Executive Function - Introduction

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A Two-headed Executive
The Lieutenant Governor
The Prime Minister
The Cabinet (Executive Council)
The Ministerial Committees

A Two-headed Executive

In a parliamentary democracy of British type such as Quebec, the executive power is divided into two branches. The political branch is confided to the Head of Government, the Prime Minister, while the administrative and ceremonial branch is assumed by the Head of State, the Lieutenant Governor.

The Lieutenant Governor

The Lieutenant Governor is the representative of the Head of State, the Queen of Great Britain, Elizabeth II, on the Quebec territory. He embodies the continuance of the State and, therefore is forced to adopt an impartial attitude and has to stay on the reserve. In brief, it must represent the Quebec State as a whole and in its permanent character, rather than representing the policies of the government in office. Because of the fact that he does not holds his office from the universal suffrage, the Lieutenant Governor exercises his powers, in practice, exclusively on recommendation of the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister

The Prime Minister is the Head of Government. He is a member of the Cabinet, which he usually chairs, and, in practice, appoints its members. He can also ask for the resignation of whatever of his Ministers, for lack of whom, in case of refusal of the concerned Minister, he can ask the Lieutenant Governor to dismiss him. Furthermore, an influential Prime Minister can, having heard the advices of his ministers over a policy, simply decree that it is his point of view who will prevail and become the official policy of the government, even though all or most oppose to it. His colleagues have then to comply with the decision or resign. Previously considered, in the Cabinet, as the "first among the equals" (primus inter pares), the Prime Minister has today infinitely more powers than his colleagues of the Cabinet.

The Cabinet (Executive Council)

The Executive Council, also called Cabinet, is made of the Ministers appointed by the Lieutenant Governor on recommendation of the Prime Minister. It adopts, often on recommendation of the Prime Minister, decrees, regulations, mandates, loans and bond issues. Furthermore, it appoints the highest civil servants of departments, the presidents of the state agencies as well as the members of different governmental bodies.

Each Minister is responsible for a particular domain of the governmental activity and is in the head of a department or ministry, except for delegated Ministers, who work under the custody of a responsible Minister. The Ministers are subjected to the custom of the ministerial solidarity, according to which they have to support in common all the decisions of the executive council or resign.

The Ministerial Committees

The Cabinet is endowed of ministerial committees to improve its planning, its coordination, its efficiency and its coherence. The most important are the Comité des priorités [Committee of Priorities] and the Comité de législation [Committee of Legislation], but there are three other permanent ministerial committees, which are mainly dedicated to a mission of coordination of the governmental action. They are the Comité ministériel du développement social, éducatif et culturel [Ministerial Committee on Social, Educationnal and Cultural Development], le Comité ministériel au développement des régions [Ministerial Committee on Regions Development] and the Comité ministériel de la prospérité économique et du développement durable [Ministerial Committee on Economic Prosperity and Sustainable Development].

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.

Brun, Henri, et Guy Tremblay. 1982. Droit constitutionnel. Supplément 1985 en annexe. Cowansville: Éditions Y. Blais, 1987.

Thibault, Richard. 1993. Qu'est-ce que l'Assemblée nationale?. Édition mise à jour. Québec : Assemblée nationale du Québec, Direction générale de l'information, Direction des communications et de l'accueil.

Dernière mise à jour: 11 novembre 2004

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