Editing Governor General of Canada (section)

===Constitutional role===
{{Further|Monarchy of Canada#Federal constitutional role}}

All [[Executive (government)|executive]], [[legislative]], and [[judicial]] power in and over Canada is vested in the monarch.<ref>{{harvnb|Constitution Act|1867|loc=Ss. 9, 17}}</ref><ref name=MacLeod17>{{Harvnb| MacLeod| 2015| p=17}}</ref> The governor general is permitted to exercise most of this power, including the [[royal prerogative]], in the sovereign's name; some as outlined in the ''Constitution Act, 1867'', and some through various [[letters patent]] issued over the decades, particularly [[Letters Patent, 1947|those from 1947]] that constitute the Office of Governor General of Canada.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/executive-decree/023004-2020-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/20090811074157/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/executive-decree/023004-2020-e.html| archive-date=11 August 2009}}</ref> The 1947 letters patent state, "and We do hereby authorize and empower Our Governor General, with the advice of [[King's Privy Council for Canada|Our Privy Council for Canada]] or of any members thereof or individually, as the case requires, to exercise all powers and authorities lawfully belonging to Us in respect of Canada."<ref>{{Harvnb| George VI| 1947| loc=II}}</ref> The office itself does not, however, independently possess any powers of the royal prerogative, only exercising the Crown's powers with its permission; a fact the ''Constitution Act, 1867'', left unchanged.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/14732/index.do |title=''Windsor & Annapolis Railway Co. v. The Queen and the Western Counties Railway Co.'' (1885), 10 SCR 389. |access-date=22 September 2021 |archive-date=22 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922043514/https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/14732/index.do |url-status=dead }}</ref> Among other duties, the monarch retains the sole right to appoint the governor general.<ref name=MacLeod35/> It is also stipulated that the governor general [[Deputy of the Governor General of Canada|may appoint deputies]]—usually Supreme Court justices and the secretary to the governor general—who can perform some of the viceroy's constitutional duties in the governor general's absence,<ref>{{Harvnb| George VI| 1947| loc=VII}}</ref> and the chief justice of the Supreme Court (or a puisne justice in the chief justice's absence) will act as the administrator of the government upon the death or removal, as well as the incapacitation, or absence of the governor general for more than one month.<ref>{{Harvnb| George VI| 1947| loc=VIII}}</ref>
[[File:Swearing In - Assermentation (36647507344).jpg|thumb|[[Andrew Scheer]] (right), then [[Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada)|Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition]], being admitted to the [[Queen's Privy Council for Canada]] by Governor General [[David Johnston (governor general)|David Johnston]] (centre) at [[Rideau Hall]], 25 September 2017]]

The governor general is required by the ''Constitution Act, 1867'', to appoint for life persons to the [[King's Privy Council for Canada]],<ref>{{harvnb|Constitution Act|1867|loc=S. 11}}</ref> who are all technically tasked with tendering to the monarch and viceroy guidance on the exercise of the royal prerogative. [[Convention (norm)#Government|Convention]] dictates, though, that the governor general must draw from the Privy Council an individual to appoint as prime minister. In almost all cases, this is the member of Parliament who commands the [[Confidence and supply|confidence]] of the [[House of Commons of Canada|House of Commons]], whom the governor general must appoint to the Privy Council, if that person is not already a member, so the individual can be appointed prime minister. The prime minister then advises the governor general to appoint other members of parliament to a committee of the Privy Council known as the [[Cabinet of Canada|Cabinet]] and it is, in practice, only from this group of [[ministers of the Crown]] that the king and governor general will take [[Advice (constitutional law)|advice]] on the use of executive power;<ref>{{Harvnb| MacLeod| 2015| pp=24, 27}}</ref> an arrangement called the ''[[king-in-Council]]'' or,<ref name=MacLeod17/> more specifically, the ''governor-in-Council''. In this capacity, the governor general will issue royal [[proclamation]]s and sign [[orders in council]]. The governor-in-Council is also specifically tasked by the ''Constitution Act, 1867'', to appoint in the monarch's name, the [[Lieutenant Governor (Canada)|lieutenant governors of the provinces]],<ref>{{harvnb|Constitution Act|1867|loc=S. 58}}</ref> [[Senate of Canada|senators]],<ref>{{harvnb|Constitution Act|1867|loc=S. 24}}</ref> the [[Speaker of the Senate of Canada|speaker of the Senate]],<ref>{{harvnb|Constitution Act|1867|loc=S. 34}}</ref> [[Superior court|superior]], district, and county court judges in each province, except those of the Courts of Probate in [[Nova Scotia]] and [[New Brunswick]],<ref>{{harvnb|Constitution Act|1867|loc=S. 96}}</ref> and [[High commissioner (Commonwealth)|high commissioners]] and ambassadors.<ref name=GoC152>{{harvnb| Government of Canada| 1970| p=152}}</ref> The advice given by the Cabinet is, in order to ensure the stability of government, by political convention typically binding. The governor general has mainly only the right to advise, encourage, and warn; to offer valued counsel to the prime minister.<ref>{{citation| url=https://www.gg.ca/en/governor-general/role-and-responsibilities/constitutional-duties| author=Office of the Secretary to the Governor General| title=Constitutional Duties| date=22 December 2016| publisher=Governor General of Canada| accessdate=1 March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{citation| url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/governor-general| last1=McIntosh| first1=Andrew| last2=Monet| first2=Jacques| last3=Bishop| first3=Paul| last4=McIntosh| first4=Andrew| title=Governor General of Canada| date=29 March 2023| encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia| publisher=Historica Canada| access-date=1 March 2024}}</ref>

Both the King and his viceroy, however, may in exceptional circumstances invoke the [[reserve powers]], which remain the Crown's final check against a ministry's abuse of power.{{refn|See [[King's Privy Council for Canada#cite note-RP-13|Note 2]] at [[King's Privy Council for Canada]].|group=n|name=RP}}<ref name=Commons>{{cite web|url=http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=1276961&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=37&Ses=3| last=House of Commons| title=The Governor General of Canada: Role, Duties and Funding for Activities| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| access-date=9 October 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614024528/http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=1276961&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=37&Ses=3 | archive-date=14 June 2012 }}</ref> The reserve power of dismissal has never been used in Canada, although other reserve powers have been employed to force the prime minister to resign on two occasions: In 1896, Prime Minister [[Charles Tupper]] refused to step down after his party failed to win a majority in the House of Commons during [[1896 Canadian federal election|that year's election]], leading Governor General the [[John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair|Earl of Aberdeen]] to no longer recognize Tupper as prime minister and disapprove of several appointments Tupper had recommended. In 1925, the [[King–Byng affair]] took place, in which Prime Minister Mackenzie King, facing a [[Motion of no confidence|non-confidence motion]] in the House of Commons, advised Governor General the Viscount Byng of Vimy to [[Dissolution of parliament|dissolve]] the new parliament, but Byng refused.

[[Peter Hogg]], a constitutional scholar, has opined that "a system of responsible government cannot work without a formal head of state who is possessed of certain reserve powers." Further, [[Eugene Forsey]] stated "the reserve power is indeed, under our Constitution, an absolutely essential safeguard of democracy. It takes the place of the legal and judicial safeguards provided in the United States by written Constitutions, enforceable in the courts."

Within the dominions, until the 1920s, most reserve powers were exercised by a governor-general on the advice of either the local or the British Cabinet, with the latter taking precedence. After the [[1926 Imperial Conference|Imperial Conference of 1926]] produced the [[Balfour Declaration of 1926|Balfour Declaration]], formally establishing the autonomy and equal status of Commonwealth governments, governors general ceased to be advised in any way by British ministers.

It was decided at the same Imperial Conference that the governor general "should be kept as fully informed as His Majesty the King in Great Britain of Cabinet business and public affairs."<ref>{{citation| title=Imperial Conference 1926: Summary of Proceedings| location=Ottawa| year=1926| page=14}}</ref> How frequently governors general and their prime ministers conversed has varied;<ref name=GoC152/> some prime ministers have valued their meetings with the viceroy at the time.{{refn|Robert Borden said, "it would be an absolute mistake to regard the governor general as a mere figurehead, a mere rubber stamp. During nine years of premiership, I had the opportunity of realizing how helpful may be the advice and counsel of a governor general in matters of delicacy and difficulty".<ref>{{citation| title=The Imperial Conference| journal=Journal of the Royal Institute of International Affairs| date=July 1927| page=204}}</ref>|group=n}} However, the practice is usually informal<ref name=GoC152/> and the prime minister will typically schedule a telephone call to request the governor general perform a significant task.{{refn|[[Pierre Trudeau]] called [[Roland Michener]] in 1970 to request an authorization to invoke the ''[[War Measures Act]]''.<ref name=Hopper/>}}<ref name=Hopper>{{citation| url=https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/what-does-the-governor-general-do-all-day| last=Hopper| first=Tristan| title=What does the Governor General do all day?| date=27 July 2021| newspaper=National Post| accessdate=15 March 2024}}</ref> The governor general regularly receives the [[minutes]] from cabinet meetings and any documents referred to in those minutes.<ref>{{harvnb| Government of Canada| 1970| p=153}}</ref> 
[[File:Tweedsmuir speech.jpg|thumb|left|[[John Buchan|Lord Tweedsmuir]] gives the [[Speech from the throne|Throne Speech]] at the opening of the third session of the [[18th Canadian Parliament]], 27 January 1938]]

The governor general also summons parliament, reads the [[speech from the throne]], and [[Prorogation in Canada|prorogues]] and [[Dissolution of parliament|dissolves]] parliament. The governor general grants [[royal assent]] in the king's name; legally, the governor general has three options: grant royal assent (making the bill a law), withhold royal assent (vetoing the bill), or reserve the bill for the signification of the king's pleasure (allowing the sovereign to personally grant or withhold assent).<ref>{{harvnb|Constitution Act|1867|loc=S. 55}}</ref> If the governor general withholds the king's assent, the sovereign may within two years [[Disallowance and reservation in Canada|disallow]] the bill, thereby annulling the law in question. No governor general has denied royal assent to a bill. Provincial viceroys, however, are able to reserve royal assent to provincial bills for the governor general, which was last invoked in 1961 by the [[Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan]].<ref>{{Harvnb| MacLeod| 2015| p=25}}</ref>