National Council of Provinces

“ Every citizen who is qualified to vote for the National Assembly is eligible to be a member of a provincial legislature, except —
(a)
anyone who is appointed by, or is in the service of, the state and receives remuneration for that appointment or service, other than —
(i)
the Premier and other members of the Executive Council of a province; and (ii)
other office-bearers whose functions are compatible with the functions of a member of a provincial legislature, and have been declared compatible with those functions by national legislation ”

“ Each of the Provinces has a Governor and a Parliament of its own, chosen by the local electorate, and possesses, as has been said, a very large measure of autonomy in the management of its own fiscal and other internal affairs. Other large areas which are not yet judged by Congress to have attained sufficient development to be able to support the financial burdens and status of autonomous Provinces have remained National Territories under the direct control of the National Government. ”

“ The Imperial Government accordingly in 1791 passed the Constitutional Act, by which the country was divided into the two Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, each being granted a representative form of government and a constitution supposed to be suited to its population. The governmental machinery provided for each Province under this Act was a Governor, appointed by the Crown, and responsible to the Imperial authorities alone; a Legislative Council, appointed for life by the Governor, and a Legislative Assembly, elected by the people on a suffrage almost universal. ”

“ Parliament may alter the boundaries of any province, divide a province into two or more provinces, or form a new province out of provinces within the Union, on the petition of the provincial council of every province whose boundaries are affected thereby. ”

“ Notwithstanding anything in the preceding provisions of this Article, Parliament may by, or under, any law provide for two or three adjoining Provinces to form one administrative unit with one elected Provincial Council, one Governor, one Chief Minister and one Board of Ministers and for the manner of determining whether such Provinces should continue to be administered as one administrative unit or whether each such Province should constitute a separate administrative unit with its own Provincial Council, and a separate Governor, Chief Minister and Board of Ministers. ”

“ Where one or more Provincial Councils request Parliament, by resolution, to make law on any matter set out in the Provincial Council List, Parliament may make law on that matter, applicable only to the Provinces for which those Provincial Councils are established, by a majority of Members of Parliament present and voting. ”

“ The right to introduce bills and other draft enactments falling within the province of work of the Chamber of Republics and Provinces which must be adopted in agreement with the Assemblies of the Republics and the Assemblies of the Autonomous Provinces shall be vested with every delegation to, and working body of, the Chamber, the Assemblies of the Republics and the Assemblies of the Autonomous Provinces, and in the Federal Executive Council. ”

“ One of the special features of this scheme was that, whereas in the case of the Provinces accession to the Federation was to be automatic, in the case of the States accession was to be voluntary and the establishment of the contemplated Federation was conditional on the accession of States entitled to fill not less than 52 seats in the Council of State, and having an aggregate population of not less than one half of the total population of the States. ”

“ In the colonies the preoccupation of thought and energy has with equal reason been as complete. It is scarce fifty years since the Canadian provinces obtained local self-government. The last half century has witnessed the growth of a most complete system of municipal and provincial institutions, crowned by a great act of constructive statesmanship in Confederation. The organization of half a continent on material lines has kept pace with each step in political construction. ”

“ The members of the Legislative Council for the Confederation shall in the first instance be appointed upon the nomination of the Executive Governments of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick respectively, and the number allotted to each Province shall be nominated from the Legislative Councils of the different Provinces, due regard being had to the fair representation of both political parties ”

“ If local circumstances and institutions permitted a complete re-union of the Provinces, it could only be rendered useful by the seats in the Legislative Council and in the Assembly becoming vacant, and by appointing Legislative Councillors, who would generally attend in their places, who would not be composed almost exclusively of executive Officers, and particularly of the Judges, whose duties, as such, are sufficient in Canada to occupy the whole of their time ”

“ To regulate commerce by land and sea with foreign nations, and between the Provinces.
13. To establish and regulate the general post-offices and post-roads of the Nation.
14. To finally settle the National boundaries, fix those of the Provinces, create new Provinces, and determine by a special legislation, the organization and governments, which such National territories as are beyond the limits assigned to the Province, should have.
15. To provide for the security of the frontiers; preserve peaceful relations with the Indians, and promote their conversion to Catholicism. ”

“ Assuming that at no distant date the Australasian and the North African groups of colonies will be federated, as the Canadian provinces now are, he proposes that each of these three great British communities shall be represented in this country by leading members of the Cabinets of the countries to which they belong, ministers going out of office when their own governments are changed, and so permanently representing the views of the government in power. ”

“ Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, a Provincial Council shall be established for every Province specified in the Eighth Schedule with effect from such date or dates as the President may appoint by Order published in the Gazette. Different dates may be appointed in respect of different Provinces. (2) Every Provincial Council established under paragraph (1) shall be constituted upon the election of the members of such Council in accordance with the law relating to Provincial Council elections. ”

“ What is the common bond that is to bring the various colonies into a federal union? It is certain that it will have to be a bond of political and national interest, and not of sentiment merely, though the sentiment may serve by way of decoration. We all know how extremely difficult it was to bring the provinces of Canada to form themselves into the Dominion. ”

“ The procedures provided for in this Constitution with regard to the finalisation of provincial boundaries, shall not be construed as precluding the establishment of such a Volkstaat, and in the event of the acceptance of the concept of a Volkstaat, alternative provision shall be made by an Act of Parliament for the finalisation of the boundaries of any affected province or provinces. ”

“ A provincial legislature is bound only by the Constitution and, if it has passed a constitution for its province, also by that constitution, and must act in accordance with, and within the limits of, the Constitution and that provincial constitution. ”

“ With the issue of the Order under Section 290A and the extension of the more important Central enactments, the position of the Provincially merged States became, to all intents and purposes, the same as that of Provinces. The process of assimilation in the Centrally-merged States also was greatly facilitated by the issue of this Order and the passing of the enactment. Considerable progress has been made in the newly created Chief Commissioners' Provinces in the direction of improving their administrative machinery. ”

“ The Canadian term “Province” is prior in time within the Empire; but it might be misleading to readers unacquainted with Canadian affairs, as tending to suggest merely administrative functions like those of a County Council: a body which has many important duties and some delegated legislative authority, but cannot reasonably be called autonomous. A federal constitution must assign some legislative powers exclusively to the federal legislature, and it may reserve or assign others exclusively to the State legislatures. ”

“ I thought that it would be the tendency of a federation sanctioned and consolidated by a monarchical Government gradually to become a complete legislative union; and that thus, while conciliating the French of Lower Canada, by leaving them the government of their own Province and their own internal legislation, I might provide for the protection of British interests by the general government, and for the gradual transition of the Provinces into an united and homogeneous community. ”

“ Under any federation, growth in unity is bound to be slow. The relations of the provinces to the federal power must be worked out and their relations to each other must be adjusted. Time alone could solve such a problem. Until the system took definite shape national sentiment was feeble. But a modified and well-poised federation, with its strong central government and its carefully guarded provincial rights, at last won the day. ”

“ A provincial government may at any time after the commencement of a provincial constitution contemplated in section 160 or of the constitutional dispensation contemplated in section 161, petition the Constitutional Assembly to dissolve its provincial legislature and to call an election for the establishment of a new provincial legislature and executive authority in that province. ”

“ The Premier of a province may assign the administration of a law which is entrusted to any particular member of the Executive Council or which entrusts to any particular member of the Council any power or function, to any other member of the Council. ”

“ Thirdly, the executive power, which rests with the Sovereign. That is to say, the Laws and Decrees will be executed by the Ministers and Government officials in the name of His Imperial Majesty in the manner defined by law. Article 28. The three above-mentioned powers shall always be differentiated and separated from one another. Article 29. The particular revenues of each province, department, and commune shall be regulated by the Provincial and Departmental Assemblies in accordance with their own particular laws. [Articles 30-34 define the status of the members of the National Assembly.] ”

“ The Provinces, which are really little more than municipalities, have no longer any relation except in remotest constitutional theory with the Mother Country, their Administrators are appointed by the Union, and, unlike the Provinces of Canada and the States of Australia, they have not even an internal system of responsible government. ”

“ The distinctions and preferences aforesaid, have almost constantly been used and taken advantage of by the Colonial Administration of this Province, and the majority of the Legislative Councillors, Executive Councillors, Judges, and other functionaries dependent upon them, to serve to their own ends; and nothing but the spirit of union among the several classes of the People, and their conviction that their interests are the same, could have prevented collisions incompatible with the prosperity and safety of the Province. ”

“ The executive authority of every Province shall be so exercised as not to impede or prejudice the exercise of the executive authority of the Federation, and the executive authority of the Federation shall extend to the giving of such directions to a Province as may appear to the Federal Government to be necessary for that purpose. ”

“ If a provincial legislature, by a vote supported by a majority of its members, passes a motion of no confidence in the province’s Executive Council excluding the Premier, the Premier must reconstitute the Council. ”

“ If one turns from the Government of India to the new Provincial Governments and Councils the outlook is, on the whole, not less encouraging. The statutory powers of the Provincial Councils are more definite and can be brought more directly to bear upon Government, but they are not likely to be exercised in any extravagant fashion until time has shown how Indian Ministers discharge their responsibilities to the Councils and how the two wings of the new Provincial Governments work together. ”

“ The Parliament of Canada may from time to time establish new Provinces in any territories forming for the time being part of the Dominion of Canada, but not included in any Province thereof, and may, at the time of such establishment, make provision for the constitution and administration of any such Province, and for the passing of laws for the peace, order, and good government of such Province, and for its representation in the said Parliament. ”

“ In no canton in Switzerland is there more than one legislative body: in none is there a senate. The cities of Switzerland have no mayor, the cantons have no governor, and, if the title be used in the American sense, the republic has no President. Instead of the usual single executive head, the Swiss employ an executive council. Hence, in every canton a deadlock in legislation is impossible, the way is open for all law demanded by a majority, and neither in canton nor Confederation is one-man power known. ”

“ This word province signifies a charge or care of business, which he whose it is committeth to another man to be administered for and under him; and therefore when in one Commonwealth there be diverse countries that have their laws distinct one from another, or are far distant in place, the administration of the government being committed to diverse persons, those countries where the sovereign is not resident, but governs by commission, are called provinces. But of the government of a province, by an assembly residing in the province itself, there be few examples. ”