Editing Monarchy of Canada (section)

====Regency====
{{Multiple image
| total_width=260
| image1   =Sir Thomas Lawrence - George IV, 1762 - 1830. Reigned as Regent 1811 - 1820, as King 1820 - 1830 - PG 139 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg
| image2   =Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) - George III (1738-1820) - RCIN 401006 - Royal Collection.jpg
| footer   =[[George IV|Prince George, Prince Regent]] (left), Canada's last regent, serving as such from 1811 until the death of his father, [[George III]] (right), in 1820
}}

Canada has no laws allowing for a [[regency]], should the sovereign be a [[Minor (law)|minor]] or debilitated;<ref name=Heard/> none have been passed by the Canadian Parliament and it was made clear by successive cabinets since 1937 that the United Kingdom's [[Regency Acts|Regency Act]] had no applicability to Canada,<ref name=Heard/> as the Canadian Cabinet had not requested otherwise when the act was passed that year and again in 1943 and 1953. As the ''[[Letters Patent, 1947]]'', issued by King George VI permit the governor general of Canada to exercise almost all of the monarch's powers in respect of Canada, the viceroy is expected to continue to act as the personal representative of the monarch, and not any regent, even if the monarch is a child or incapacitated.{{Refn|<ref name=Heard/><ref>{{Citation |last=Kennedy |first=W. P. M. |title=The Regency Acts, 1937–53 |journal=University of Toronto Law Journal |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=248–254 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |date=1954 |doi=10.2307/824845 |jstor=824845 |issn=0381-1638}}</ref><ref name=CRHT2>{{Cite web |url=http://www.crht.ca/DiscoverMonarchyFiles/FactsAboutMonarchy.html| last1=Bousfield| first1=Arthur| last2=Toffoli| first2=Gary |title=Facts About Canada's Monarchy |publisher=The Canadian Royal Heritage Trust |access-date=28 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505051909/http://www.crht.ca/DiscoverMonarchyFiles/FactsAboutMonarchy.html |archive-date=5 May 2008}}</ref>}}
 
This has led to the question of whether the governor general has the ability to remove themselves and appoint their viceregal successor in the monarch's name. While Lagassé argued that appears to be the case,<ref name=lagasse/> both the ''Canadian Manual of Official Procedures'', published in 1968, and the Privy Council Office took the opposite opinion.<ref>{{Citation |author=Canadian Privy Council Office |title=Manual of Official Procedure of the Government of Canada |chapter=Note 70 |page=565 |volume=2 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |location=Ottawa |date=1968}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |author=Privy Council Office |title=Open and Accountable Government |page=52 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |location=Ottawa |date=2015}}</ref> Lagassé and Patrick Baud claimed changes could be made to regulations to allow a governor general to appoint the next governor general;<ref>{{Citation| editor-last1=Bédard| editor-first1=Michel| editor-last2=Lagassé| editor-first2=Philippe |title=The Crown and the Parliament| last1=Lagassé| first1=Philippe| last2=Baud| first2=Patrick |chapter=The Crown and Constitutional Amendment in Canada |location=Montreal |publisher=Éditions Yvon Blais |date=2015 |pages=203, 225}}</ref> Christopher McCreery, however, criticised the theory, arguing it is impractical to suggest that a governor general would remove him or herself on ministerial advice,<ref>{{Citation| editor-last1=Smith| editor-first1=Jennifer| editor-last2=Jackson| editor-first2=D Michael |last=McCreery |first=Christopher |chapter=Myth and Misunderstanding: The Origins and Meaning of the Letters Patent Constituting the Office of the Governor General, 1947 |title=The Evolving Canadian Crown |pages=31, 52 |location=Montreal |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |date=2012}}</ref> with the consequence that, if a prolonged regency occurred, it would remove one of the checks and balances in the constitution.<ref name=Twomey52>{{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=Twomey| first1=Anne |series=Royal Succession, Abdication, and Regency in the Realms |journal=Review of Constitutional Studies |volume=22 |issue=1 |date=2017 |page=52 |publisher=Centre for Constitutional Studies |location=Edmonton |access-date=4 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 intent expressed whenever the matter of regency came up among Commonwealth realm heads of government was that the relevant parliament (other than the United Kingdom's) would pass a bill if the need for a regency arose and the pertinent governor-general would already be empowered to grant royal assent to it.<ref>{{Harvnb|Twomey|2017|p=51}}</ref> The governor general appointing their successor is not a power that has been utilized to date.<ref name=lagasse/>