It is fundamental to remember that according to section 17 compared with sections 69 and 71, and section 91 compared with sections 92 and 88 of the Constitution Act 1867, the Queen, and very definitely not the Governor General, is part of the Parliament of Canada, but the lieutenant governors and not the Queen are part of their respective provincial legislatures. The logical conclusion therefore, which has always been held since it became a practical issue during the presence of King George VI in 1939, is that the royal assent can be given by the Sovereign in the Parliament of Canada but not in a provincial legislature, of which she forms no part.
Section 9 of the act declares the executive government of and over Canada to be vested in the Queen and the act is therefore emphatic in enacting (e.g. sections 72 (now spent) and 82) that lieutenant governors shall carry on executive functions in their provinces in the name of the Queen.
The logical consequence of section 90, however, which reapplies section 55 to the provinces, is clearly that in their strictly legislative functions, the lieutenant governors (as their title suggests) are representatives of the Governor General, even when giving what the act is clear in calling "the Queen's assent".
The Fathers of Confederation obviously desired that the Queen's overriding constitutional presence should be felt even at the provincial level, but it should be remembered that they intended to create a highly centralised union divided into provinces, not a federation of conjoined states, as in the United States or the later Commonwealth of Australia.
The Fathers of Confederation therefore purposely cut the provinces off from any direct connexion (at that time through the British Government) with the Queen. The provincial lieutenant governors were no longer to be appointed by the Queen but by the Governor General.
Assuming Professor Toporoski is correct in his interpretation, the implication is rather quite bizarre: that provincial lieutenant governors have authority to act in the name of the Queen, but that the Queen herself has no such authority. He goes on to back these assertions up with some concrete examples:
W. A. C. Bennett, Premier of British Columbia in the 1950s, requested that the Queen should open the Legislature of British Columbia and it was explained to him then that this was constitutionally impossible... As recently as 1987 the Queen held "court" in Vancouver and signed her royal warrant to augment the arms of British Columbia. But the proclamation, running in the Queen's name, bringing the arms into effect was signed, in the Queen's presence, by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.
So it would seem by this at least, that the Governor-General's claim that such an act by the Queen would be "unprecedented", was, in this case, actually a correct one. However, if constitutional legalities were the main preoccupation of Her Excellency, she should obey them fully, and disabuse herself of the notion that she's somehow our "de facto Head of State" and "Commander-in-Chief". Madame Clarkson is quite openly acting the role of a usurper and a pretender here, which is a direct assault on the Constitution and the Queen's position. It is also bunk of the highest order that Her Majesty should be seen to undertake less and less of her official duties in the Canadian context, in order to comply with the GG's bogus determination to "Canadianize" our institutions. This is code for de-monarchizing Canada and surreptitiously suffocating the royal establishment of its rightful, historical legtimacy.
And just to provide a sample consistent with long-term Liberal intentions, Ted McWhinney, a former Liberal MP, recently went so far as to suggest that our sovereign and constitutional system of government could be rendered obsolete through a deceitful act of Parliamentary omission, by simply not proclaiming the next king to be the rightful Sovereign of Canada:
A more practical and viable strategy, argues Mr. McWhinney, would be for the federal government to act "more subtly and by indirection, through creating new
glosses on the Law of the Constitution as written, without formally amending it. "That is, a future government of Canada would, after the Queen ends her reign,
cut ties with the monarchy "quietly and without fanfare by simply failing legally to proclaim any successor to the Queen in relation to Canada."
AND WHEREAS a defeat for monarchy
and for the people in any one Realm, is a defeat for monarchy and for all our peoples in all our Realms, we do hereby mutually proclaim therefore that any further
acts of disloyalty carried out against our peoples as represented by their Sovereign, or any further encroachment by the political elite on their residual powers of State,
or any further attempts to undermine the legitimacy, independence and dignity of their office, shall no longer be tolerated with gradualist abandonment,
but fought vigilantly and honourably with dutiful obligation, bound by our undying affection, loyal devotion and true allegiance to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II,
Her Heirs and Successors.
WHEREAS by the law and ancient usage of this Realm, the Kings and Queens thereof have taken a solemn oath upon the Evangelists at their respective coronations,
to maintain the statutes, laws, and customs of the said Realm, and all the people and inhabitants thereof, in their spiritual and civil rights and properties:
but forasmuch as the oath itself on such occasion administered, hath heretofore been framed in doubtful words and expressions, with relation to ancient laws
and constitutions at this time unknown: to the end therefore that one uniform oath may be in all times to come taken by the Kings and Queens of this Realm,
and to them respectively administered at the times of their and every of their coronation: may it please your Majesties that it may be enacted:
II. And be it enacted by the King's and Queen's most excellent majesties, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal,
and the Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the oath herein mentioned, and hereafter expressed,
shall and may be administered to their most excellent majesties King William and Queen Mary (whom God long preserve) at the time of their coronation,
in the presence of all persons that shall be then and there present at the solemnizing thereof, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Archbishop of York,
or either of them, or any other bishop of this Realm, whom the King's majesty shall thereunto appoint, and who shall be hereby thereunto respectively authorized;
which oath followeth, and shall be administered in this manner; that is to say,
III. [Inserting for Section III of the Act the 1689 oath taken by Her Majesty The Queen on Tuesday, 2 June 1953 amid great public rejoicing]
Archbishop: Madam, is your Majesty willing to take the Oath?
The Queen: I am willing.
Archbishop: Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the Peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
the Union of South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon, and of your Possessions and the other Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, according to their respective
laws and customs?
The Queen: I solemnly promise so to do.
Archbishop: Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed
in all your judgements?
The Queen: I will.
Archbishop: Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession
of the Gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law? Will you maintain and preserve
inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England? And will you preserve
unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do or shall appertain to them
or any of them?
The Queen: All this I promise to do.
Then the Queen arising out of her Chair, supported as before, the Sword of State being
carried before her, shall go to the Altar, and make her solemn Oath in the sight of all the people to observe the premisses: laying her right hand upon the Holy Gospel
in the great Bible (which was before carried in the procession and is now brought from the Altar by the Arch-bishop, and tendered to her as she kneels upon the steps),
and saying these words:
The Queen: The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God.
IV. And be it enacted, That the said oath shall be in like manner administered to every King and Queen, who shall succeed to the imperial crown of this Realm,
at their respective coronations, by one of the archbishops or bishops of this Realm of England, for the time being, to be thereunto appointed by such King or Queen
respectively, and in the presence of all persons that shall be attending, assisting, or otherwise present at such their respective coronations; any law, statute,
or usage to the contrary notwithstanding.
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