Editing Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey (section)

==Governor General of Canada==
[[Image:Albert-grey-vierter-earl-grey.jpg|thumb|Grey in the governor general's office at [[Rideau Hall]], Ottawa]]

===In office===
On 4 October 1904 announcement made that [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|King Edward VII]] had,<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=27719 |date=4 October 1904 |page=6363}}</ref> by commission under the [[royal sign-manual]] and [[Seal (emblem)|signet]], approved the recommendation of his British prime minister, [[Arthur Balfour]], to appoint Grey as his representative to Canada, replacing Grey's brother-in-law, [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto|the Earl of Minto]]. (Minto was married to Grey's sister, Mary Caroline Grey.) The appointment came at a good time for Grey, as a series of failed investments in South Africa had left him penniless; a gift from his wife's aunt, [[Harriet Sarah Jones-Loyd, Lady Wantage|Lady Wantage]] (widow of [[Robert Loyd-Lindsay, 1st Baron Wantage|the Lord Wantage]]), was used to supplement his salary as governor general.

On 16 June 1905 Grey was designated as "Governor General of Canada and [[Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces|Commander-in-Chief of the Dominion of Canada]]," which followed on the passing of the [[Militia Act of 1904|Militia Act]] in 1904. At the request of [[Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell|Sir Robert Baden-Powell]], Grey also undertook the role of Chief Scout of Canada. 

During the time Grey occupied the viceregal office (1904-1911) Canada experienced large-scale immigration, industrialisation, and economic development, and secured increased independence from the United Kingdom.<ref name=GG />

It was with Grey's granting of [[Royal Assent]] to the appropriate Acts of Parliament that [[Alberta]] and [[Saskatchewan]] were separated from the North-West Territories to become provinces,<ref>The regions that became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, as part of the North-West Territories, had been part of Canada since 1870. Encyclopedia Canadiana</ref> The Governor General, writing to the King at the time, stated "[each one] a new leaf in Your Majesty's Maple Crown."<ref>{{Cite book| last=Grey| first=Albert| date=1 September 1905| contribution=Grey to Edward VII| editor-last=Doig| editor-first=Ronald P.| title=Earl Grey's papers: An introductory survey| edition=1| location=London| publisher=Private Libraries Association}}</ref>

As Governor General, he travelled extensively around the ever-growing country. He journeyed abroad to the [[Dominion of Newfoundland]] (then not yet a part of Canada) and several times to the United States to visit President [[Theodore Roosevelt]], with whom Grey developed a strong bond.<ref name=GG />
[[File:Prince of Wales presenting Title Deeds to Earl Grey, Quebec Tercentenary - close up.jpg|thumb|left|Grey with [[George V of the United Kingdom|Prince George, Prince of Wales]], at the celebrations of the tercentenary of [[Quebec]] in Quebec City, 24 July 1908]]

Grey often exercised his right, as representative of a constitutional monarch, to advise, encourage, and warn. He desired social reform and cohesion. He put his support behind prison reforms in Canada to provide greater social justice. He was also an advocate for electoral reform, endorsing [[proportional representation]].<ref>Claresholm Review, Feb. 5, 1909; Grain Growers Guide, Sept. 29, 1915; Edmonton Bulletin, April 6, 1912; Humphreys, Proportional Representation (1911)</ref> His past calls for political equality for Irish Catholics were relevant to Canada's internal politics, divided as the population was between Catholics and Protestants, Francophones and Anglophones.<ref>Earl Grey's views on minority rights held by Irish Catholics was recorded in a pamphlet "PPA in Ontario" (1894) (available on-line CIHM 25285)</ref>

As governor General, Grey also encouraged his prime minister, [[Wilfrid Laurier|Sir Wilfrid Laurier]], to support the Imperial Federation he had long championed, but Laurier was uninterested. Grey suggested the construction of a [[Hotel#Railway hotels|railway hotel]] in the federal capital - the outcome was the palatial [[Château Laurier]], completed in 1912.<ref name=GG />


Grey's years of urging Laurier to get the Cabinet and Parliament to agree to the idea of a [[Royal Canadian Navy|Canadian navy]] were more fruitful. At the Governor General's urging, the Canadian and British governments agreed to have Canada assume control of the former British garrisons at [[City of Halifax|Halifax, Nova Scotia]], and [[Esquimalt, British Columbia]], after which the [[Royal Canadian Navy]] was created by the ''[[Naval Service Act]]''. The Act was so identified with Grey that, in [[Quebec]], it was referred to as ''Grey's Bill'' and opposed by [[Henri Bourassa]] and his ''[[Ligue nationaliste canadienne]]''. 

Although Grey strongly promoted national unity among French and English Canadians, as well as advocating unity within the entire British Empire, his pronouncements frequently raised the ire of Bourassa and the Quebec nationalists. Grey helped plan the tercentennial of [[Quebec]] in 1908. This event marked the 300th anniversary of the landing of [[Samuel de Champlain]] at what later became [[Quebec City]]. The Cabinet agreed to Grey's suggestion to have the [[Plains of Abraham]] designated as a national park. this was to be done to coincide with the Quebec celebrations, and Grey believed the official ceremony would promote Franco-Anglo-American friendship. The government arranged for the attendance of [[George V of the United Kingdom|the Prince of Wales]] (later King George V), American and French warships, and a host of visiting dignitaries. The Ligue saw the ceremony as solely a tribute to the Empire. Bourassa and other Quebec nationalists complained that Grey had transformed a day intended to celebrate Samuel de Champlain into a celebration of [[James Wolfe]].

At other times, and unlike future viceroys, the Governor General's influence expanded blatantly into government policy. Grey initially supported Asian immigration to Canada. He opposed the [[Head tax (Canada)|head tax]] imposed by the [[Chinese Immigration Act of 1885]] on Chinese immigrants to Canada. He was invited to visit the province of [[British Columbia]] but declined as protest against the exclusionary measures implemented by the BC government under [[Premier of British Columbia|premier]] [[Richard McBride]].  However, following the Japanese victory in the [[Russo-Japanese War]], he expressed concerned about the so-called [[Yellow Peril]] and worked with the federal Cabinet to explore restrictions on Asian immigration other than the head tax. He was nevertheless appalled by the 1907 anti-Asian riots in [[Vancouver]], organized by BC's [[Asiatic Exclusion League]]. Later that same year, he arranged a visit to Canada by [[Prince Fushimi Sadanaru]] of the [[Empire of Japan]].<ref name=TCE>{{Cite book| last=Miller| first=Carman| contribution=Biography > Governors General of Canada > Grey, Albert Henry George, 4th Early Grey| title=The Canadian Encyclopedia| editor-last=Marsh| editor-first=James H.| place=Toronto| publisher=Historica Foundation of Canada| url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7416| access-date=28 December 2010}}</ref>

===Legacy===
[[File:Grey Cup! 07122006.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Grey Cup]]]]
Throughout his tenure as governor general, Grey supported the arts and, when he departed Canada in 1911, he left behind him the Grey Competition for Music and Drama, first held in 1907. Grey also donated trophies to the Montreal Horse Show and for figure skating.<ref name=TCE /> 

He was a patron of sport, his feelings on health and fitness a part of his broader desire for a reform movement.<ref name=TCE /> He supported [[Canadian football]] and established the [[Grey Cup]], which is awarded to the winner of the Senior Amateur Football Championship of Canada; it is today presented to the champions of the professional-level [[Canadian Football League]]. In 1963 Grey was elected to the [[Canadian Football Hall of Fame]] for his contributions to the game. 

He gave to the Crown a horse-drawn carriage he had purchased from the [[Governor-General of Australia]], which is still today used as the state landau,<ref>{{Cite book| last=Bousfield| first=Arthur|author2=Toffoli, Gary| title=Fifty Years the Queen| publisher=Dundurn Press| year=2002| location=Toronto| page=13| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8l5reK7NjoC| isbn=1-55002-360-8}}</ref> and added a study and conservatory to [[Rideau Hall]], the sovereign's and governor general's Ottawa residence; the latter was torn down in 1924.<ref name=GG /> 

Grey and his wife were commended for their work in Canada and for their championing social reforms. Laurier said Lord Grey gave "his whole heart, his whole soul, and his whole life to Canada."<ref name=GG />