treatment on a coherent and
uniform plan.
The initiation of this reform gave rise at first to some
misapprehension. When the bill creating the department of
External Affairs was before parliament, the report went
abroad that the Canadian government intended thereby to
take into its own hands the conduct of its foreign relations.
The prime minister and the secretary of state, however, made
it clear to the House of Commons that no constitutional
change was intended by the measure, which merely aimed at
an improvement in departmental procedure, and that Canada's
official communications extending beyond the bounds of the
Dominion would continue to be made through His Excellency
the governor-general as before.
The department of External Affairs is specially charged
with all matters relating to the foreign consular service in
Canada. It likewise issues passports for foreign travel.
The King's Punter
The government printing and stationery office originally
formed a branch of the department of the secretary of state.
In 1 886 it was constituted a separate department of the public
service under the control of the secretary of state. This
department is charged with the execution of all printing on
behalf of the government; the purchase and distribution
of all paper, books or publications required for the public
service ; the sale of all books or publications issued by order
at parliament or the government : and the audit of all accounts
for advertising.
The deputy head of this department is styled the king's
printer and controller of stationery. Like all deputy ministeis
he is appointed by commission under the great seal, and holds
office during pleasure. He has the general management and
control of the services mentioned above, in the performance
ill
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS 325
of which duties he is assisted by two officers, styled respectively
the superintendent of printing and the superintendent of
stationery. The first-named has charge of the printing branch
of the department at Ottawa, in which all printing, lithograph-
ing, binding and other work of like nature requited for the
service of parliament and the several departments of govern-
ment are executed. The superintendent of stationery has,
under the direction of the king's printer, charge of the pur-
chase and supply of paper and stationery required for the
public service.
The staff of the department is composed of the above-
named officers and about fifty clerks, exclusive of the journey-
men, workmen, skilled hands and others engaged in mechanical
service.
The MmisTBR of Public Works
The minister of Public Works is the successor to the
member of the government of the old Province of Canada
known as the chief commissioner of Public Works, the change
of name having taken place at Confederation. In 1879 his
department was divided into two departments of equal
status, under two separate ministers — one retaining the old
draignation of minister of Public Works, the other styled
minister of Railways and Canals. At this partition the some-
what un.;5ual course was followed by the minister of Public
Works (Sir Charles Tupper) of relinquishing the old for the
new portfolio, and taking with him to the new department
the deputy head and many of the senior officers, as well as
most, if not all, of the office records. Thus in some respects
the old department became the new one, dating from October
1879.
The minister of Public Works has the management, charge
and direction of the following properties belonging to the
government of Canada : (i) public buildings, including their
heating, lighting, maintenance, furnishing and upkeep ; (2)
the plant employed in the construction, improvement and
repair of harbours, piers and works for the betterment of
navigation ; (3) the slides, dams, piles, etc., used for facili-
tating the transmission of timber ; (4) roads and bridges ;
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(5) telegraph lines on government lands ; and (6) certain
""rh^'d^Tr^Tof Public Works is one of the five great
««nding departments of the government, the others bemg
&ays and Canals, MUitia, Marine and Fisheries, and the
Naval Service. The duties attaching to its admmistration
are by reason of their multitudinous detaU, of the most
exa;:ting and Uborious nature. In 1910 itt expenditure was
approximately Ju.ooo.ooo, not compt^ of f^'^J.^^
suL such as would be involved in the buildmg and subsidizmg
of ships and railways, but for the most part made up of
compiatively small sums-for the erection of a p<«t office
n^wn. the purchase of a rite for a^'t°™» 'T" '"
another, repairs to a wharf in a third, dredging a harbour
ta a fourthVand so on across the continent from Halifax to
^"^Ttedifficulty of applying this money to the best advantage
of the public service, and at the same time of satisfying the
local interests and of pleasing everybody concerned, is enough
tottx the ingenuity and resources of the most capable of
SXistrators"^ He who undertakes *e task must be pre-
oared to deal with very unreasonable people . to meet
Stidsm often founded upon ignorance, sometimes intention-
ally unjust ; to be charged with incompetence. «t™vaganoe
poLc^ favouritism, and worse ; to be held accountable for
Sstakes he did not commit, for mishaps that could not be
averted, and for accidents over which he had no control. A
former minister, the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, has left on
record elo-iuent testimony to the embarrassments and anxiett«
of the position: and while in his «ise *e difficutaes were
probably enhanced b- the fact of his being also the pnme
Srinister. there can be Utde doubt that the position is one in
Self dOTanding much aptitude for detail, combmed with
unlimited patience and firmness.
ThrstiS of the department of PubUc Works consists o
the deputy minister, assistant deputy minister, secretary ot
Se d^artment, chief engineer, and over two hundred en-
gineers, architects, draughtsmen and clerks.
THE MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND CANALS 3*7
The Minister of RAttWAYS and Canals
It has already been observed that when in 1870 the
departnent of Public Works was divided, the then minister
elected to take the new portfolio of Railways and Canals
and that the deputy head and many of the senior officers
accompanied him to his new sphere of action. It would be
more accurate to say that they remained where they were
for the new department kept possession of the old ground
the department of Public Works finding other quarters. '
The minister of Railways and Canals has the conttoi and
management of all government railways and canals, and of
all works and property appertaining thereto. These rail-
ways comprise the Intercolonial Railway (1492 miles), the
Windsor Branch, a line extending from Windsor Junction
Nova Scotia, on the Intercolonial Railway to the town of
Wmdsor, operated by the Dominion Atlantic Railway Com-
pany (3a miles), and the Prince Edward Island Railway (267
miles)— making a total of 1791 miles. These railways, as
rj^ards their practical operation, have recently been placed
under a board of management, of which the deputy minister
of Railways is chairman.
The minister of Railways possesses jurisdiction over the
location of all lines of railway constructed under Dominion
diarteiB. Location plans must be filed with him and receive
his approval before construction can be begun.
Subsidies voted in aid of railway construction are paid
OiDugh this department, which enters into contracts with
the aided roads for the purpose of establishing that the con-
ditions imposed by parliament and the governor in council an
complied with before the money is paid over.
The National Transcontinental Railway is composed of
two divisions, the eastern division between Moncton and
Winnipeg, and the western division between Winnipeg and
the Pacific Ocean. The eastern division is being constructed
by the government under four commissionera appointed by
the governor in council. The government supervises the
building of the western division by the Grand Trunk Pacific
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Railway, and the chief engineer of the ^fP"^*"* <^* '^'l
wTys and Canata annually report, to ha mimster on the
character and progress of the work. .^,^ the Railway
Unta 1903 a committee of the cabmet, styled tte Kaiiway
CommkLTc* the Privy Coundl. administered the RaJway
X^us exercising a certain si ,^s.on and control over aU
SSadian raUways. Parliament th«. abol»l'edA» com-
)^Za appointed in its stead a board comp^ed of three
S^^; al^^onem (the number was aftenvards mcreased
I^ decisions and orders are final, subject to an appeal to the
SupS Court on quesdons of law and i""?!'??™;^ *«
seieral authority of the governor in councU m his d-scretton.
^^c^ te no better evidenc« of the growth and progr<»s
ofTco^try than is afforded by its railway stattsttcs. In
fsTQ wh^ede^artment of Railways was o,jan«ed. there
w^'^S^nSes of raUway in operation throughout Canada ;
in 1012 there were 26,000 miles.
This department also administers the canal system of d,e
Dominion, which has a total length of 144 miles, and cost,
Sg ^Aer the outUy on original construction, subse-
quoit mtaigement and improvemente, upwards of nine^-
S Sm™. dollars. The extent of the waterways made
Sbte^th^ canals for purposes of navigation is nearly
'°°°n^ of the department at Ottawa consisW ^e
deou^; i^ter, the general consulting engineer, the secretory,
5S^r^Vdepar^entalsolidtor,c»mpt.ollet^fsta«U^
S^^»^ auTtor, chief daughtsman and about seventy
clerics, engineers and draughtsmen.
The Minisier of the Interior
In 1869 Canada acquired by purchase from the Hudson's
Bay Company, for the sum of £300,000 sterling, a 1 their
fn^t taXt vast region stretching beyond the Great Ukes
wS^arf S the Ro^ Mountains, then known as Rupert s
n7 Jnd the NordvWest Territory. The adrninistnition
ifSeseterritories. together with the lands and affairs of the
THE MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR 339
Indians and the Geological Survey, were entrusted to the
department of the secretary of state for the Provinces ; the
control of Dominion lands, ordnances and Admiralty lands
bemg vested in the secretory of stote for Canada. In 187^
an act was passed (36 Viet. cap. 4) abolishing the department
of tile secretary of stote for tiie Provinces, and distributing
Its functions between tiie secretory of stote for Canada and
a new department, tiiat of tiie Interior, to which were assigned
tiie subjects enumerated above. Since tiiat date tiie manage-
ment of Indian Affairs, and of the Geological Survey, has been
transferred elsewhere, but the minister of the Interior still
administers tiie Dominion lands, including the public lands
of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberto and (widi certoin minor
exreptions) all other lands owned by Canada, wherever situ-
ated wi^m the Dominion. He also continues to control the
Yukon Territory, which was constituted a separate territory
by tiie act of 1898, 6i Vict cap. 6, as amended by tiie act of
1901. 1 Edw. VII, cap. 42, and tiie ' Nortii-West Territories,' by
which IS now meant aU British possessions in North America
outside tiie Canadian provinces and Newfoundland, including
ftose vast regions formerly known as Atiiabaska, Mackenzie,
Keewatin, Franklin and Ungava, and beyond to tiie Nortii
Pole. Thechiefexecutiveofficersof tiieYukonandtiieNorth-
West Territories are styled commissioners of their respective
territories. They are appointed by the governor in council,
and act under instructions of the minister of the Interior.
The department of the Interior affords, perhaps, the most
striking illustration of the Dominion's wonderful growth that
18 to be found in the official records. Storting with a staff of
tiurty-eight clerks, ita employees of the inside service num-
bered in 1913 considerably more than twice that of the whole
civil service of Canada at Ottowa in 1873. In 1874 it re-
ceived and dispatched altogetiier about ,-500 letters, and
collected from the sale of Dominion lands $27,000. In 1910
it had a total correspondence of considerably over 3,000,000
letters, while the revenue derived from the sale of Dominion
lands was more than $3,000,000. The number of homestead
entries rose from about 500 in 1875 to 41,500 in 1910. This
IS, in fact, the chief business of the department. Canada
VOL. VI , .
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poaMMet aU the requiutei of a great and prcwperous country,
jiaveonly people. Her vast and fertUe plain, could main-
tain a hundredfold the number that to-day dwelta within her
borders. PopuUtion Ss die great desideratum. To pnKure
these people is the special function of the department of the
Interior. To this end an otganired system has been developed
with the object of making the attractions of Canada widely
known, and of inducing emigrants to try their fortune m the
Dominion. A farm of 160 acres of the finest wheat-producing
land in the world, free, on condition of residing on it for three
years and of doing just enough in the way of cultivation
to evidence the bona fides of the settlers, together with an
adjoining 160 aoea as a pre-emption in certain districts, at
$3 an acre, is surely an oiler that only requires to be known
to be appreciated. . . •»
In pursuance of this paramount object of attracting suit-
able emigrants there is, first, a branch of the departtnmt
devoted to surveying and mapping out the public lands for
settlement. Another branch grants homestead entries for
these lands. A third conducts an emigration propaganda
in Great Britain and abroad. There are many other sub-
divisions of this large department, each charged with the duty
of administering some special portion of the national domain.
Thus there are branches dealing with timber and grazing,
mining, oidnance and Admiralty lands; with forestry and
irrigation ; with the school lands, the lands reserved for
purposes of education, the interest on the proceeds of the sale
of which is paid over to the three provinces of Manitoba,
Saskatchewan and Alberta. There are also special officers
charged with the inspection of ranches, the care of the Cana-
dian national parks, the technical cartographic work of the
department, and, lastly, there is the Dominion Observatory,
a new and thoroughly equipped temple of science, which,
under the efficient direction of the chief astronomer and a
small staff of highly trained assistants, is rapiily becoming
well known in the scientific worU.
The staff of the department at Ottawa consists of the
deputy head, the assistant deputy head, surveyor-general.
Dominion lands commissioner, superintendent of immigration.
THE DEPARTMENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS 331
•ecretary of the department, chief astronomer, chief geo-
grapher, 10 chiefs of branches and about 750 clerics and
messengers. The outside service is composed of about 380
persons employed in the Dominion Lands and Crown Timber
AgMoes, 470 engaged in immigration work, 20 connected
with the national parks, 40 with forestry, 16 with irrigation
surveys, as with the administration of the Yukon Territory
making a grand total in the service of the department of
about 1700 penons. The immigration agents in the United
Kmgdom and at Antwerp report to the assUtant super-
mtrodent of emigration in London, who in turn reports to
the high commissioner for Canada.
The Departiient of Indian Affaies
The department of Indian Affairs was originally under
mihtory control, being administered by the commander of
the forces, the officen in command at various points acting
as superintendents or agents. About the year 1844 it was
placed under the charge of the governor-general's civil secre-
tary, who held a commission under the imperial government
M supermtoident-general. In i860 it passed under the
Crown Lands department. At Confederation it became
attached to the department of the secretary of state for
Canada, to be transferred by order-in-council in i860 to the
seaetaiy of sute for the Provinces. In 1873 it was placed
under the department of the Interior, and in 1880 (43 Vict
cap. 28) was constituted a separate department under the
control of the superintendent-general of Indian Affairs who
the act declared, was to be the minister of the Interior. The
latter provision was afterwards modified to include any
muuster appointed by the governor in council. As a mattCT
of fact, the mimster of the Interior baa always been the
supermtendent-general, except during the period 1883-87
when Sir John Macdonald held the office in conjunction with
the presidency of the Privy Council.
The superintendent-general has the charge and direction
of Indian Affairs, including the control and management of
the lands and properties of the Indians in Canada. The
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333 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
goverament, from m very etrly period, lecogniied the obli-
gation devolving upon it in respect of the aboriginal inhabi-
tant! of the country. In the Province of Ontario treatiet
were made from time to time, whereby the Indians surrendered
whatever usufructuary right they possessed in the land over
which they roamed, generally in consideration of the grant or
reservation for their exclusive benefit of defined areas, and
of the payment of small annuities. The same policy pre-
vailed in the North-West, and, to a limited extent, on Van-
couver Island. In the Provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and the mainland of
British Columbia no treaties were made with the Indians for
the extinguishment of the Indian title, but reserves were set
aside by these provinces to meet the requirements of the
Indians. Under the provisions of the Indian Act the land
comprised within these reserves cannot be alienated without
the consent of the Indians. It is the duty of the superin-
tendent-general to protect the reserves from trespass, to
prevent the sale of intoxicants to Indians, to see that their
trust funds are properly administered, to provide them with
the necessary schools, and to assist them to become self-sup-
porting and law-abiding members of the community. The
government spends on Indian education nearly half a million
dollars annually. At the close of the last fiscal year the
capita! held in trust for the different bands amounted to
over six million dollars, the interest on which is distributed
among them periodically. The Indian population of Canada
is approximately 107,000, and is not decreasing. The Indians
are subject to the operation of the ordinary law, both dvil
and criminal, except in so far as the Indian Act makes
special provision for their exemption. They are, as a class,
law-abiding.
The organization of the department of Indian Affairs
follows that of the Interior, the nomenclature of the branches
being much the same. Thus there are, besides the secretary's
branch and the accountant's branch, which are common to all
departments, the land and timber branch, the survey branch
and the school branch. The staff of the department at
Ottawa consists of the deputy superintendent-general, the
mm
THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE jjj
^^\1^^ wperintendent-general, who i. al«> the .ec«.
tary of the department, the Indian commiirion^/ik^^
inipecton, .urveyon, draughtnnen and clerk, ^
The Minister of Acwcclture
object, having but "ttl^^nn" tio^^^ X' aSl*^'
honourable calling from which it derived it. nL.)S ?f
mmfmm
thHou^ .-*' »■"«"«• «perimental station, throughout
tu™?rd;'srgo?;„T:^„°' VeT"™"r '^ '«^-'-
evidence of the excellent character of the work oHduc^ti^g
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__ THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
the Itriner, which, begun by Sir John C»rUng, hu been
developed and extended under hii iucceitor*.
Norhu the lUoceM which hat attended the adminiitratton
ol the department been conBned to agriculture and it. alUed
nibiectt. The patent*, copyright, trade marlra, and indu»tnal
deiigne bimnchea give their teetimony to the enormou. ttride*
the Dominion U making from year to year : while if much u
not heard of the public health and the quarantine divmon,
it ii only becauM Ita results are negative rather than P«">ve
in their nature. The len one heart of the director of public
health, the greater the excellence of the work that officer it
ouletly and unottentatioutly carrying on.
The itafi of the department of Agriculture contittt of
the deputy minitter (who U ato the deputy commitBoner of
mtentt), the a»istant deputy minitter (who it alto the
Jecretary of the department), the director-general of public
health, the director of experimental farm., the chief officer of
the centut and .Uti.tic^ the veterinary director-general and
Uve .tock commiwoner, the dairy and cold .tor^e com-
mi»ioner, the Med commi«ioner, the "S";*™' °* *^ "J?r
and copyright., and about two hundred and forty chiefs
iuperintendentt, technical officere and clerk..
The Dominion Archives
The firtt move in the direction of ettablithing an Archivei
and Record Office was made in 1872, when parliament placed
the sum of $4000 at the dispowl of the minister of Agriculture
for the purpose. The minister of the day entrusted an official
of his department with this duty, but that officer, while amply
Qualified for the post, was not provided with proper facilities
for its administration. The position of archivist was not
even created by the governor in council. For yare Douglas
Brymer laboured in the basement of the Western Block, doing,
in spite of his Umitttions, exceUent work, as his pubhshed
report, abundantly diow. Not only were his ment. and
services inadequately recognized, but rival coUecoons of public
records were suffered to grow up in the service. The depart-
ment of the secretary of state possessed a somewhat similar
!r
THE DOMINION ARCHIVES 335
•tore of documenu to that ol the Archive, under the immedi-
ate charge o| an officw known a* • the keeper of the recoida.'
.. c "^n*^"""?' ""'" •***» contained an accumulation
of Sute Papen reaching back one hundred and fifty yean.
rheK Kveral branchet of the public tervice, though oeteniibly
devoted to the promotion of a common object, for yean
earned on a lort of triangular contest, each claiming to be the
only true repoMtory of the country'! rrcord.. To such length,
waa thi. un«»mly .tnfe conducted that copie. of document.
in tne hbranes of European capiul. have beer cj. for the
Canadian Archive., at the public expenw, wh. n t'. oriirina'
ot theie very document., in an excellent .tatf . ' -, • rvatic,
were all the time in one or other of the pub'i- d.:'por.T.. ts ar
vttAwa.
On February 7, 1897, a portion of tl. «ierr BI cl
waa Knoualy damaged by fire, which detn ^ , ^„.. .t„, ^„
mental record., the chief luffeten beirc il,e do. . , ,„e.',ts J
Maruie and Fidierie., and MiUtia. SiionK adi^M-ie the
government appointed a commiauon, conwsung „i he i.-pi v
minuter of Finance, the auditor-general and tJi- un.' r- et <•
tan- of »tate, to inquire into and report upon ,,. ; i ,te of
puwic record!. Thi. commiamon. in the exeici!e ot its duty,
made an inspection of all the departments, and reported in due
coune. After sending out the result of their investigations
they recommended that the older and more valuable papers,
including the archives in the department of Agriculture,
ahouU be brought together and committed to the custody of
one person in a suitable fireproof building, where also anti-
quated departmental records might be stored. Effect was
given to this recommendation in 1903. In 1904 Arthur G
Doughty was appointed archivist and keeper of the recoids"
and the Archives building was completed in 1907. The
Archives continued as a branch of the department of Agri-
culture unhl 191J, when, in virtue of the Public Archives
Act of that y«r, it was transferred by oider-in-eouncil to the
department of the secretary of state, and the arehivist waa
raised to the rank of a deputy minister.
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The Postiiastek-General
The Post Office department, as a Canadian institution,
dates from the year 1851, when the control of the postal service
was transferred to the Canadian government by the imperial
authorities, who up to that date had administered the postal
affairs of all British North America.
The first postmaster-general after the transfer at once
entered the government, and since then the office has always
been one of cabinet rank. The duties of postmaster-general
ate such as the title of the office imports, and include the
regulation from Ottawa of the postal surangements in every
province, city, town anu hamlet in the Dominion. As might
be surmised from the character of the service, the postmaster-
general is vested with large powers. He makes all sorts of
regulations, restrictions and prohibitions respecting the car-
riage of letters and newspapers. He enters into and enforces
contracts relating to the conveyance of the mails. With the
exception of the postmasters in cities and towns, he appoints
all the postmasters in the Dominion.
At the head of this extensive system stands the deputy
postmaster-general, who, under the minister, controls the
manifold services of which both the inside and outside divi-
sions of the department are composed. For purposes of
administration the department at Ottawa is (ilvided into
branches, each under the immediate charge of a buperinten-
dent TTius there are the railway mail service, the mail
contract branch, the savings bank branch, the money order
branch, the dead letter branch, etc. As regards the outside
service, the Dominion is partitioned into seventeen divisions,
each with an inspector of its own, and a chief superintendent
over all.
With certain limited exceptions, dictated by cominon
sense, the postmaster-general has the sole and exclusive
privilege of collecting, sending and delivering letters within
Canada, and any person who unlawfully invades his functions
in this respect is liable to a fine of $20 for each and every
letter illegally conveyed. The growth of the business of this
THE MINISTER OF MARINE AND FISHERIES 337
department has been phenomenal. The number of letters
posted in Canada in 1910 amounted to the enormous toul of
526,000,000 as compared with 41,000,000 in 1876, and it is
most gratifying to note that there was a surplus from the
operations of the department in the former year of nearly
$750,000.
In 191 1 the departmental staff at Ottawa consisted of
the deputy postmaster-general, the assistant deputy minister,
the secretary of the department, 11 heads of branches, 382
clerks, 23 sorters, 20 packers, 18 messengers, and 3 porters—
460 persons.
The Minister of Marine and Fisheries
The list of duties devolving upon the minister of Marine
and Fisheries by statute is of formidable length, no fewer than
twenty-five subjects being placed under his control. Origin-
ally considerable, the list has grown by accretion, notably in
1904, when the management of the St Lawrence Ship Canal,
together with the dredging plant, was transferred from the
department of Public Works, as well as the hydrographic
survey, both of that department and of that of Railways and
Canals. Briefly to summarize his f auctions, the minister of
Marine and Fisheries supervises the construction of light-
houses and fog alarms ; n.aintains lights, buoys and other aids
to navigation ; regulates marine hospitals, the inspection of
steamboats, the examination of masters and mates, pilotage,
and inquires into wrecks. In addition he exercises such jurist
diction as is vested in the Dominion government over the sea-
coast and inland fisheries of the Dominion. The two main
divisions of his department are (i) the Marine branch and
(2) the Fisheries branch. The latter formed a separate
department from 1884 to 1891, when the two were reunited
and became one department again.
In the na-ure of things the sphere of the Marine depart-
ment's activities lies chiefly along the seaboard and the main
arteries of navigation. It has agencies at all the principal
maritime towns, including Quebec and Montreal, where the
local administration is carried on under the control of the
VOL. VI ,„
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3|B THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
dqMitment at Ottawa. It is under these local agencies
that lighthouses are built and equipped, that new aids to
navigation are installed and maintained, and that the govern-
ment steamers are repaired and outfitted.
The Fisheries branch administers what is undoubtedly
one of the greatest assets of the Dominion. Few persons
realize the immense worth of Canada's fisheries, which ture
not only the most extensive but also the most abundantly
stocked waters in the world. In 1910 Canadian fishermen
drew from the riches of the sea $30,000,000. As in the case
of Marine affairs, the business of the Fisheries branch is largely
carried on by the outside service, there being in 1910 about
twenty inspectors of fisheries throughout the Dominion, up-
wards of one hundred and seventy-five fishery overseers, and
about forty officers in charge of government fish hatcheries.
The line of division between Dominion and provincial
jurisdiction in the matter of the fisheries has never been
clearly defined. In 1896 the question was referred to the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which in 1898
decided that whatever property interest in its fisheries was
possessed by a province prior to Confederation remained
vested in it, but that the regulation of these fisheries apper-
tained to the Dominion government. As regards inland
waters this decision settled the question, and since 1898 the
Provinces of Quebec and Ontario have issued all fishery
icences in non-tidal waters, the making and enforcing of the
nialations governing the times and methods of fishing
remaining with the Dominion. With respect to tidal waters,
however, the controversy is still undecided, the position of
tlK Dominion in regard to them being that in these waters
there was no ownership at any time, but only jurisdiction,
and that tfci* jurisdiction, originally exercised by the colonial
government, is hnm vested in the governor-general of Canada
aa representing t^e king, and not in the province. The
matter remains in this unsatisfactory condition. An arrange-
ment has, however, been reached with the government of
British Cohimbia. to submit a reference to the Supreme
Court of Canada, with a view to nettling the question of
junsdiction in tidal waters.
THE MNISTER OF CUSTOMS 339
The strf of the department at Ottawa is composed of
the deputy minister, assistant deputy minister, chief en-
gi'n«r, chief hydrographer, purchasing agent, commissioner
of fishenes, various superintendents, engineers, inspectors,
technical officers, and about one hundred clerks.
The LtepARTMEHir of the Naval Service
In pursuance of the declared poHcy of the government
to estabiisfa avl maintain a Canadian navy, an act was
passed by parliament in the session of igio (9-10 Edw. VII
cap. 43) providing, among other things, for the constitu-
tion of a department with the above title, presided over by
the minister of Marine and Fisheries with the title of minister
of the Naval Service. The new department was formed out
of the dep«tment of Marine ana Fisheries. The deputy
minister of the latter, following the preteaent set by the
deputy minister of PubUc Works in 1879, relinquished the
old office for the new. The director of the Naval Service,
who is the next officer to the deputy head, was also trans-
ferred from the department of Marine and Fisheries, from
which indeed the majority of the staff were in the first
instance recruited.
The department of the Naval Service has the control
and management of naval affairs, including the construc-
tion, purchase, maintenance and repair of all ships of war.
The phrase ' Naval Service ' is held to embrace the fisheries
protection se— ice, the hydrographic survey, tidal observa-
ttons and wireleaa telegraph service, transferred from the
department of Marine and Fisheries.
The statute creating the department of the Naval Service
provides for the appointment of a naval board to advise the
minister, but so far no such board has been organized.
The Minister of Customs
The functions of the minister of Customs are comple-
mentary to those of his colleague the minister of Finance.
The latter, subject to the authority of parliament, deter-
mines what import duties shall be levied on goods brought
i
i
340 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
into the country, and the minister of Custom collects these
duties.
The law provides that the master ot every vessel enter-
ing any port in Canada shall proceed, without delay, to the
customs house for the port, and there make a leport m
writing of the arrival of such vessel, giving full ptrticulars
of everything on board. In like manner no vessel can leave
port without & clearance from the collector of customs.
The collector of customs collects the duty on the goods thus
imported, and deposits it in a duly authori«d bank to the
credit of the minister of Finance, where it fatma part of the
Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada.
The collectors are assisted by a staff of officials varying
in number with the size and importance of the port. There
are sub-collectors, appraisers, preventive officers, exanuning
officers, landing waiteta and gaugers, besides the necessary
number of clerks. Their duty is to ensure an honest collec-
tion of the revenue.
There is a Board of Customs which sits at Ottawa, under
the chairmanship of the commissioner (who is the deputy
head of the department). It is the duty of this board to
interpret difficult points in connection with the tariff, and
also to hear and decide appeals from the decisions of collectors
and appraisers. The minister of Customs has the power
under the act to make refunds of duties overpakl, or paid in
mistake, at his discretion, but he has no authority to remit
duties payable by law. Such remission can only be made
by the governor in council, upon the recommendation of the
Treasury Board.
The bonding system at present existing between the
United States and Canada appears to have had its origin
and early growth in reciprocal arrangements between the
two countries providing for the passing and repassing of the
frontier by traders and Indians of both countries. The
completion of the canal system of Canada in 1845, and the
opening of the Grand Trunk Railway to Portland in 1853,
demonstrated to both peoples that the shortest, cheapest
and most convenient transport routes could only be secured
by using both countries. On Dea mber 4, 1856, the Canadian
THE MINISTER OT TRADE AND COMMERCE 341
govetnnient paaaed an order-in-coundl providing for the
free transit of goodi by raihrayr through Canada, from points
in the United States to other points in the same country.
Reciprocal action was taken by the Congress of the United
States, which on July j8, 1866, enacted, mulatu mutandis,
the same piwiitons. Both the order-in-coundl and the
act of Congress ksve since been amended in detail, but
remaim the fundamental authority for the bonding arrange-
ments at pRsent in force. The latest agreement between
Canada and the United States regarding transit in bond
is under the Treaty of Washington, 1871, articles xxix and
XXX.
The inside service of the department of Customs consists
of the deputy head, who, as has bmtn said, is styled the com-
missioner, the assistant commissioner, the chatf Dominion
appraiser, the analyst, and about one hundred and seventy
officers and daks. The portfolio of Customs was aboUshed
and the office ot controller of customs created in 1893, by
virtue of an act passed in 1887 (50-51 Vict. cap. 11). The
-ontroller was a member of the ministry, but not of the
^binet, his department beu« placed under the supervision
and control of the minister of Trade and Commerce. The
controllership of customs was in turn abolished by an act of
1897 (60-61 Vict. cap. 18), which revived the office of minister
of Customs.
The Minister op Trade and ComoncE
The act of 1887 establishing the department of Trade
and commerce (50-51 Vict. cap. 10) .ontains a proviso that
it sfamld only come into effect by proclamation. Sir John
Macdonald, in whose administration the act was passed,
never saw fit to inaugurate the system contemplated by it,
and it was not until Sir John Thompson became premier that
tfce statute of 1887 was brooght into effect, from December
3. 1892.
The duties and powers of the department were not pre-
eiseiy defined at the outset. It was vested with jurisdiction
over such matters of trade and commerce ' as are not by
i
t^ THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
law iiiMtiurl ID any other department of the government
of Canada.' To diis day, although the department has
Jeveloficd akag liaea of iti own, it ia not always easy for an
outsider to dilhietttiate what may be called -'"s statistical
trade functiona from those of the department of Customs.
The chief conceni of the department of Trade and
Conmerce is the enension of Canda's external trade, with
the United Kingdom, the sister dominions and colonies,
and also with foreign countries. To this end it established
maay years ago a service of trade commissioners in various
parts of the world, whose duty it is to take meabures for the
develoiiment of Canadian cii— in rce atiroad. The reports
ot these commissioners are published weekly by the depirt-
■lent and circulated all ovei Canada, to the great advantage
of the business community. The minister erf Trade and
Commerce also administers the Inspection and Sale Act,
with the exception of those portions with which the minister
of Agriculture is charged, the Manitoba Grain (Inspection)
Act, the Chinese Immigration Act, the Government Annuities
Act and the CuBers Act.
An important division of the departnant of Trade and
Commerce is the Annuities branch, est^ilisbed in 1908 by
Sir Richard Cartwright, with a view to promote habits of
thrift, to encourage the people of Canada to make provision
for their old age, and to facilitate their doing so. This
scheme possesses the great advantage of affocding absolute
security at the lowest possible cost. AU that an intending
participant has to do is to reimt, from time to time, direct
to the department at Ottawa, such aaoonta as he can spare
for the purpose, or, if lie prefer to de so, he can deposit the
same to the credit ot the receiv«T.genet»l in any money
Older office. Upon these amounts four per cent compound
interest is aOowed. and at the age of fifty-five («4tich is the
earliest age at which an annuity can begin), or at any later
date doifed, such annuity as the total amount then at his
credk will purchase will be paid to him quarteriy so long as
he nmf live. No charge is made for expenses of administra-
tion. The mimmum amount of annuity which may be pur-
chased is $50 and the maximum *6oo. The earliest age at
THE DEPARTMENT OF MINES 343
which the purchw may begin is five. To each purchaser a
contract or policy is issued, and a provident feature of the
system is that there are no penalties or forfeitures. If pay-
ments should for any reason lapse, they may be renewed at
any tome ; but even if arrears are not made up, the only effect
wUl be that a smaller annuity wiU be secured. In 191 1
1700 persons had availed themselves of the provisions of
the act, and over »86o,ooo had been paid in purchase money.
Ihe average amount of annuity aimed at was $250. Every
dassof the community may be said to be purchasing annuities.
The present deputy minister of Trade and Commerce is
the chief controller of Chinese immigration, and has charee
of the stttute relating thereto (R. S. C. cap. 95). The main
Mature of this act is the provision requiring every person of
Chinese ongm, irrespective of all^iance, to pay a head-tax
of S500 on entering Canada.'
The staff of the inside service of the department proper
consists of the deputy head, chief assistant and accountant
chief trade statistician, chief grain statistician, the super-
intendent of annuities and about twenty-five clerks.
The Department of Mines
TUs department, established in 1907, consists of two
branches— the Wines branch and the Geological Survey, under
the control of the minister of Mines, who in 1912 was the
minister of Inland Revenue.
The functions of the Mines branch are defined by statute
tobe ;
(o) The collection and pubUcation of full statistics of the
imneral production and of the mining and metal-
lurgical mdustnes of Canada, and such data regard-
ing the economic minerals of Canada as relate to
the processes and activities connected with their
utiUzation and the collection and preservation of
all available records of mines and minine works in
Canada ; ^
(b) The making of detailed investigations of mining
camps and areas containing economic minerals or
* See ' Immjgntioo and Population ' in tliis section.
K4 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
deposits of other economic substances, for the pur-
pose of determining the mode of occurrence, and
the extent and character of the ore-bodies and de-
posits of the economic minerals or other economic
substances ;
(c) The preparation and publication of such maps, plans,
cctions, diagrams, drawings and illustrations as
are necessary to elucidate the reports issued by tiie
Mines brandi ; . . j ■
(d) The making of such chemical, mechamcal, and metal-
lurgical investigations as are found expedient to aid
the mining ano metallurgical industry of Canada ;
(«) The collection, ,■ id preparation for exhibition in the
Museum, of specimens of the different ores and
associated rock 'd minerals of Canada, and such
other matetial • . ir . necessary to afford an accurate
exhibit of tho -. '.ling and metallurgical resources
and industrii 'I of Canada.
The functions of the Geological Survey are :
(a) To make a full and scientific examination and survey
of the geological structure and mineralogy of
Canada ; to collect, classify and arrange for ex-
hibition in the Victoria Memorial Museum, such
specimens as are necessary to afford a complete and
exact knowledge of the geology, mineralogjr, palae-
ontology, ethnology, and fauna and flora of Canada ;
(J) To study and report upon the facts relating to water
supply for irrigation and for domestic purposes, and
to collect and preserve all available records of
artesian or other wells ;
(c) To map the forest areas of Canada, and to make and
report upon investigations useful to the preservation
of the forest resources of Canada ;
(i) To prepare and publish such maps, plans, sections,
diagrams, and drawings as are necessary to illus-
trate and elucidate the reports of surveys and in-
vestigations ;
(e) To carry on ethnological and palseontological in-
vestigations.
While the Mines branch is a new creation, the Geological
Survey, on the other hand, is one of Canada's oldest insti-
tutions. In 1842 Sir Charles Bagot, at that time governor-
THE MINISTER OF MILITIA AND DEFENCE 345
general, recommended to the secretary of sute for the Coloniea
that a Geological Survey of Canada should be begun. The
colonial secretary, Lord Stanley, fell in with the suggestion
and placed the matter in the hands of Sir William Logan
The provmaal legislature voted ;£500 towards the new under-
tefang, and work was begun in 1843. Sir William Logan
hUed the poution of director from 1842 to 1869, when ill-
health compelled his resignation. He, however, continued
to act as supervising head until a short time before his death
m 1875-
In those days the Geological Survey was not connected
with any department of the government, its director report-
ing direct to the governor-general. This system continued
until the resignation of Sir William Logan, when an order-in-
council placed the Survey under the control of the secretary
of state for the Provinces, where it remained until trans-
ferred to the departr-;r.nt of the Interior on the formation of
the latter departmeni. .n 1873.
Originally and for many years the headquarters of the
Geological Survey were in Montreal. In 1881 the Survey
was removed to Ottawa. In 1890 it became a separate de-
partment, and continued so until 1907, when it was merged
in that of Mines. The officer in charge of the Survey is, and
always has been, even when he presided over the department
as Its deputy head, known as the ' director." He is assisted
by a number of trained geologists, botanists, naturalists and
other men of science, who, with the patience, industry and
zeal characteristic of their class, are striving to interpret the
secrets of nature.
The Minister of Militia and Defence
The functions of the minister of Militia and Defence are of
a twofold character. Like his colleagues, he presides over a
dei»rtment of the civil service, which department is charged
with the civil administration of the militia affairs of the
Dominion, including the fortiBcations, ordnance, arms, stores
and munitions of war, as well as the initiative in all matters
involving the expenditure of money for militia purposes. In
346 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
the execution of thli office he b (MUted by a deputy
minuter and the requirite equipment of techmcal office™
•nd clerks. . ,
In reipect of the miliary edmuuitration, the minuter u
•dviied by a council ityled the MiUtia Council, appomted
by the governor-general in coundl. Thii council U compoe^
of four miliury members, the chief of the general ataff,
the adjutant-general, the quartermaater-general, the maittr-
genend of the ordnance ; and two dvU members m addition
to the minister— the deputy minister of Militia, •""J**
accountant and paymaster-general of the department. The
minister is the chairman of this council, the deputy minister
the vice-president, and the assistant deputy minister the
•ecretary. . ... u •
The chief of the general staff, as first milittry member, is
required to advise on questions of general military policy, of
the organization for active service, and of military defence.
The training of military forces, education of officers, mtelh-
gence, telegraphing and signalling are also among his special
duties. He is assisted by three staff officere, a director of
miUtaiy training, a director of milittry operations and staff
duties, and a director of musketry.
The adjutant-general is responsible for all questions of
militii.-y administration. All appointments, promotions, re-
tirements, honoura and rewartls are made upon his recom-
mendation. He sees that aU orders to the militia are properly
issued and distributed, and that discipline u maintained
throughout the service. He has charge of the military
arrangements connected with the Royal MiUtary College,
and, through the director-general of medical services, of aU
medical and sanitary questions. Matters of ceremonial and
discipline come under his supervision.
The medical services are spedaUy organized under a
director-general as a division of the adjuttnt-general's branch,
and there are also two assistant adjutants-general.
The quartermaster-general has charge of the orgamzaticm,
administration and technical training of all transports, the
remount, railway supp;y barrack, ordnance and vetennary
services. He is assisted by two staff officers— the director of
THE MINISTER OF MILITIA AND DEFENCE 347
clothing and equipment, who is aho the prinapsl ordnance
oncer, and the director of tianiport and (upplief.
The master-general of the ordnance is specially charged
with the maintenance of fortilications, artillery and rifle
rangM, and the construction of lesser military buildings (not
exceeding $15,000 in cost). He decides upon the patterns,
provinoos and inspection of guns, .mall arms and ammunition,
and of aU artillery, engine stores and vehicles. He also has
two staff officeti under him, the director of artillery and the
director of engineer service.
The presence of the deputy head and of the accountant
and paymaster-general of the department on the Militia
Counal establishes a point of contact between the dvil and
military divisions of the service, and exercises a restraining
influence in regard to the important questions of public
expenditure. The Militia Council meeto once a week. The
^8tem closely follows that in operation in the mother country.
As in the caw of the Army Council, the Militia Council has
succeeded to the duties formerly diwharged by the com-
mander-in-chief, or, as the corresponding officer in Canada
was styled, the general officer commanding the militia with
the exception of executive command, which has passed into
the hands of the officers in chaige of commands and districts,
who are directly responsible to the council. To ensure that
the council's orders are carried out, there is an officer known
as the inspector-general, whose duty it is periodically to
inspect the military forces of the country, and to see that
everything is conducted in accordance with instructions
To assist the inspector-general in the performance of these
duties are six inspectors— of cavalry, artillery, engineers,
army service corps, medical service and oidnance service
respectively.
The civil administration of the department at Ottawa
consists of the deputy head, the assistant deputy minister
the accountant and paymaster-general, the director of con-
tracts, the secretary of the department, eighty-four inspectore,
surveyors, draughtsmen and clerks.
MKlOCOfY NtSOUITION TBT CHAIT
(ANSI ond ISO TEST CHADT No. 3)
i^
SL4I
1.6
/IPPLIED M/GE In,
(?I6) 182 -0300
348
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
The Minister of Inland Revenue
The principal functions of the department over which the
minister of Inland Revenue presides are to collect the duties of
excise, which are levied chiefly on spirits, malt, beer, tobacco,
cigars, cigarettes, snuff, vinegar and acetic acid. Every dis-
tiller, maltster, brewer, and tobacco or cigar manufacturer is
obliged, before beginning business as such, to procure a licence
for that purpose from the minister of Inland Revenue. The
licence is granted at the discretion of the minister, and after
the conditions prescribed by the act are complied with.
These licences run for one year, and are subject to suspension
or forfeiture by the minister for cause. IlUdt distillation, and
other infractions of the inland revenue laws, are punishable
by fine and imprisonment, and sometimes by both, the
penalty usually being severe. The outside service of ti»e
department of Inland Revenue is manned by district in-
spectors, collectors, deputy collectors, excisemen, and so forth,
stationed at places where excise licences are granted. Duties
of excise are fixed by the Inland Revenue Act. They are
distinct from those levied under the customs tariff, and are
much less subject to change.
Weights and measures are regulated by the minister of
Inland Revenue under a special act. The Dominion stan-
dards of length and weight and the metric standards are kept
in this department, which also has the duty of certifying all
meters used for the measurement of electrical energy. Every
inspector of weights and measures is furnished with one or
more sets of standards, called local standards, carefully veri-
fied and authenticated by comparison with the departmental
standards. With tbise are compared the weights, measures,
balances and weighing machines used for purposes of trade,
which are regularly inspected, and when found correct
stamped or branded by the inspector. Appropriate penalties
ate provided for the use of false or unjust weights. The
metric system is legally optional in Canada, though as a
matter of fact it is not employed in commerce or the affairs
of orxiinary life, its use being confined to scientific purposes.
■1;
THE ROYAL NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE 349
Besides excise and weights and measures, the department
of Inland Revenue administers acts relating to a great variety
of subjects, among which may be mentioned those relating
to gas and electric light inspection, adulteration of food,
agricultural fertilizers, commercial feeding stuffs, proprietary
medicines, petroleum inspection and the exportation of
electrical energy.
The staff of the department at Ottawa consists of the
deputy minister, the secreury, the chief electrical engineer,
the chief inspector of gas, the chief inspector of weights and
measures, the chief analyst and about sixty officers and
clerks. The portfolio of Inland Revenue was abolished in
1892, and the office of controller of Inland Revenue substi-
tuted therefor, under circumstances precisely similar to those
already explained in the case of the department of Customs.
Like that of Customs, the department of Inland Revenue
was revived in 1897.
The Royal Nohth-West Mounted Police
The Royal North-West Mounted Police is a constabulary
force, formed shortly after the acquisition by Canada of the
North-West Territories. Its work was to be the establish-
ment of friendly relations with the Indians and the mainten-
ance of law and order in the vast regions stretching from
Winnipeg to the summit of the Rocky Mountains.
In the year 1873 Sir John Macdonald, at that time prime
minister and minister of Justice, took the first steps towards
the creation of this body, which he attached to his own
department. Shortly afterwards his government went out of
office, and the organization of the Mounted Police was com-
pleted under Alexander Mackenzie, the force remaining under
the control of the minister of Justice until 1876, when it
was transferred to the secretary of state. Upon the return
of Sir John Macdonald to office in 1878, he, holding that the
control of this force should always appertain to the prime
minister, again took it with him, first to the department of
the Interior, then to the Privy Council, and lastly to the
department of Railways and Canals. Such also was the policy
■!
\
hi
1 »
:i
350 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who retained the force under his
control, and the Hon. R. L. Borden, on assuming office in 191 1,
iraintained the tradition.
At the time of the organization of the force, what now
forms the Provinces of Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan
was an almost unbroken solitude, save for the Hudson Bay
trading posts and the trappers and Indians who roamed
to and fro throughout the land. Shortly after this date
civilization, recently planted in Manitoba, began to encroach
on the wilderness, and treaties were made with the Indians.
The building of the Canadian Pacific Railway rendered access
comparatively easy, and before long the tide of settlement
began to flow, bringing with it the usual quota of wild and
lawless spirits that hang on the outskirts of civili7.ation. It
was in those days that the Mounted Police demonstrate^
their usefulness in protecting the peaceable settler on his
homestead, and the Indian on his reserve, in sternly repressing
all forms of disorder, and in making white man and Indian
realize that go where tl ■ .)uld they were not beyond the
strong arm of the law. , .iile thus useful in promoting order
and security among all races, their presence was indispensable
to the control of the Indians, who could only be effectively
restrained by a display of authority.
Before the introduction of railways, the sphere of action
of the Mounted Police was completely isolated from the rest
of the Dominion. Means of communication were painfully
irregular and slow, and those in command of the force had
frequently to face occasions which called for the exercise
of the greatest delicacy of judgment. That the Mounted
Police acquitted themselves in the performance of their
arduous and singularly varied duties with remarkable success
is acknowledged by all who have a practical knowledge of
early days in the North-West. So necessary were they felt
to be that, when in 1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan were
created autonomous provinces, it was mutually agreed between
the Dominion and the new provinces that the Mounted
Police should continue to exercise jurisdiction, as a force
under the control of the Dominion government, for a
period of five years— an arrangement which, for public
THE MINISTER OF LABOUR 351
convenience, was later renewed for a further period of
five years.
The original strength of the force was 300 officers and
men. This number was increased to 500 in 1 882, and to 1000
ra 188.S. Reductions have been made since 1S85, and the
authorized strength in 19 it was 700.
The departmental head of the Mounted Police force, under
the prime minister, bears the title of comptroller, and is
Uie deputy head of the department. Lieutenant-Colonel
Frederick White has filled this office practically from the
creation of the force, and his unwearied labours to maintain
the high efficiency of this remarkably fine body of men have
been recognized and appreciated by successive administra-
tions. He is aided in his work by an assistant comptroller
and a staff of clerks. The commanding officer is styled
the commissioner, and under him in 191 1 were 2 assistant
commissioners, 12 superintendents, 33 inspectors and 5
surgeons. The headquarters of the Royal Horth-West
Mounted Police Force are at Regina, with 10 divisional posts
scattered throughout the North-West, and about lyf aier
detachments. In 1903 His late Majesty Kini; Edv. .J vii
granted to the Mounted Police the privilege of using the
prefix ' Royal." Lord Minto, for six years gov;mor-general
of Canada, and more recently vicerr- ^ndia, is honorary
oommissioner of the force.
The Minister of Labour
In the year 1900 parliament passed » statute (63-64 Vict,
cap. 24) , known as the Conciliation Act, to aid in the prevention
of industrial disputes, and to provide for the publication
of stotistical industrial information. The admmistration of
this act was vested by order-in-council in the postmaster-
general, who was empowered by parliament to ' establish and
have charge of a department of Labour.' Under this authority
a department was organized, and in a short time demonstrated
its usefulness by successfully meeting the conditions it was
created to serve ; so much so that in 1909 (8-9 Edw. vn,
cap. 22) a cabinet portfolio was constituted and fill-id by the
i
It
35J THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
appointment of W. L. Mackenzie King, who had occupied the
position of deputy head of the department, and who affords
the only instance in Canada of promotion of a deputy minister
to cabinet rank. The staff of the department of Labour con-
sists of a deputy minister, who is the editor of the Labour
Gazette (a publication in the interests of the industrial classes
issued weekly from the department) and also registrar of
the Board of Conciliation and Labour, together with an
assistant deputy minister, and about sixteen technical officers
and clerks.
In 1906 the Conciliation Act and the Railway Disputes
Act were amalgamated and became the Act respecting
Conciliation and Labour (R. S. C, cap. 96), which was placed
under the administration of the minister of Labour, as was
alw) the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act of 1907. Subse-
quently the minister was charged with the direction of the
Combines Investigation Act passed in 1910 (9-10 Edw. vil,
cap. 9) .
The attitude of the department of Labour towards both
parties to industrial disputes is essentially that of an inquirer,
or in some cases that of a mediator. As soon as a strike is
reported in the press or by correspondence of the depart-
ment, an official communicates with each side— with the
emi loyers, and with the representatives of the men— asking
information as to the cause of the trouble, the number of men
concerned, and any other particuLrs that may be available ;
the department then keeps in touch with the parties by
inquiries from time to time until the dispute is ended, full
particulars as to duration and settlement being reported.
If a strike is of large dimensions, the department sometimes
sends a representative to the spot in order to investigate the
matter, so that the minister may be fully informed on the
subject. Under the Conciliation and Labour Act, if one party
to a dispute makes application to the minister, a conciliator
may be appointed who will endeavour to bring about a settle-
ment. The deputy minister of Labour has frequently acted
in the capacity of conciliator.
Under the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act, 1907,
a distinction is drawn between disputes affecting coal mines
THE MINISTER OF 'ABOUR 353
and public utility industries (railways of all kinds, shipping,
telephones and telegraphs, gas and electric works), and in
odier industries. In the first-named ciass the Industrial
Disputes Investigation Act 1907 provides that before a strike
or lock-out may take place the dispute sliall be made a matter
of investigation before a Board of Conciliation and Investiga-
tion appointed under the act. Either party may apply to the
minister of Labour for a board. These boards consist of
three members, one appointed on the recommendation of
the employer, one on the reco-nmendation of the employees,
and the tliird on the recomn lation of the other two. It
is the duty of this board ' .-ndeavour to bring about a
friendly settlement of the di .e, and for purposes of getting
at the facts it is clothed wui. all necessary powers. Should
either party refuse or fail to nominate a member of the boeuxl,
the minister may appoint one in the place of the refusing or
defaulting party, and, if the member so chosen fails to elect
a third member, the minister must make such selection. Thus
in certain contingencies the minister makes two appointments
out of three. The board's first duty is conciliation and then
investigation, and in the event of no definite agreement being
reached it becomes the duty of the board to make a report to
the minister, containing recommendations as to the marmer
of settlement. The department requests from the two parties
a statement as to their attitude respectively on these recom-
mendations. In the event of the recommendations being
accepted by each party, what amounts to an agreement is
reached. In the event of either side refusing to accept the
reconmiendations, the prohibition of strike or lock-out is
removed.
Although the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act,
1907, applies directiy only in the case of coaj mining and
public utility industries (as above set forth), and prohibit?
strikes and lock-outs in these industries pending inquiry
before a board, the act permits the use of its machinery
in the case of other industrial disputes, provided in these
cases the consent of both parties is obtained. The de-
partment has frequently had occasion to approach the
respective parties, explaining the law and acting as a medium
m
^.''
Si
I
I
354 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
of negotiations, leading frequently to a aolution of all
differences. , , , . ■ ■
It may be added that sincr the enactment o* the Industrial
Disputes Investigation Act, lyo/, the machinery of the earlier
Act (Conciliation and Labour) has not been called largely into
requisition, probably because of the above-stated feature of
the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act.
Thb Deputy Ministers
Fiom what has gone before, it may readily be inferred that
the deputy heads of departments play an important part in
the administration of the country's affairs. Upon them falls
in great measure the responsibility of carrying on the business
of the executive government. The busy minister, with his
manifold duties towards the crown, his colleagues, parliament,
his constituents, and the public at large, must perforce leave
the greater part of the business of his department to his
deputy, who brings to the task the knowledge and experi-
ence which his permanent position enables him to acquire.
Governments come and go. Even in the same administration
changes occur with more or less frequency, but the deputy
minister remains, to tender to successive ministers that loyal
assistance and support which they have a right to expect,
and without which departmental administration could not be
successfully carried on. Taking no part in politics, the deputy
head regards himself as a trustee for the ministry of the day,
bound to serve the government in all things so far as he
properly can. He is of cou.se bound by a higher sanction to
refuse to do, or acquiesce in the doing of, anything contrary
to law, or anythmg which, though not technically illegal, may
be opposed to his sense of propriety. He may also state to his
minister his objections to a course which, while not comprised
within either of these categories, he may conceive to be
injurious to the public interest, and acquaint him with his
views of the consequence of a proposed line of action ; but
having done this much, his duty is clear. He is in office to
carry out the policy of the head of the department, upon
whom rests the responsibility for all his official acts.
THE DEPUTY MINISTERS 355
The deputy head is a member of the civil service ap-
pointed by the governor in council and holds office during
pleasure. He is not, as some suppose, a semi-minister, for he
occupies no advisory relation towards the crown, nor does he
possess any representative character, being merely the deputy
of his minister. This distinction was more clearly tecog-
nired in the early years of Confederation than at the presen<-
day. The statutes escablishing the principal departments
and constituting the office of deputy head, invariably and
with design, speak of that officer as the ' oeputy 0/ the
mmister,' and such continued to be the rule until a compara-
tively recent period, when the title of 'deputy minister'
began to supplant the older form. However, there has not
been any corresponding change in the status of the deputy
heads, who occupy the same relation towards the heads "f the
public departments as they did in the beginning.
Occasionally a suggestion is tentatively put forward as
to the advisability of introducing into Canada the English
system of parliamentary under-secretaries, who, though
menibers of the administration, are in a real sense ' deputy
ministers ' in that, while possessing seats in parliament and
a certain responsibiUty of dieir own, they are subordinate in
their official capacitj- to the members of the cabinet. The
advantages of this plan are chiefly experienced in parliament,
where the under-secrBtary in replying to questions, in explain-
11^ policy, and in defending the acta of the government,
affords much aid to the responsible minister. In Canada it
would be equally effective in these respects, and, in addition,
would relieve the minister of a mass of work conntoted with
poUtics and patronage which absorbs much of his time, and
from which the imperial cabinet minister is relatively free.
In England a cabinet minister is so hedged about with
forms as to be almost unapproachable. An interview with
him can be secured only upon the presentation of suitable
lettera of introduction, and after divers conferences with one
or more private secretaries. By this means the minister has
leisure to devote adequate time to the consideration of the
affairs of state. In democratic Canada a different order of
thmgs prevails. Cabinet ministers are quite unprotected.
\\t\
m
356 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Every free and independent elector conuders that he has a
right to interview even the first minister, upon all manner of
irrelevant topics, at any hour of the day or in any place,
without notice or warning of any kind, and he considers himr
self much aggrieved when occasionally intercepted by the
vigilance of a private secretary in the act of forcing his way
into the ministerial presence.
That parliamentary under-secretaries would relieve Cana-
dian cabinet ministers individually from much labour and
many annoyances, both inside and outside parliament, is
probable. Whether the plan would conduce to the moi«
effective working of the public departments is open to ques-
tion, and it is also problematical to what extent a Cana-
dian minister could safely emulate the exclusiveness of his
imperial prototype.
Pbivate Secretaries to MmisTERS
It is the undoubted right of a cabinet minister to choose
his own secretary, either from within or without the ranks of
the service, as he may elect. The importance of the office
depends largely upon the aptitudes of the incumbent, and
the personal relations existing between him and his chief.
A practical knowledge of shorthand and typewriting is nowa-
days essential. With this equipment a private secretary can
conduct the mechanical part of correspondence, but if that
be the limit of his usefuhiess, he falls far short of the tequire-
menu of the office and of what his minister has a right to
expect of him.
No position is so completely what the holder chooses to
make it as that of private secretary to a minister of the
crown. If he is content to act as an amanuensis only, with
one eye on the clock, an amanuensis he will remain till the
end of his days. If, on the contrary, he displays an intdli-
gent interest in his work ; if, ignoring hours and disregarding
his own personal convenience, he is always at his post, ' never
in the way and never out of the way,' as Charles n used to
say of the Earl of Godolphin ; if he is assiduous in the per-
formance of his duties ; if he thinks for his minister and is
THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION 357
T^.f ?f f!*^ '° anticipate hia wiihes ; if he i« prudent,
tactful, faithful and diKreet, he can make hinuelf indi^
penuble to hii chiet, and at the aame time lay up a store of
knowledge and experience that will stand him in good stead
some day.
The above is true of -n .rivate secretaries, but doubly
so m the case of the private cretery to the prime minister,
who holds one of the most erous and tesponuble posU in
the public service. So well is this recognized in England
that the office is eagerly sought as the gate to high preferment.
The Librakv of Pailuuent
. . ^^* parliamentary library is under the management of
jomt hbi-jnans, one styled the general Ubrarian and the other
the parliamentary librarian, who report direct to parliament
at the begmmng of everj- session, on the state of the library.
There is also a joint committee of both h >uses on the library
while the executive control over the staff appertains by
custom to the prime minister. Each librarian enjoys the
rank and salary of a deputy hesd.
The parliamenury library is ,vhat its name imports—
a library for the use of members of parliament and of the
pubhc service. It is not primarily intended to serve the
purposes of a public library for the citizens of Ottawa, though
during the parliamentary recess the residents of the capital
inadentally enjoy the advantages which it confers.
The library building was originally intended to hold
l»o,ooo volumes, but by some miscalculation the actual
shelf room never exceeded provision for 75,000. When it is
considered that there are at the present time (igi2\ 400,000
books within its walls, some idea may be formed of its con-
gested condition.
The Civn. Service Cohmission
In the year following Confederation, the governor in
council appointed the f 'st of what was destined to be a series
of royal commissions, .j inquire into th? state and require-
I)
358 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
menti of the dvil nrvice. Thia commi»ion nibmitted, in due
coune, a acheme for the recon»titution of the service, which
WM adopted, and for eleven yean, to far a* the inaide lervice
was conremed, formed the basis of its organization.
In those days appointments to the service were quite
franlcly political, no test of fitness being required. When a
vacancy occurred, the minister nominated a friend for the
position, and he was appointed as a matter of course. It is
right to add, however, that even at that early pe.^od there
were several redeeming features in the administration of the
public service. In the first place, the tenure was virtually
permanent. Canada has never been cursed with the bar-
barous system, long in vogue in the United States, under
which every public servant, no matter how diligent, faithful
and competent he might be, was turned out of office at each
change of government. So long as a man behaved himself
and abstained from interference in politics, in the Canadian
service he has always been secure. Then again, while political
influence was a potent factor in securing admission to the
service, once in, promotion, generally speaking, went accord-
ing to merit, or at any rate was not influenced by political
considerations. Now and then there might have been an
exception to this rule, but still the rule held good.
A commission appointed in 1880 reported strongly against
the then existing mode of appointment, and urged that Canada
should follow the example of the mother country by insti-
tuting a system of open competition to govern entrance into
the service, with promotion by merit. To this end they re-
commended placing the service under a board of civil service
commissioners. The time was not felt to be opportune for
the adoption of this plan in its entirety, but an act was puaed
in 188a (45 Vict. cap. 4) reorganizing the service and providing
for the establishment of a Board of Examiners whose duty it
should be to examine all candidates for admission thereto,
and to give certificates of qualification to those who success-
fully pissed the prescribed tests. This board was appointed
in the summer of 1882, and for twenty-five years discharged
its functions until superseded by the present Civil Service
Commission.
THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION 339
The ctUblithment of ui educational qualification waa no
'loubt an improvement upon prevailing conditions, and during
the earlier years of its existence the board rendered a serice
to ministers of the crown in intervening between them and
applicanu for office. The relief thus alTofded, however, was
but temporary. The examinations were easy. They were
not competitive, and with the lapse of time the list of qualified
aspirants grew apace, until almost every person became
eligible, and things were as before.
Still, successive governments shrank from effecting any
ori^nic change, and, beyond occasionally amending the Civil
Service Act and appointing fresh commissions of inquiry
every ten or twelve years, did nothing. One of these bodies,
created in 1892, renewed the recommendations of ito pre-
decenor for the appointment of a permanent commission to
relate the service, but with no material result. Indeed,
things kept getting worse, for the periodical amendments
made to the act were for the most part designed to meet
particuUr circumstances as they arose, and, so long as the
special occasion was served thereby, slight regard appears
to have been paid to the effect of the mendments upon the
ymmetry of the act as a whole. So ongruities multiplied.
At length, forty years after the first .ccps had been taken to
improve the service, the govemmenL resolved upon a radical
reform. In 1907 it entrusted to another myal commission
the task of instituting a thorough inquiry into the ' ( -king
of the whole system. The commissioners went fu , into
the question, and in a report which caused some stir 1 the
time, discussed the subject from many points of view. They
unsparingly condemned the exeidse of political influence in
the matter of appointments ; found fault with the exioting
classification ; pointed out that the salaries were inadequate ;
and advocated the restoration of the superannuation system,
with added provision for the support of the widows and
orphans of deceased civil servants. Placing a wide inter-
pretation upon their instructions, they went on to criticize
the administration of the public departments in tegard to
matters of policy.
Their exhaustive report appeared in the early part of
360 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
1908, and the same session saw an act placed on the statute
book of far-reaching importance to the service. By this
act the government divested itself of the ordinary ezeidse
of its power of appointment to the civil service, and entrusted
it to a commission consisting of two members appointed
by the governor in council, but removable only on an
address of the Senate and House of Commons. With certain
exceptions, the system of competitive examination was
established for the filling of all positions in the inside service
below that of deputy head. These examinations are held
at stated intervals, imder regulations of the commission
approved by the governor in council. Before holding such
examination the commission is furnished by each depart-
ment with a list of permanent officers and clerks likely to be
required withir. the next sue months. On this basis the
commission computes the number of competitors to be selected
at the next ensuing examination, placing any remaining over
from the last examination who have not received appointments
at the head of the list. Thereupon the commission advertises,
and otherwise gives notice of the examinations, stating the
character and number of the positions to be competed for.
When a department has need of the service of a clerk, the
deputy head, with the approval of his minister, applies to
the commission, which selects from the list of successful com-
petitors a suitable person for the required duty. Th«e
selections are, as far as practicable, in the order of merit,
but latitude is given to the commission permitting it in
certain cases to appoint the person who has shown special
qualifications for the position to be filled. The commission
forthwith notifies the Treasury Board and the auditor-
general of the name and position In the sendee of each cleric
supplied to any department. The head of a department,
on a report in writing of the deputy head, has the right to
reject any clerk supplied by the commission within six months,
at the expiration of which period he is deemed to have been
permanently accepted.
The civil service is divided by the act of 1908 into two
main divisions, the inside service and the outside service.
The jurisdiction of the conmiission is confined to the inside
THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION 361
service, gave as regards the holding of examination, for the
out.ide service, which it is empowerwi to do by an oider-
";*?"1'°'.*™^'«'^K to it the work of the old Board of
Civil Service Examiners.
The inside service, under the deputy heads, is divided
into three divisions, each of which has two subdivisions.
Subdivision A of the first division consists of the officem
having the ranlc of deputy heads but not being deputy
heads, assistant deputy ministers, and the principal tech-
meal administrative and executive officers. Subdivision B
consists of chief officers of lesser importance than those
forming subdivision A.
The second division consists of those clerks having duties
of the same character, but of lesser importance than those
of tte first division. This division also has two similar
subdivisions.
The third division consists of those whose duties are
copying and routine work under direct supervision. It also
IS divided into subdivisions A and B.
Promotions, other than from the third to the second divi-
sion, continue to be made by the governor in council, upon
the recommendation of the head of the department based
on a report in writing from the deputy head, but they require
in addition a certificate of qualification from the commission
to be given with or without examination as the commission
may determine.
The Civil Service Commission has now (1912) been in
operation for four years, not an extended period when viewed
absolutely, yet tong enough to form an opinion as to the
result of what at its inception was looked upon by many as
a venture. While the change may have operated to the
disadvantage of individuals here and there, and while modi-
ficahons m the act and regulations may be necessary from
tune to time, there can be little doubt that the experiment
has proved on the whole successful.
The removal of the service from the political domain,
besides being beneficial both to poUtics and to the service
Itself, has proved an immense boon to ministers of the crown
and pnvate members of parliament in lightening the burden
jCa THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
of patronage. In addition to these advantages, the examina-
tions have set a higher standard of ef?=ciency, and supplied
a better class of you.ig men and women than were secured
under the old system. Under the skilful guidance of the
commission there has been on the whole surprisingly little
friction, and the public departments have fallen almost imper-
ceptibly into the new order, perhaps the best test of the success
of which is to be found in the fact that no one in authority
would voluntarily revert to the old conditions of affairs.
Iff!
The Couhission of Conservation
The movement for the conservation of the natural
resources of the Dominion had its origin in a joint conference
of the representatives of the United Sutes, Mexico, Canada
and Newfoundland, which, on the invitation of the president
of the United States, met at Washington in the early part of
the year 1909 to consider the whole question from a con-
tinental point of view, wholly apart from political or national
divisions. This North American Conference recommended
the establishment of permanent conservation commissions
in each of the countries represented thereat. The Canadian
goverrunent, realizing the great importance of the project,
gave it their hearty support by effecting the passage of the
necessary legislation, and making suitable provision for the
carrying on of the work.
The Canadian commission is composed of 32 members
— 13 es officio, and 20 nominated by the governor in council.
The ex officio members are the ministers of Agriculture, the
Interior, and Mines, in the Dominion cabinet, and the
members of each provincial government in Canada charged
with the administration of the natural resources of that
province. Of the nominated members, at least one in each
province must be a member of a faculty of a university
within such province. The president and secretary are
likewise appointed by the governor in council.
In the constitution of this commission much care seems
to have been taken to make it thoroughly representative of
those classes and interests in the country most concerned
THE INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION 363
in the succem of the movement, and best qualified to deal
with the various problems which it presents. Men versed
in administration, both in the Dominion and provincial
spheres, others distinguished for their scientific attainments,
and those wlio have achieved success in various forms of
business enterprise, are here brought together to combine
their varied knowledge and experience in the great work of
effectively utilizing and conserving for succeeding genera-
tions the vast resources of the Dominion.
The functions of the commission are inquisitorial and
advisory only. It possesses no executive or administrative
powers. Its duty is to investigate the large questions with
which it is called upon to deal, to collect and assimilate the
information so secured, and to report the result of its labours to
the government, with whom rests the responsibility of action.
The able and exhaustive address of the Hon. Clifford
Sifton, chairman of the commission, delivered on the occa-
sion of the first annual meeting held at Ottawa on January
18, 1910, set forth with great clearness the aim and objects
of the commission. The chairman's staff consists of the
secretary, the editor and assistant secretary, a draughtsman
and two clerks. The necessary reports to the governor
in council in relation to the affairs of the commission are
made by the minister of Agriculture.
The International Joint Commission
On June 13, 1902, the president of the United States
approved an act of Congress providing for the appointment
of an international commission of sot members, three repre-
senting the interests of Canai*! and three from the United
States, to investigate and report upon the conditions and
uses of the waters adjacent j> the boundary line between
the United States and Canada. This invitation was accepted
on the part of Canada, and in December 1903 William
Frederick King was appointed as one of the Canadian
members of such body, which was known as the International
Waterways Commission. In January 1905 James Pitt
Mabee and Louis Coste, C.E., were named to act in conjuno-
364
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
i
tion with King, and on May 20 following Mabee was appointed
chainnan of the Canadian section of the commiasion, with
Thomas Coti as secretary. Coti acted as secretary to the
full commission up to the appointment by the United States
govenmient, on August i, 1905, of L. C. Sabin as secretary
of the United States section. The United States members
of the commission were appointed on October 3, 1903. They
were Colonel O. H. Ernst, corps of engineers United States
Army, George Clinton, attomey-at-law of Buffalo, New
York, and Professor Gardner S. Williams of Ithaca, New
York. The Canadian section held its first meetings at
Ottawa on March 6 and 7, 1905.
Among the subjects they were directed by the govern-
ment of Canada to consider were :
1. The proposed diversion southward by the Minne-
sota Canal and Power Company of Duluth, of certain
waters in the State of Minnesota, that now flow north into
the Rainy River and the Lake of the Woods.
2. The diversion about a mile and a half east of the
town of Sault Ste Marie of part of the waters of the
St Marys River into the Hay Canal entirely through
American territory. The River St Marys now forms
part of the boundary between the United States and
Canada, and the waters of the river are clearly inter-
national. The Canadian vessels of necessity are using
the Hay Canal, but no treaty has been made concerning
their right.
3. Inquiry into the effect on the levels of Lakes Huron
and Erie of the construction of the Chicago Canal.
4. The building of the dam and other obstructions on
the St John River, flowing through the State of Maine
into New Brunswick, contrary to the express stipulation
of the A^burton Treaty.
The United States section held its first meeting at
Washington on May 10, 1905, and completed its organization
by electing Colonel Ernst as chairman.
It was soon seen that the United States govenmient
placed a much narrower construction upon the act of Congress
authorizing the appointment of the commission than Jiat
applied to it by the government of Canada, which held that
THE INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION 365
die scope of its powers covered all waters adjacent to the
boundaries of the two countries. The United S<ates, on
the other hand, understobd the inquiries of the commission
to be hnuted to the waters of the Great Lakes only. Upon
their persistence in this view, the Canadian govenunent
yielded the point and the narrower construction prevailed
On May 25, 1905, the full commission held its first meeting
at Washington. At this meeting Colonel Ernst was elected
chauman, it being agreed that at meetings of the full com-
mission held on United States territory the chairman of the
United States section should preside, and at meetings held
on Canadian territory the chairman of the Canadian section
should preside. It was decided that for the present the offices
01 the Canadian section should be established in Toronto, and
those of the United Sutes section in Buffalo. Subsequently
the Canadian section decided to establish its permanent
quarters in Ottawa. At later meetings various questions
were discussed from time to time, among them being :
A. The us^ of the waters at Sault Ste Marie for power
purpose, and the regulations necessary to ensure an
equitable division of the waters between the two countries
and the protection of the navigation interests.
B. The use* iif the waters of the Niagara River for
power purposra, and the regulations necessary to ensure
an equitable division of the wateis between the two
countnes and the protection of Niagara Falls as a scenic
spectacle.
C. The alleged differences in the marine r^ulationa
"*?« *y™ countries with respect to signal Ughts, and the
advisabdity of adpptmg uniform signals for both countries.
I ■ The advirabiUty of building controlling works at the
outlet of Lake Ene, including the effect upon the levels
ol the Lakes and upon their shores, and upon the River
St Lawrence.
E. The diversion southward by the Minnesota Canal
and Power Company of Duluth, of certain waters in the
htate of Minnesota that now flow north into the Rainv
River and the Lake of the Woods. '
F. The effect of the Chicago Drainage Canal upon the
leveb of Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, and
upon the River St Lawrence.
366
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
m
G. Delimiting die international boundaiy on the inter-
national waterwaya, and delineating the tame on modem
charts.
H. The supprenion or abatement of illegal fiahing on
the Great Laltes.
I. The location and constniction of common channel*.
J. Regulations to govern navigation in narrow channels,
k. Protection of wores from damage due to deepening
of channels and increased speed.
L. The transmission of electric snergy generated in
Canada, to the United States, and vice versa.
Towards the doee of 1905 J. P. Mabee, havii;^ been
appointed to the Ontario bench, resigned his position as
chairman of the Canadian section, and George C. Gibbons,
K.C., of London, Ontario, was appointed in his stead. In
March 1907 W. F. King resigned from the commission and
was succeeded by William J. Stewart, chief engineer of the
Hydrographic Survey of Canada.
On April 11, 1908, Great Britain and the United States
concluded a treaty respecting the demarcation of the inter-
national boundary between the United States and Canada.
For the purposes of this treaty the boundary is divided into
eight sections : (i) Through Passamaquoddy Bay ; (a) from
the mouth to the source of the St Croix River ; (3) from the
source of the St CroU to the St Lawrence River ; (4) from its
intersection with the St Lawrence River to Pigeon River j
(j) from the mouth of Pigeon River to the north-westernmost
point of the Lake of the Woods ; (6) from the north-western-
most point of the Lake of the Woods to the summit of the
Rocky Mountains ; (7) from the summit of the Rxxky Moun-
tains to the Gulf of Georgia ; (8) from the 49th parallel to
the Pacific Ocean.
These divisions are dealt with for the most part by special
commissions appointed for the purpose, but Article IV of
the tr«aty chaije" the existing Waterways Commission to
ascertain and rfi-establish accurately that portion of the
boundary line between St Regis and Pigeon River, that is to
say, from its intersection with the St Lawrence River, through
the Great Lakes to the western shore of Lake Superior. This
work is still in progress.
l^i
THE INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION 367
Meanwhile infonnal negotiation* had been going on look-
ing to the creation of a new conuninion with enlarged powen
for dealing with all international questions of water rights
on the frontier between the United States and Canada.
These negotiations finally resulted in the ti«aty of January 1 1,
1909, establishing the present International Joint Commission,
which is clothed witii authority to deal not merely with
boundary waters, but also with ' all questions which are now
pending between the United States and the Dominion of
Canada, involving the rights, obligations or interests of either
in relation to the other or to the inhabitants of the other,
along their common frontier, and to make provision for the
adjustment and settlement of all such questions as may here-
after arise.' This treaty was approved by the parliament of
Canada on May 19, 1911 (1-2 Geo. v, cap. 28). Articles
VII and X respectively provide that :
Article vii
The High Contracting Parties agree to establish and
maintain an International Joint Commission of the
United States and Canada composed of six Commis-
sioners, three on the part of the United States appointed
by the President thereof, and three on the part of
the United Kingdom appointed by His Majesty on the
recommendation of the Governor in Council of the
Dominion of Canada.
Article z
Any questions or matters of difference arising between
the Hijji Contracting Parties involving the rights, obliga-
tions, or interests of the United States or of the Dominion
of Canada, either in relation to each other or to their
respective inhabitants, may be referred for decision to the
International Joint Commission by the consent of the
two Parties, it being understood that on the part of the
Umted States any such action will be by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, and on the part of His
Majesty's Government with the consent of the Govemor-
Genend in Council. In each case so referred, the said
Commission is authorized to examine into and report
upon the facts and circumstances of the particular ques-
li
368 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
tioiu and matten referred, together with (uch concluiion*
and recomroendationa aa may be appropriate, nibject,
however, to any restrictiona or exceptiona which may be
imposed with letpect thereto by the terma of the reference.
A majority of the said Commission shall have power to
render a decuion or finding upon any of the questions or
matters so referred.
If the said Commission is equally divided, or otherwise
unable to render a decision or finding as to any questions
or matters so referred, it shall be the duty of the Com-
misstoners to make a joint report to both Governments,
or separate reports to their respective Governments, show-
ing the different conclusions arrived at with lef^rd to
the matters or questions so referred, which ciuestions or
matters shall thereupon be referred for decision by the
High Contracting Parties to an Umpire chosen in accord-
ance with the procedure prescribed in the fourth, fifth,
and sixth paragraphs of Article XLV of The Hague Con-
vention for the pacific settlement of intenutional dis-
putes, dated the l8di October, 1907. Such Umpire shall
nave power to render a final decision with respect to those
matters and questions so rtferred on whidi the Com-
mission failed to agree.
The British commissioners appointed by His Majesty
on November 10, 1911, under Article vil were Thomas Chase
Casgrain, Henry Absalom Powell and Charles Alexander
Magrath. The United States section, appointed in the pre-
ceding March, consisted of Thomaa Henry Carter, James
Tawney and Frank Sherwin Stieeter. On the death of
Carter, the He 1. George Turner was appointed to fill the
vacancy.
In January 1913 the first meeting of the full commission
was held in Washington, at which certain rules of procedure
were adopted. It was agreed that regular sessions of the
commissioners should be held aimually at Washington begin-
ning on the first Tuesday of April, and at Ottawa beginning
the first Tuesday of October. L. J. Burpee and L. White
Bu3sey were appointed secretaries of the British and American
sections respectively.
This body, known as the International Joint Com-
mission, has superseded the old International Waterways
THE HIGH COMMISSIONER 369
Conuniaion, which ia now functus ofido tave as re»pect» the
laying down of the boundaiy through the Great Lakes, with
which duty it wa< especially charged by the treaty of April 1 1,
1908, and upon which it is still engaged.
Tbb Higb Commissioner
In the yeari879 certain members of the Canadian ministry
then in England represented, in a confidential memorandum
addressed to the secretary of state for the Colonies, the need
which existed of providing the means of constant and con-
fidential communication 'between Her Majesty's Govern-
ment and Her local advisers in Canada in extension of the
more formal relations subsisting through the correspondence
of the Secretary of State for the Colonies with the Governor-
General.' The memorandum went on to observe that
it appears to the Canadian Government eminently
desirable to provide for the fullest and most frank inter-
change of views with Her Majesty's Government, and
for the thorough appreciation of the policy of Canada on
all points of general interest. Otherwise there appears
to be danger of a feeling growing up of indifference, if
not of actual antagonism and irritation upon both sides.
The idea must be avoided that the connection of Canada
with the British Empire is only temporary and unabiding,
instead of being designed to strengthen and confirm the
mamtenance ofBritish influence and power.
It is now being found in practice that there are con-
stantly questions arising, connected wiA the adminis-
trataon of affairs in Canada, requiting discussions in a
mode, and to an extent wholly impracticable by the
ordinaivduumel of correspondence through the Governor-
General ; and periodical visits have to be made to London
for Ois purpose by the important membera of the
Canadian Government, entailing serious inconvenience.
Her Majesty's government having returned a sympathetic
answer, an act was passed in the following session of the
Canadian parliament, constituting the office of high com-
missioner for Canada in the United Kingdom. His duties
were thus defined:
YOU. I 3^
W
370 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
(I) To act u lepreMntative and roident Ag«t of tin
Dominioo in the United Kingdom, and in tliat capacity
to execute inch powen and to perfonn nidi dutiea at
nay from time to time be conf ened upon and anigncd to
him Iwthe Governor in Council ;
(a) To take the charge, niperviiion and control of the
Immigration offices and aiende* in the United Kingdom,
under the Miniiter of Agiicultuie ;
(3) To cany out iuch instructioni a* he may from
time to time receive from die Governor in Council re-
specting the commercial, financial and general interests
of the r minion in the United Kingdom and elaev^ere.
A few uays after this statute received the royal assent.
Sir Alexander Gait was appointed high commissioner. He
held the position until May 31 , 1883, when Sir Charles Tupper,
at that time a member of Sir John Macdonald's cabinet, was
appointed to perform the duties of the ofiice without salary,
thus enabling him to retain his portfolio of Railways and
Canals and his seat in the House of Commons. On May 33,
1884, Sir Charles withdrew from the Canadian government,
and on the following day was appointed high commissioner
in the usual manner. In January 1887 he resigned this office
to te-enter the cabinet, this time as minister of Finance. He
remained in the ministry until May 1888, when he returned to
the high commissionership, which he held until January 1896,
when he was called to be prime minister of the Dominion.
Sir Charles was succeeded in the high commissionership by
Lord Strathoona and Mount Royal.
The Agent of Canada in Paris
In the year i88j the Hon. Hector Fabre, at that time a
member of the Senate, having been selected by the govern-
ment of the Province of Quebec to reside in Paris in order to
promote their financial, commercial and other interests, the
government of Canada commissioned him to act in a similar
capacity as agent for the Dominion. Instructions furnished
the agent on October 3, 1882, thus defined his duties :
' To spread information in France and on the continent
of Europe regarding Canada, its resources and its advantages
THE SUPREME COURT 371
u a field for emigration. That he will tin wlidt the atten-
tion of the capttalifti of France to the mineral*, timber and
fidi product! of Canada and the promiw which th^ offer in
return for their development.'
The agent it directed to conform to any inatnictiona which
he may receive from the high comminioner for Canada in
Umdon regarding step* to be taken to improve the commer-
cial relationi between France and Canada, and to report
monthly to the aecretary of atate the effcrU which he may
have made to carry out the duties entruf ' d to him.
Fabre continued to act as agei. of the Canadian
government in Paris until his death in 1910. His successor
waaalso drawn from the Senate in the person of the Hon.
Philippe Roy, who on May i, 191 1, was appointed ' Com-
misaaire G«n«ral du Canada en France,' without, however,
any change in the status enjoyed, or functions discliaiged by,
his predecessor.
The Svtsehe Coukt
The Supreme Court of Canada was constituted in the
year 1875 by act of the parliament of Canada 38 Vict. cap. y
It consists of a chief justice styled the chief justice of Canada,
and five puisne judges, of whom at least two must be from
the Quebec bench or bar. Five judges form a quorum, but
if both parties consent to a hearing before four judges, such
hearing may take place. ShouM the full court be evenly
divided on a case, the judgment of the court below stands.
^ The Supreme Court possesses an appellate civil and
criminal jurisdiction throughout the Dominion, but no appeal
is p«»initted in a criminal case except as is provided in the
criminal code. In dvil cases an appeal lies to the Supreme
Court from the highest court of final resort in each province,
subject to certain conditions which are set out in chapter 139
of the revised statutes of Canada. The rules of practice of the
Supreme Court are printed in volume 38 of the Supreme
Court reports.
The judgments of the Supreme Court are declared by the
organic statute to be final and conclusive in all cases, saving
the royal prerogative, which means that no appeal from the
'S
372 THi:. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
court'! dediion* cui be orried to England except by leave
of the Judicial Committee of the Privy CoundL Leave to
appeal Ii lought by petition addrcMed to Hia Majesty the
king in council. Such petitiooa murt be accompanied by duly
authenticated document* embodying the judgments of the
Suprama Court which ii appealed from, and the factum* in
thecaee. Leave to appeal i* not a* a rule granted unleM the
amount at Imie i* contidt. able, or lome important principle
i* involved. Admiralty caie* coming frota the Supreme
Court by way of appeal from the Court of Exchequer may in
turn be appnUed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council, without ipedfic permiition from that tribunaL
Importnnt question* of law or fact touching any matter
may be referred by the governor in council to the Supreme
Court for hearing and coi.^-^aration, and the opinion of the
court upon any »uch referei. e, although advisory only, i*.
for all purposes of appeal to Lis Majesty in council, treated
as a final judgment of the court between parties.
The Senate and House of Commons may also refer to
the Supreme Court, or to any two judges thereof, for examina-
tion and report, questions relating to private bill legislation
in either house. Advan'nge is, however, seldom taken of
this provision.
The act constituting and establishing the Supreme Court
(38 Vict. cap. 3) was, by proclamation dated September 17,
1875, declared to be in force from and after September 18,
1875, as regards the appointments of judges and officers of
the court, the organization thereof, and the making of
general rules and orders. Th". other provisions of this act
and the judicial functions of the Supreme Court were by
proclamation, dated January 10, 1876, made opeiatiw from
January 11, lijO.
Thb ExcHEQUEa Court
The act of the parliament of Canada (38 Vict. cap. a)
establishing a Supreme Court likewise created the Court of
Exchequer. It enacted that
the Exchequer Court shall have and possess concurrent
original jurisdiciioc in the Dominion of Canada, in all
THE EXCHEQUER COURT
373
sfs^lPC^
Crown. HauMt the Crown or any officer of the
By action jg the Exchequer Court wu «v«. ~-.
374
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Ui
Power was given to the governor-general in council to con-
stitute Admiralty districts in Canada, and to appoint local
judges in admiralty for such districts.
In interiocutory matters there is an appeal from the local
judge in admiralty only to the judge of the Exchequer Court.
In final cases an appeal lies either to the Exchequer Court
or to the Supreme Court. In the event of the appeal being
first taken to the judge of the Exchequer Court, there is a
further appeal t» the Supreme Court.
By warrant dated August 17, 1899, addressed by the
lords commissioners of the Admiralty to the Exchequer
Court of Canada, the said court, upon any proclamation
being made by the vice-admiral for the time being of Canada,
that war has broken out between His Majesty and any
foreign state, and not otherwise, is authorized and required
to take cognizance of, and judicially to proceed upon all
captures, recaptures, seizures, prizes and reprisals of all
ships, vesse's and goods seized and taken, and which are or
shidl be brought within the limits of the said court. The
lords commissioners of the Admiralty suggested Halifax
and Victoria as places within the jurisdiction of the court
at which it would be convenient for prize courts to sit. In
the session of 1912 an act amending the Exchequer Court
Act was passed, authorizing the governor in council to
appoint an assistant judge of the Exchequer Court. This
office was filled on April 4, 1913.
In this rapid survey of the administrative government
of Canada one fact stands out with marked distinctness —
the pre-eminence of the prime minister, alike in the councils
of his sovereign, in the deliberations of parliament, and in
the management of his party. The rise and growth of this
office affords a most interesting study. Sir Robert Walpole
is generally regarded as the first British statesman to whom
the title was applied, but so far from the office being generally
recognized in his day, the charge that he arrogated to himself
a pre-eminence over his colleagues formed one of the counts
against him in his last great struggle for power :
When Walpole fell (in 1741), Sandys, in the course of
Kit)
THE EXCHEQUER COURT 375
hl8 indictment, said : ' According to our Constitution we
nave no sole or Prime Minister j we ought always to have
sweral Prime Ministers or officers of State ; every such
officer has his own proper department, and no officer
ought to meddle in flie a^rs belonging to the depart-
ment of another ! ' At the same time a protest was
signed m the House of Lords to this affect : ' We are
persuaded that a sole or even a first Minister is an officer
unknown to the law of Britain, inconsistent with the con-
stitution of this country, and destructive of liberty in any
country whatever.' '
_ Walpole himself repudiated the title with derision:
Having first,' he says of his opponent, ' conferred upon
me a kind of mock dignity and styled me the prime minister,
they carry on the fiction which has once heated their imagina-
tions, and impute to me an unpardonable abuse of that
chimerical authority which only they have thought it neces-
sary to bestow.' Yet from his time onward the office
has been a living reality, ever increasing in influence and
engrossing power, until it has become the dominant factor
in the government of England, and of those representative
institutions to which that government has given birth.
_ It has been observed, with some degree of warrant, that
in its essential features the form of government which
Canada enjoys is not so far removed from that of the United
States as at first sight may appear. In the United States
the executive power is committed by the people to one man
for four years. In Cana ',. the governance of the people is
in effect entrusted by their representatives to one man for
an indefinite period. One nation styles its ruler the pre-
sident, the other the prime minister. Stripped of cere-
monial forms and phrases, such is, with certain qualifica-
tions, the broad fact. Of course, like most analogies, this
one must not be pressed too far. Canada is not a sovereign
power. Her prime minister's jurisdiction is therefore circum-
scribed, and extends in its plenitude only over the domestic
concerns of the Dominion. Nor do his electors disperse
■ C«ir». U ni Ut MiniOMrt, by RegiMld Lucas, pp. 74.3. The aame
author Myi of CUlhMn :'ThetitIeofPtimoMinisterhe always repudiated both
in public and private Ufe ' (op. cfl., p. 353). '
376 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
after casting their votes. They retain their corporate
authority intact, exercise a vigilant supervision over the
administration of public affairs, and may at any time revoke
their mandate. On the other hand the prime minister
possesses, in the power of dissolution, a weapon which he
can sometimes effectively employ to strengthen his position,
while under responsible government the influence of the
crown is ever present to moderate the violence of opposing
factions, and to serve as a perpetual reminder to our public
men that there is a higher allegiance than that of party. In
this admirable system of checks and balances the true
excellence of the Canadian form of government is to be
found.
I
'yt'V'
/
Pilnud by T. kod A. ComTAui, Piintwi to Hit Hajwtj
at lb* Edintwrgh Unlvwilir n«M
