Responsible Government

Responsible Government, loosely used to mean a government responsible to the people, as popular rule is naturally conceived to be. Properly, however, as used by those who gained it in Canada, it meant a government responsible to the representatives of the people, ie, an executive or Cabinet collectively dependent on the votes of a majority in the elected legislature. This key principle of responsibility, whereby a government needed the confidence of Parliament, originated in established British practice. But its transfer to British N America gave the colonists control of their domestic affairs, since a governor would simply follow the advice (ie, policies) of responsible colonial ministers, except in imperial matters. This control was enlarged by degrees, so that Canadians through governments based on elected parliaments gradually acquired command of their own political concerns, thereby achieving national self-direction without revolution.

The idea of responsible government was taken up in the 1830s in BNA largely by loyal admirers of the British model, who sought it both to remedy discontent with unyielding local oligarchies and to keep the provinces securely, though freely, within the Empire. Radicals such as William Lyon MACKENZIE and Louis-Joseph PAPINEAU preferred American elective patterns, but Joseph HOWE in Nova Scotia and Robert BALDWIN in Upper Canada showed far better comprehension - better even than Lord DURHAM, an influential advocate of responsible government - since they realized that an organized party system was vital.

Howe in Nova Scotia, and Baldwin and Louis LAFONTAINE in the PROVINCE OF CANADA, built up strong, moderate Reform parties to gain responsible government, and by 1848 saw it fully operating, accepted by a Liberal, imperial Britain. It then was granted to other eastern colonies: PEI in 1851, NB in 1854 and Nfld last, in 1855, and as western provinces emerged in CONFEDERATION they too obtained it.

Author J.M.S. CARELESS

Links to Other Sites
Responsible Government
Historica’s acclaimed one-minute movies about Canadian history.

Robert Baldwin
A biography of Robert Baldwin with photographs and other archival resources. This “Canadian Confederation” website is from Library and Archives Canada.