The Inconvenient Crown

The inherent paradoxes of Canada’s system of government were described over a century ago by historian Goldwyn Smith: “The King who reigns and does not govern is represented by a Governor-General who does the same, and the Governor-General solemnly delegates his impotence to a puppet Lieutenant-Governor in each province.” Yet the virtues of this delegated authority bear close examination. To a much greater extent than commonly thought, the system is a distinctive product of Canadian history, its features gradually exported to other countries, among them some (like Canada) the world’s most successful democracies.

But first those paradoxes. “Quite clearly, if you and I sat down to create a system of government for Canada, based on our knowledge of the ups and downs of our past, we would probably not create the system we have now,” John Fraser notes in The Secret of the Crown...