Lieutenant Governor of Quebec

For information on the main advisor to a federal party leader on matters pertaining to Quebec, see Quebec lieutenant.
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec

Coat of arms of Quebec and emblem of the lieutenant governor
Incumbent
J. Michel Doyon
since 24 September 2015
Viceroy
Style His Honour the Honourable
Appointer Governor General of Canada
Term length At the Governor General's pleasure
Formation 1 July 1867
First holder Sir Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau
Website www.lieutenant-gouverneur.qc.ca

The Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (/lɛfˈtɛnənt/, French (masculine): Lieutenant-gouverneur du Québec, or (feminine): Lieutenante-gouverneure du Québec) is the viceregal representative in Quebec of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada, as well as the other Commonwealth realms and any subdivisions thereof, and resides predominantly in her oldest realm, the United Kingdom. The Lieutenant Governor of Quebec is appointed in the same manner as the other provincial viceroys in Canada and is similarly tasked with carrying out most of the monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties.[1] The present and 29th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec is J. Michel Doyon, who has served in the role since 24 September 2015.[2]

Role and presence

Further information: Lieutenant governor (Canada)

The Lieutenant Governor of Quebec is tasked with a number of governmental duties. Not among them, though, is delivering the Throne Speech, which sets the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec apart from the other Canadian viceroys. (Instead, new parliaments begin with the Opening Speech by the premier.[3][4]) The lieutenant governor is also expected to undertake various ceremonial roles. For instance, upon installation, the lieutenant governor automatically becomes a Knight or Dame of Justice and the Vice-Prior in Quebec of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem. As well, he or she will present numerous other provincial honours and decorations[5] and various awards that are named for and presented by the lieutenant governor,[6] which were reinstated in 2000 by Lieutenant Governor Lise Thibault. These honours are presented at official ceremonies, which count among hundreds of other engagements the lieutenant governor partakes in each year, either as host or guest of honour; in 2006, the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec undertook 400 engagements and 200 in 2007.[7]

Standard of the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec

At these events, the lieutenant governor's presence is marked by the lieutenant governor's standard, consisting of a blue field bearing the escutcheon of the Arms of Her Majesty in Right of Quebec surmounted by a crown and set within a white disc; the Quebec viceregal flag is only one of two that are significantly different from all the others in Canada. Within Quebec, the lieutenant governor also follows only the sovereign in the province's order of precedence, preceding even other members of the Canadian Royal Family and the Queen's federal representative.

The entrance of the offices of the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, at 1050 des Parlementaires, in Québec City

It has been argued by Jeremy Webber and Robert Andrew Young that, as the office is the core of authority in the province, the secession of Quebec from Confederaton would first require the abolition or transformation of the post of Lieutenant Governor of Quebec; such an amendment to the constitution of Canada could not be done without, according to Section 41 of the Constitution Act, 1982, the approval of the federal parliament and all other provincial legislatures in Canada.[8] Others, such as J. Woehrling, however, have claimed that the legislative process towards Quebec's independence would not require any prior change to the viceregal post.[9] Young also felt that the lieutenant governor could refuse Royal Assent to a bill that proposed to put an unclear question on sovereignty to referendum or was based on the results of a referendum that asked such a question.[10]

History

The office of Lieutenant Governor of Quebec came into being in 1867, upon the creation of Quebec at Confederation,[11] and evolved from the earlier position of Lieutenant Governor of Canada East. Since that date, 28 lieutenant governors have served the province, amongst whom were notable firsts, such as Lise Thibault—the first female and first disabled lieutenant governor of the province. The shortest mandate by a Lieutenant Governor of Quebec was Lomer Gouin, from January to March 1929, while the longest was Hugues Lapointe, from 1966 to 1978.[12]

Lomer Gouin, 15th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, from January to March 1929

One of the few examples in Canada of a viceroy exercising the royal prerogative against or without ministerial advice came in 1887, when Lieutenant Governor Auguste-Réal Angers dismissed the Cabinet headed by Premier Honoré Mercier; a report concluded that Mercier's government had benefited from a kickback scheme with contractors building the Baie des Chaleurs railway.[13]

The appointment of Jean-Louis Roux as Lieutenant Governor of Quebec by Governor General Roméo LeBlanc, on the advice of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, stirred controversy, as Roux was well known as a strong opponent of Quebec independence and, soon after he took up the post, it was revealed that, as a university student in the 1940s, he had worn a swastika on his lab coat in protest of the proposal to invoke conscription for service in World War II and had participated in an anti-Semitic protest.[14][15] Roux had, in an interview after his appointment as lieutenant governor, stated that he might have to use the reserve powers of the Crown should certain circumstances arise following a referendum result in favour of Quebec's separation from Canada; a statement that displeased Roux's premier at the time, Lucien Bouchard. Bouchard thereafter exploited the revelation of Roux's past anti-Semitism and the Lieutenant Governor soon resigned his post voluntarily in 1996.[14][16] The following year, Bouchard tabled in the legislature three motions, calling the Office of the Lieutenant Governor "a heritage of the colonial past", the appointment process controversial and interfering, and demanding the post be abolished, though, until then, the federal Crown-in-Council should appoint a person "democratically designated by the [Quebec] Assembly".[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Victoria (1867). "Constitution Act, 1867". V.58. Westminster: Queen's Printer (published 29 March 1867). Retrieved 15 January 2009.
  2. ↑ Office of the Prime Minister of Canada (21 July 2015). "PM Announces J. Michel Doyon as Lieutenant Governor of Quebec". Queen's Printer for Canada. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  3. ↑ National Assembly of Quebec. "Parliament and Government". Éditeur officiel du Québec. Archived from the original on February 23, 2010.
  4. ↑ Wiseman, Nelson (2009). "In Search of a Quebec Constitution" (PDF). Revue québécoise de droit constitutionnel. Quebec City: l'Association québécoise de droit constitutionnel. 2: 144. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  5. ↑ "Canada Wide > About Us > The Order of St. John > The Order of St. John in Canada". St. John Ambulance Canada. Retrieved 2 June 2009.
  6. ↑ Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec. "Awards Program > Lieutenant Governor of Québec Awards Program". Éditeur officiel du Québec. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
  7. ↑ Berezovsky, Eugene (2009). Staff of Canadian Monarchist News, ed. $1.52 per Canadian: The Cost of Canada's Constitutional Monarchy (PDF) (4 ed.). Toronto: Monarchist League of Canada. p. 3. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
  8. ↑ Young, Andrew (1998). The secession of Quebec and the future of Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-7735-1530-7.
  9. ↑ Webber, Jeremy (1997). "The Legality of a Unilateral Declaration of Independence under Canadian Law" (PDF). The McGill Law Journal. Montreal: McGill University. 42 (2): 288. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  10. ↑ Young 1998, p. 457
  11. ↑ Victoria 1867, V.63
  12. ↑ Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec. "History > Previous Lieutenant Governors". Éditeur officiel du Québec. http://www.lieutenant-gouverneur.qc.ca/distinctions-honorifiques/programme-distinctions-en.html. Retrieved 6 July 2009. External link in |publisher= (help)
  13. ↑ Gougeon, Gilles (1994). A History of Quebec Nationalism. Bardfield End Green: Miles Kelly Publishing. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-55028-440-9.
  14. 1 2 McWhinney, Edward (2005). The Governor General and the Prime Ministers. Vancouver: Ronsdale Press. p. 46. ISBN 1-55380-031-1.
  15. ↑ Boyce, Peter John (2008). The Queen's Other Realms: The Crown and Its Legacy in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Sydney: Federation Press. p. 99. ISBN 9781862877009.
  16. 1 2 Boyce 2008, p. 100

External links

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