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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2014
When the British North America Act was passed in 1867, the distinction between Privy Council, cabinet, and ministry was already well established in Britain. The Privy Council was the body recognized by law, but its original function of advising the Crown had been taken over by the cabinet, which remained in principle a committee of the larger body. The ministry was composed of those privy counsellors who formed the cabinet, plus certain other ministers who were outside the cabinet and were not normally sworn of the Privy Council.
Before the federation of the British North American provinces, colonial “cabinets” had been styled “executive councils” and resignation from office had carried with it no continuing title of precedence; that is, contrary to British practice, a minister who resigned his portfolio ceased to be a member of the the executive council and hence lost his title of “Honourable.” Undoubtedly it was felt, as Alpheus Todd has stated, that an organization resembling the British Privy Council, liable to be convened on special occasions or for ceremonial purposes, was unnecessary in a colony, where government should be kept as simple as possible. Similarly, since the powers of colonial governments were relatively limited, there was no need for a large ministry; thus, the British distinction between ministers in the cabinet and those outside had not developed in the colonies.
1 Todd, Alpheus, Parliamentary Government in the British Colonies (2nd ed., London, 1894), 54.Google Scholar
2 Public Archives of Canada, Macdonald Papers, vol. 187, A. G. Archibald to Sir John A. Macdonald, 20 Sept. 1867.
3 For a more detailed acount of the views of Monck and Macdonald on this question, see Rogers, Norman McL.. “The Introduction of Cabinet Government in Canada.” Canadian Bar Review, 11 (1933), 9–11.Google Scholar
4 Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1867, 6.Google Scholar
5 Ibid., 54–5.
6 Ibid., 109.
7 Ibid., 1869, v–vi.
8 Ibid., 91.
9 Ibid., 41.
10 Ibid., 1871, 42.
11 Ibid., 1872, 96.
12 Coté, N. Omer, ed., Political Appointments, Parliaments, and the Judicial Bench in the Dominion of Canada, 1867 to 1895 (Ottawa, 1896), 24, 163, 178.Google Scholar
13 R. D. Wilmot was appointed Speaker of the Senate, sworn of the Privy Council, and entered the cabinet as a minister without portfolio in October 1878. ( Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1879, 9, 137).Google Scholar D. L. MacPherson was appointed Speaker of the Senate and a member of the cabinet without portfolio in February 1880. He resigned the Speakership on being appointed Minister of the Interior in 1883. Ibid., 1885, 67.
14 Coté, N. Omer, ed., Political Appointments, Parliaments, and the Judicial Bench in the Dominion of Canada, 1896 to 1917 (Ottawa, 1917), 25, 121.Google Scholar
15 For instance, Rodolphe Lemieux had served as Solicitor General, Postmaster General, and Minister of Marine and Fisheries in the Laurier Administration. On the formation of the King Government in December 1921, he was offered a portfolio, but declined it. In March 1922, he was elected Speaker of the House of Commons. ( Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1922, 117.Google Scholar)
16 Ibid., 1950, 19–21.
17 Coté, , Political Appointments … 1896 to 1917, 25, 52.Google Scholar
18 Ibid., 27.
19 Ibid.
20 Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1928, 30; 1930, 27; 1942, 19.Google Scholar
21 Ibid., 1928, 30; 1958, 18.
22 Ibid., 1918, 22, 30.
23 Ibid., 1954, 16, 766. Rinfret was sworn of the Imperial Privy Council in September 1947. He became a member of the Canadian Privy Council in 1953.
24 Ibid., 1955, 16, 771.
25 Ibid., 1964, 20.
26 Ibid., 1953, 18.
27 Ibid., 1954, 16.
28 Ibid., 1962, 20.
29 Ibid., 1963, 20.
30 Ibid., 1964, 20.
31 Massey was sworn of the Privy Council, 16 September 1925, on being appointed a minister without portfolio. Ibid., 1926, 29, 45.
32 London Free Press, 5 June 1964.
33 Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1964, 18–20 Google Scholar, lists 114 members in January 1964. The two additions in June 1964 bring the total to 116. Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 1964, 680–3Google Scholar, lists 288 British privy counsellors.
34 Lists of successive ministries are to be found in Parliamentary Debates at the beginning of each session. The number, thirty or more, includes Scottish and Irish officials who are sometimes listed separately and sometimes with the English ministers. It also includes parliamentary secretaries and under-secretaries, but not officers of the Royal Household who usually number ten or eleven and are listed separately at the end of the ministry.
35 Statutes of Canada, 31 Vict., c. 33.
36 Provision is made for his salary in ibid., 36 Vict., c. 31.
37 Ibid., 42 Vict., c. 7.
38 As finally passed, the Act provided that the controllers should act under the instructions of the Minister of Trade and Commerce or the Minister of Finance, as the Governor-in-Council directed.
39 Statutes of Canada, 50–51 Vict., c. 10 and 11.
40 Ibid., 50–51 Vict., c. 14.
41 Coté, , Political Appointments … 1867 to 1895, 46, 48.Google Scholar
42 Canada, House of Commons Debates, 1887, 190.Google Scholar
43 Coté, , Political Appointments … 1896–1917, 32.Google Scholar
44 Ibid., p. 37.
45 For the debates on the bill, see Canada, House of Commons Debates, 1897, columns 3580–3581, 4122–4129.Google Scholar The act is 60–61 Vict., c. 18.
46 Statutes of Canada, 62–63 Vict., c. 23.
47 Dawson, R. MacGregor, The Government of Canada, 4th ed., revised by Ward, Norman (Toronto, 1963), 184.Google Scholar
48 He was put on an equal footing with regard to salary in 1931. Statutes of Canada, 21–22 Geo. V, c. 12.
49 They are first listed with the ministry in 1847. See Parliamentary Debates, 3rd series, vol. 89.
50 Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1917, 21.Google Scholar
51 Ibid., 1918, 19.
52 Statutes of Canada, 7–8 Eliz., II, c. 15.Google Scholar See also Dawson, , The Government of Canada, 4th ed., pp. 242–1.Google Scholar
53 Dawson, R. MacGregor, The Government of Canada, 3rd ed. (Toronto, 1957), 198n.Google Scholar
54 Ibid., 4th ed., 243.
55 Ibid., 244.
56 For suggestions as to which ministers might be dropped from the cabinet, see ibid. 241–2.
57 For instance, Jesse Collings was appointed parliamentary secretary of the Local Government Board in January 1886; he became a privy counsellor in 1892 and under-secretary in the Home Department, 06 1895. Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 1897, 219.Google Scholar
58 SirJennings, Ivor, Cabinet Government, 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1959), 82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
59 Public General Statutes (British), 1 Geo. VI, c. 38.Google Scholar This act is amended by the Ministerial Salaries Acts of 1946 and 1957.
60 Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 1942, 408, 479.Google Scholar
61 Ibid., 408.
62 Ibid., 1943, 486; 1944, 489; 1945, 492.
63 Ibid., 1942, 408, 479.
64 Morrison, Herbert, Government and Parliament (London, 1954), 58.Google Scholar Ministers resident in various parts of the world were appointed to the British ministry during the war.
65 Ibid.
66 Jennings, , Cabinet Government, 82.Google Scholar
67 Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 1958, 529 Google Scholar; 1959, 532; 1960, 532; 1961, 578; 1962, 576; 1963, 585; 1964, 598.
68 Ibid., 1964, 598.
69 Sir Ivor Jennings uses the term in this sense. See Cabinet Government, 231.
70 Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 1964, 597–8.Google Scholar
71 Whitaker's Almanack, 1964, 309.Google Scholar
72 Morrison, , Government and Parliament, 59–60.Google Scholar
73 Ibid., 59.
74 Globe and Mail, Toronto, 27 10 1961.Google Scholar
75 Rogers, Norman McL., “Evolution and Reform of the Canadian Cabinet,” Canadian Bar Review, 11, (1933), 236.Google Scholar
76 Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 1964, 597.Google Scholar
77 Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1964, 15–16.Google Scholar