Head of State

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The Crown
Lieutenant Governor
Duties
Role

The Crown

As stated by section 9 of the Constitution Act, 1867, the head of state of Canada and of its federated states, including Quebec, is the Queen of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II, who is known in Canada as the "Queen of Canada". However, since the Queen of the United Kingdom is also the head of state of several other countries of the Commonwealth, such as Australia, New Zealand and other states in the Caribeean and the pacific, she is represented permanently in each of these countries by a Governor General or, in the federated states of Australia and Canada, by a Lieutenant governor.

Lieutenant Governor

In Quebec, the Queen is represented by a Lieutenant Governor. By virtue of his royal commission, he possesses all of the constitutional powers of a head of state, since he represents permanently the head of state. The Lieutenant Goveronr is appointed by the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Canada, for a period of at least five years.

Duties

The duties of the head of state, which are mainly ceremonial under a parliamentary democracy based on the British model, are the following:

Formation of the government: The Lieutenant Governor appoints the Prime Minister (i.e. the leader of the political party which had gained the highest number of seats in the last general election), confirms cabinet members in their appointments, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, and administers the oath of office, of allegiance and of secrecy.
Opening and prorogation of the National Assembly.
Assent to legislation: The Lieutenant Governor gives his assent to all the bills passed by the National Assembly, so they become acts. As stated by the Constitution Act, 1867, the Lieutenant Governor holds the powers of reservation and of disallowance, and thus may refuse to give his assent to a bill. However, since these powers have not been used for decades, they are now atrophied.
Assent to orders-in council: The Lieutenant Governor gives also his assent to the orders-in-council, regulations, mandates, appointments and money bills passed by the Cabinet.
Dissolvation of the Parliament: The Lieutenant Governor dissolves the National Assembly and issues the election writs. Actually, he does so only on the recommendation of the Prime minister, or after the Government has lost an non-confidence motion, if it is impossible to any political party to form a new government.

Role

The fact that the Lieutenant Governor's role is essentially symbolic is not due to the fact that his powers are delegated from the British Crown. They remain symbolical even if they are exerciced directly by the Queen, which, indeed, happens but a few times. The symbolic role of the Lieutenant Governor is mostly due to the fact that Quebec works under a parliamentary system based on the British model, under which the executive power is actually exerciced by the head of government, the Prime Minister, who has the confidence of a majority of MNAs. In such context, the Lieutenant Governor is the symbol of the continuity of the state and must adopt an impartial attitude and remain neutral. Thus, the Lieutenant Governor represents the state of Quebec as a whole and as a standing institution, instead of the policies of the current government.

Sources

Bernard, André. 1996. La vie politique au Québec et au Canada. Sainte-Foy: Presses de l'Université du Québec.

Bernard, André. 1995. Les institutions politiques au Québec et au Canada. Montréal : Boréal.

Last update: November 11, 2004