How Canada Achieved Its System of Responsible Government

Commentary Throughout human history there have been innumerable forms of government devised to bring order and law to societies. Empires, kingdoms, anarcho-syndicalist communes, soviets, emirates, oligarchies, theocracies, fascist dictatorships, people’s republics, federal republics, revolutionary triumvirates, tribal councils, colonial governments, military juntas, etc. But none have achieved the combination of social stability and popular participation that mark the history of the British parliamentary system of responsible government. Though parliaments had existed for centuries in Britain, they had not always possessed real power. Through the medieval and early-modern periods they were summoned only when the monarch chose, they could be dismissed at the monarch’s will, and the ruler had no obligation to heed their decisions. Should the king receive a bill which he was not pleased to approve, he needed only note “Le roy s’avisera”—the king will think about it—and that was an end to it....