Editing Monarchy of Canada (section)

===Executive (King-in-Council)===
[[File:Queen Elizabeth and members of the federal government of Canada in Ottawa 1957-10-14.jpg|thumb|The first meeting of the [[Queen's Privy Council for Canada]] before the reigning sovereign, Queen [[Elizabeth II]], in the State Dining Room of Rideau Hall, 14 October 1957]]
[[File:Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her Canadian Ministers at Rideau Hall 1 July 1967.jpg|thumb|Elizabeth II with her [[19th Canadian Ministry|Cabinet]] in the ballroom of Rideau Hall, on [[Canada Day|Dominion Day]], 1 July 1967, the [[Canadian Centennial|centennial of Confederation]]]]

The [[government of Canada]]—formally termed ''[[His Majesty's Government (term)|His Majesty's Government]]''<ref name=MacLeod18>{{Harvnb|MacLeod|2015|p=18}}</ref>—is defined by the constitution as the King acting on the [[advice (constitutional)|advice]] of his Privy Council;{{Refn|<ref name=MacLeod18/><ref>{{Harvnb|Victoria|1867|loc=III.9 & 11}}</ref><ref name=MarleauExecutive>{{Harvnb|Marleau|Montpetit|2000|loc=The Executive}}</ref>}} what is technically known as the ''[[King's Privy Council for Canada#King-in-Council|King-in-Council]]'',<ref name=MacLeod17/> or sometimes the ''Governor-in-Council'',<ref name=InterpAct/> referring to the governor general as the King's stand-in, though, a few tasks must be specifically performed by, or bills that require assent from, the King.{{Refn|<ref name=Heard/><ref name=ECF>{{Cite web |last=Michener |first=Roland |author-link=Roland Michener |date=19 November 1970 |title=Dinner in Honour of His Excellency, the Right Honourable Roland Michener C.C., C.D., Governor General of Canada |url=https://speeches.empireclub.org/60367/data?n=1 |website=Empire Club of Canada |access-date=18 May 2009 |archive-date=5 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705170039/http://speeches.empireclub.org/60367/data?n=1 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Victoria|1867|loc=IV.26}}</ref>}} One of the main duties of the Crown is to "ensure that a democratically elected government is always in place,"<ref name=Boyce/> which means appointing a [[prime minister]] to thereafter head the [[Cabinet of Canada|Cabinet]]<ref name=GG>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gg.ca/media/fs-fd/P1_e.asp |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20080616012920/http://www.gg.ca/media/fs-fd/P1_e.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 June 2008 |last=Office of the Governor General of Canada |title=Media > Fact Sheets > The Swearing-In of a New Ministry |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |access-date=18 May 2009}}</ref>—a committee of the Privy Council charged with advising the Crown on the exercise of the royal prerogative.<ref name=MarleauExecutive/> The monarch is informed by his viceroy of the swearing-in and resignation of prime ministers and other members of the ministry,<ref name=GG/> remains fully briefed through regular communications from his Canadian ministers, and holds audience with them whenever possible.<ref name=Buck1/> By convention, the content of these communications and meetings remains confidential so as to protect the impartiality of the monarch and his representative.<ref name=Forsey/><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.660news.com/news/national/article.jsp?content=n1205126A |last=Panetta (with Canadian Press) |first=Alexander |title=Off the record: what GG told Harper not for public consumption |date=5 December 2008 |publisher=660 News (Rogers Broadcasting) |access-date=7 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081229231043/http://www.660news.com/news/national/article.jsp?content=n1205126A |archive-date=29 December 2008}}</ref> The appropriateness and viability of this tradition in an age of [[social media]] has been questioned.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/549450 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209020501/http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/549450 |archive-date=9 December 2008 |last=Tyler |first=Tracey |title=Politicians, scholars say Governor General must dispel secrecy |date=6 December 2008 |newspaper=Toronto Star |access-date=7 December 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1314339--lt-gov-david-onley-explains-prorogation-decision-cohn |last=Cohn |first=Martin Regg |title=Lt.-Gov. David Onley explains prorogation decision |date=13 January 2013 |newspaper=Toronto Star |access-date=15 January 2013 |archive-date=16 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116135847/http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1314339--lt-gov-david-onley-explains-prorogation-decision-cohn |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the construct of constitutional monarchy and [[responsible government]], the ministerial advice tendered is typically binding,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Peter |publication-date=1983 |contribution=Bold Statecraft, Questionable Jurisprudence |editor-last=Banting |editor-first=Keith G.| editor2-last=Simeon| editor2-first=Richard |title=And no one cheered: federalism, democracy, and the Constitution Act |page=217 |location=Toronto |publisher=Taylor & Francis |date=1983 |isbn=978-0-4589-5950-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sUwOAAAAQAAJ |access-date=12 June 2010}}</ref> meaning the monarch ''reigns'' but does not ''rule'',<ref name=Cyr>{{Citation |url=https://www.constitutionalstudies.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/22.1-Full-Issue.pdf| editor-last1=Lagassé| editor-first1=Philippe| editor-last2=MacDonald| editor-first2=Nicholas A. |title=The Crown in the 21st Century| last1=Cyr| first1=Hugo |series=On the Formation of Government |page=117 |volume=22 |issue=1 |date=2017 |publisher=Centre for Constitutional Studies |location=Edmonton |access-date=5 June 2023 |archive-date=16 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816131152/https://www.constitutionalstudies.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/22.1-Full-Issue.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> the Cabinet ruling "in trust" for the monarch.<ref>{{Harvnb|MacLeod|2015|p=8}}</ref> This has been the case in Canada since the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] ended the reign of the territory's last [[absolute monarch]], King [[Louis XV of France]]. However, the royal prerogative belongs to the Crown and not to any of the ministers{{Refn|<ref name=MacLeod16/><ref name=Murdoch/><ref name=Neitsch23>{{Harvnb|Neitsch|2008|p=23}}</ref>}} and the royal and viceroyal figures may unilaterally use these powers in exceptional [[constitutional crisis]] situations (an exercise of the [[reserve power]]s),{{#tag:ref|See '[[Cabinet of Canada#Responsibilities|Responsibilities]]' and [[Cabinet of Canada#cite note-RP-14|Note 1]] at [[Cabinet of Canada]].|group=n|name=RP}} thereby allowing the monarch to make sure "the government conducts itself in compliance with the constitution";<ref name=Boyce/> he and the viceroys being guarantors of the government's constitutional, as opposed to democratic, legitimacy and must ensure the continuity of such.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cyr|2017|p=117}}</ref> Use of the royal prerogative in this manner was seen when [[King–Byng affair|the Governor General refused his prime minister's advice to dissolve Parliament]] in 1926 and when, in 2008, the Governor General took some hours to decide whether or not to accept her Prime Minister's advice to prorogue Parliament to avoid a vote of non-confidence.<ref name=ISCC>{{Cite web |url=https://iscc-iecc.ca/backgrounder/reserve-powers-of-the-crown |title=Reserve Powers of the Crown |date=4 February 2022 |publisher=Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada |access-date=25 July 2022 |archive-date=19 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220719184608/https://iscc-iecc.ca/backgrounder/reserve-powers-of-the-crown  |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Jackson|Lagassé|2013|p=3}}</ref> The prerogative powers have also been [[Monarchy in the Canadian provinces#Executive|used numerous times in the provinces]].<ref name=ISCC/>

The royal prerogative further extends to foreign affairs, including the ratification of treaties, alliances, international agreements, and [[Declaration of war by Canada|declarations of war]],<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.lawtimesnews.com/20060501549/Headline-News/War-power-and-the-Royal-Prerogative |last=Brode |first=Patrick |title=War power and the Royal Prerogative |date=1 May 2006 |journal=Law Times |access-date=22 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122075404/http://www.lawtimesnews.com/20060501549/Headline-News/War-power-and-the-Royal-Prerogative |archive-date=22 November 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> the accreditation of Canadian high commissioners and ambassadors and receipt of similar diplomats from foreign states,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archive.gg.ca/gg/fgg/bios/03/02e_e.asp |last=Office of the Governor General of Canada |author-link=Governor General of Canada |title=The Governor General – the evolution of Canada's oldest public institution |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |access-date=16 January 2011 |archive-date=13 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613180418/http://archive.gg.ca/gg/fgg/bios/03/02e_e.asp |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=CMN23>{{Cite journal |title=Martin Government Removes Queen From Diplomatic Documents |journal=Canadian Monarchist News |volume=Spring 2005 |issue=23 |page=2 |publisher=Monarchist League of Canada |location=Toronto |date=2005 |url=http://www.monarchist.ca/cmn/2005/Spring_2005_CMN.pdf |access-date=17 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625225427/http://www.monarchist.ca/cmn/2005/Spring_2005_CMN.pdf |archive-date=25 June 2008}}</ref> and the issuance of [[Canadian passport]]s,<ref name=CPO>{{Citation |author=Elizabeth II |author-link=Elizabeth II |publication-date=28 June 2006 |title=Canadian Passport Order |series=4.4 |location=Ottawa |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |url=http://www.pptc.gc.ca/publications/pdfs/81-86_administrative_2006_eng.pdf |access-date=19 May 2009 |date=2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326043231/http://www.pptc.gc.ca/publications/pdfs/81-86_administrative_2006_eng.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2009}}</ref> which remain the sovereign's property.<ref>{{Harvnb|Elizabeth II|2006|loc=3.b, 3.c}}</ref> It also includes the creation of [[Dynastic order of knighthood|dynastic]] and [[Order (honour)|national]] [[Orders, decorations, and medals of Canada|honours]],<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.lawtimesnews.com/200605011204/headline-news/war-power-and-the-royal-prerogative |last=Brode |first=Patrick |title=War power and the Royal Prerogative |date=1 May 2006 |journal=Law Times |access-date=28 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518013839/http://www.lawtimesnews.com/200605011204/headline-news/war-power-and-the-royal-prerogative |archive-date=18 May 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> though only the latter are established on official ministerial advice.