Editing Governor General of Canada (section)

===Responsible government===
[[File:United Canada 1848.png|thumb|Political organization of the [[Province of Canada]], after the introduction of [[responsible government]] under the Union Act, 1848]]
The [[Rebellions of 1837]] brought about great changes to the role of the governor general, prompting, as they did, the British government to grant [[responsible government]] to the Canadian provinces.<ref>{{Harvnb| MacLeod| 2015| p=7}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/executive-decree/023004-2010-e.html| last=Library and Archives Canada| author-link=Library and Archives Canada| title=Politics and Government > By Executive Decree > The Executive Branch in Canadian History| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| access-date=4 June 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090630194209/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/executive-decree/023004-2010-e.html| archive-date=30 June 2009}}</ref> As a result, the viceroys became largely nominal heads, while the democratically elected [[Legislative buildings of Canada|legislatures]] and the [[Premier (Canada)|premiers]] they supported exercised the authority belonging to the Crown; a concept first put to the test when, in 1849, [[List of Governors General of Canada#Governors general of the Province of Canada, 1841–1867|Governor-General of the Province of Canada]] and Lieutenant-Governor of [[Canada East]] [[James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin]] granted Royal Assent to the [[Rebellion Losses Bill]], despite his personal misgivings towards the legislation.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Mills |first=David |title=Rebellion Losses Bill |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |date=4 March 2015 |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |edition=online |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/rebellion-losses-bill}}</ref>

This arrangement continued after the reunification in 1840 of Upper and Lower Canada into the [[Province of Canada]], and the establishment of the Dominion of Canada in 1867. The governor general carried out in Canada all the parliamentary and ceremonial functions of a constitutional monarch—amongst other things, granting Royal Assent, issuing Orders-in-Council, and taking advice from the [[Queen's Privy Council for Canada|Canadian Privy Council]]. However, the governor still remained not a viceroy, in the true sense of the word, being still a representative of and liaison to the British government<ref name=Heard /><ref>{{Cite book| last=Hilliker| first=John| title=Canada's Department of External Affairs: The early years, 1909–1946| publisher=McGill-Queen's Press| year=1990| location=Montreal| page=71| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZD0inJnMJQC| isbn=978-0-7735-0751-7}}</ref>—the Queen in her British council of ministers—who answered to the [[Secretary of State for the Colonies|secretary of state for the colonies]] in [[London]] and who,<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/executive-decree/023004-2021-e.html| last=Library and Archives Canada| author-link=Library and Archives Canada| title=Politics and Government > By Executive Decree > The Governor General| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| access-date=4 June 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090609115536/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/executive-decree/023004-2021-e.html| archive-date=9 June 2009}}</ref> as a British observer of Canadian politics, held well into the [[First World War]] a suite of offices in the [[East Block]] of [[Parliament Hill]].{{refn|The offices were subsequently incorporated into the [[Office of the Prime Minister (Canada)|Prime Minister's Office]] (PMO), but have been restored to their 19th century appearance after the PMO moved to the [[Langevin Block]] in the 1970s, and are now preserved as a tourist attraction along with other historic offices in the East Block.<ref name=GGParl/>|group=n|name=EB}} But, the new position of [[High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom|Canadian high commissioner to the United Kingdom]], created in 1880, began to take over the governor general's role as a link between the Canadian and British governments, leaving the viceroy increasingly as a personal representative of the monarch.<ref>{{Citation| last=Skelton| first=Oscar D.| date=2009| contribution=The Day of Sir Wilfrid Laurier: A Chronicle of the 20th Century| editor-last=Wrong| editor-first=George M.| editor2-last=Langton| editor2-first=H. H.| title=The Chronicles of Canada| volume=III| page=228| location=Tucson| publisher=Fireship Press| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qs6IKxQxUjsC| isbn=978-1-934757-51-2| access-date=1 July 2010}}</ref> As such, the governor general had to retain a sense of political neutrality; a skill that was put to the test when [[John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll|John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne]], disagreed with his Canadian prime minister, [[John A. Macdonald]], over the dismissal of [[Lieutenant Governor of Quebec]] [[Luc Letellier de St-Just]]. On the advice of the colonial secretary, and to avoid conflict with the Canadian Cabinet, Campbell did eventually concede and released St-Just from duty.<ref>{{Harvnb| MacNutt| 1955| p=47}}</ref> The governor general was then in May 1891 called upon to resolve the dominion's first cabinet crisis, wherein Macdonald died, leaving [[Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby|Lord Stanley of Preston]] to select a new prime minister.
[[File:5th Royal Highlanders- inspection by Governor General at Champ de Mars, Montreal, August 1914 (19533676175).jpg|thumb|Governor General [[Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn|Prince Arthur]] inspects members of the [[Canadian Expeditionary Force]] at [[Valcartier Camp]], 1914]]

As early as 1880, the viceregal family and court attracted minor ridicule from the Queen's subjects: in July of that year, someone under the [[pseudonym]] ''Captain Mac'' included in a pamphlet called ''Canada: from the Lakes to the Gulf'', a coarse satire of an investiture ceremony at Rideau Hall, in which a retired inn-keeper and his wife undergo the rigorous protocol of the royal household and sprawl on the floor before the [[John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll|Duke of Argyll]] so as to be granted the knighthood for which they had "paid in cold, hard cash".<ref>{{Harvnb| Hubbard| 1977| pp=55–56}}</ref> Later, prior to the arrival of [[Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn]] (the uncle of King George V), to take up the post of governor general, there was a "feeble undercurrent of criticism" centring on worries about a rigid court at Rideau Hall; worries that turned out to be unfounded as the royal couple was actually more relaxed than their predecessors.<ref>{{Harvnb| Hubbard| 1977| p=125}}</ref>