Parliaments of Autonomous Nations by Laforest Guy;Lecours André;

Author:Laforest, Guy;Lecours, André;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 4556278
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Published: 2016-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

1791:

A New Constitution and New Parliamentary Institutions

In general, history lacks enthusiasm when it comes to the Quebec Constitution of 1791. It did not represent, like its French equivalent of the same year, a success or a great consecration of past efforts; at most it was seen as a starting point. The Constitutional Act of 1791,15 or more precisely the Act Repealing Certain Parts of the Quebec Act of 1774, was acceptable to the vast majority of the colony.16 In fact, the true scope of the act was to divide the Province of Quebec into two separate political entities: Upper Canada and Lower Canada, each with its own representative assembly.17 With the creation of this elective chamber, the colony was able to participate in the legislative and supreme state functions under new conditions of independence.18 Therefore, the first Quebec Parliament dates back to 1791. It is not only one of the oldest legislatures in the world still operating, but it also has the second largest French-speaking majority in parliament in the history of modern democracy after the French National Assembly.19

The parliamentary institutions of Upper and Lower Canada were structured like Westminster.20 The Parliament of Lower Canada was composed of three legislative bodies – a governor, the Legislative Assembly, and the Legislative Council. The governor was responsible for the executive function, which was assisted by an Executive Council whose members were appointed by London.21 Until the early nineteenth century, the three branches of the legislature worked collegially, but the situation became complicated when Lower Canada members encountered the limits of their representative body within the colonial state.22 The Legislative Assembly, which was elected, marked the legal recognition of the local population’s new-found and collective sovereignty, but the governor continued to reflect the metropolitan government’s traditional sovereignty. The opposition between monarchical and popular sovereignty seemed to offer a way, in Quebec, to meet the very different interests of the imperial government and the colony’s local government.23 But the system only appeared democratic. In reality, it was distinguished by different measures of centralization: confusing and overlapping powers concentrated within the executive branch, centralized authority, impunity of public administrators, and political domination of property owners.24 The elected assembly had legislative power, but London and the colonial aristocracy held executive power over the government.25 This is where the fight for ministerial responsibility – a true parliamentary democracy – and struggles over subsidies and language use in parliamentary debates began.26

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