Canada’s Breakaway From Britain: Pulling off the Bandage Slowly Civics Studies 11 MUNDY 2010

Responsible Government Rebellions of 1837, led by Mackenzie and Papineau, advocated a responsible government with an elected legislative assembly This differed from the colonial government model, wherein an appointed Governor oversaw local matters through similarly appointed Councils

Responsible Government Although these rebellions, in both Upper and Lower Canada, ultimately failed, Britain eventually sent Lord Elgin in 1847 to impose ‘responsible government’ Terms included: – no veto power from Governor – fully-elected Legislative Assembly – Assembly selects leadership of Executive (Council)

Confederation By 1850’s Britain did not wish to continue its policy of ‘mercantilism’ and ‘colonialism’, as this was expensive to govern, and Britain no longer needed to secure raw materials from the colonies In 1860’s, Macdonald and the ‘Great Coalition’ began a series of conferences to discuss the idea of an independent country

Confederation After the 3 conferences, Britain agreed to give the Dominion of Canada independent status, within the Commonwealth of Britain Under the British North America Act (Canada’s first constitution), Canada managed all local affairs, while Britain controlled its foreign policies and military affairs As well, Britain would make any changes to Canada’s constitution (amending powers)

Growing Pains South African War – Britain pressures Canada to send troops, yet nationalists here advocate for no intervention in wars that do not concern us Alaskan Boundary Dispute – over the coastline of Alaska, Canada needed Britain at negotiations with U.S. to decide on border; U.K. sides with U.S. surprisingly

Canada Pulls Away At the end of WWI, Canada demands and wins the right to sign the peace treaty (Treaty of Versailles) on its own, instead of bring implied to have signed through Britain Canada also gains a separate seat in League of Nations In 1923, Canada directly negotiates a treaty with U.S. over halibut fishing; Britain sits out of discussions

Canada Pulls Away In the King-Byng Crisis of 1926, P.M. King lost confidence of the Progressive Party (was minority government), so asked G.G. Byng to dissolve government and call election Byng refuses, as Opposition Conservatives have more seats than Liberals Conservatives accept (Meighen), but are quickly defeated as they also lose confidence

Canada Pulls Away Byng now has no choice but to call an election In election campaign, King attacked Byng for interfering in Canada’s affairs when Byng was only an appointee of Britain King wins majority government in election From then on, convention established that G.G. acts only on advice of P.M., so long as it follows consititution

Britain Pushes Away Britain publishes the Balfour Report in 1926 that presses Canada, as well as Australia and other Commonwealth nations to become fully independent 1931 Britain codifies this edict through the Statute of Westminster, now making it law, including: – Britain’s laws no longer apply to Canada

WWII Canada enters war a full week after Britain and France, after deliberating through the federal Parliament Canada sends its own troops, even though they are attached to Britain’s forces as an alliance

Citizenship Act Up until 1947, Canadian citizens held British passports In 1947, Canada passed a law that created a separate Canadian passport and citizenship to those born in Canada, married to one in Canada or permanently living in Canada

Patriation of Constitution Britain still had to approve all changes (called ‘amendments’) to the Constitution Many attempts since Statute of Westminster were made by Canada to come up with a formula, or method, of amending our own constitution, yet none satisfied government Trudeau set out to finally settle the matter and ‘patriate’ the BNA Act so that Canada would hold complete control over it

Patriation of Constitution Provinces, through discussions, agree to amending formula of HoC and Senate, then 7 out of 10 provinces (representing at least 50% of pop.) to agree to changes (= formula) Thus, BNA Act 1867 becomes Canada Act 1982 when Queen Elizabeth signs new constitution (Charter of Rights and Freedoms also added)

Independence Today Today there are still discussions about the British monarch’s role in our current “constitutional monarchy”, given that U.K. monarch is still ‘head of state’ while P.M. is lesser ‘head of government’ Considering G.G. only acts in favour of advice given by P.M., people see G.G. only as upholder of constitution