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Section Y: Politics and Government

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Jean Louis Roy, McGill University

The Federal Government, Executive and Legislative Posts and Occupants (Series Y1-40)
The Federal Government, Elections and Parliamentary Sessions (Series Y41-210)
The Federal Government, Employees and Representation Abroad (Series Y211-263)
The Federal Government Disallowances of Provincial Acts, Reservations of Provincial Bills and Federal Royal Commissions (Series Y264-296)
The Provincial Governments, Lieutenant--Governors and Premiers (Series Y297-301)
The Provincial Governments, Provincial Elections (Series Y302-387)

The data in the tables of Section Y fall into two major divisions. Series Yl-296 concern the federal scene, series Y297-387 the 10 provincial scenes. Within the first major division, series Yl-40 contain data on executive and legislative posts and occupants; series Y41-210 on elections and parliamentary sessions; series Y211-263 on employees and representation abroad; and series Y264-296 on disallowance of provincial acts, reservation of provincial bills and on federal Royal Commissions. Within the second division, series Y297-801 present provincial data on Lieutenant-Governors and premiers; series Y302-387 the results of provincial elections.

The statistics of this section are obtained in a way that places them in two major categories: those for which there are official records, such as the data for the monarchy, for the Governor General and provincial Lieutenant-Governors, for parliamentary terms and for elections; and those for which only unofficial records exist, including all those involving election results by political parties, and political affiliation of ministers, electoral candidates and elected members of legislatures. This distinction arises from the nature of governmental and electoral processes.

Official data become available in several ways. First, official acts of the Government of Canada are published in the Canada Gazette, an official publication existing specifically for this purpose, and official acts of provinces are published in similar provincial publications. Thus notices of accession of Monarchs, of appointments of Governors General and Lieutenant-Governors, of establishment of portfolios or like posts and of the appointment of occupants, of the establishment of Royal Commissions and of the appointment of the commissioners, and of proclamation of elections and dissolution of parliament are published officially. Secondly, for the federal government, the Debates of the House of Commons (Hansard) and other parliamentary documents are published. Some provinces also publish the debates of their legislatures but the practice is not general and where followed is in most cases of recent origin. Thirdly, chief electoral officers of the federal government and of provincial governments publish results of elections giving numbers on electoral lists, votes polled by each candidate, spoiled ballots and the like. Finally, government departmental records are the sources of data such as the numbers of employees.

Unofficial data must be relied upon for those statistics which, for one reason or another, governments do not obtain or prepare. Except rarely, the political affiliation of candidates for election are not placed on ballots; the voter is presumed to vote for individuals. Consequently the results of voting by parties must be prepared by private individuals or bodies from information collected in various ways about party affiliation of the candidates who have been officially listed. Similarly, the designation of political affiliation of members of elected bodies, of ministries and the individual members thereof, is not given officially though it is fairly easy to obtain in most cases from the official or unofficial records of actions of legislating bodies. It nevertheless remains that the exercise of personal and private judgment plays some part in the listing of matters of party affiliation. An exception to the above is the fact that beginning with the election of 1945 for the federal Parliament, a document was sent to those members of the armed forces voting under, the provisions of the election act giving the party affiliation of each candidate as designated by the candidate himself. Some provincial governments in more recent periods also have given party affiliation on the ballot. Even in these cases problems may arise as more than one person in an electoral district may designate himself as a candidate for a given political party.

The reliability of the data, both official and unofficial, may vary depending on the process by which they are made known. Data obtained from official acts of governments are quite reliable. Official election results are also reliable though there is room for error. The counting of ballots is ordinarily done at each poll. Unless a recount is necessary there is no further counting. The results are sent from the polls to returning officers for electoral districts, and from returning officers to the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada or the provinces. Sources of error lie in the counting at polls, in the transmission of information from one person to another and in their final publication. The errors are apt to be small and may, to some extent, offset one another. The remaining official data, on employees in the Public Service of Canada, discussed more fully below, are subject to a lesser degree of accuracy owing to problems of classification of personnel, the dates at which a count is taken, and the inadequacy of departmental records in earlier years.

The unofficial data vary in accuracy depending on the nature of the material and the care exercised in handling it. In earlier years, when party affiliations were loose in any event, there is considerable room for error and even more recently the element of judgment involved in designating party affiliation allows some inaccuracies. Further, the assembly of electoral district data to obtain provincial and national aggregates requires careful handling. Owing to these factors, varying unofficial sources sometimes are in conflict. In such cases, that source which is believed to have the greatest accuracy is used.

The following list of sources used in assembling the data includes both official and unofficial publications. Official publications may give data coming from unofficial sources and unofficial publications may give data from official sources.

Government publications

Statistics Canada, Canada Year Book, (Catalogue 11-202), annual since 1905, various years, (Ottawa, Supply and Services Canada); Public Archives of Canada, Guide to Canadian Ministries since Confederation July 1, 1867 - April 1, 1973, (Ottawa, Supply and Services Canada, 1974); Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Statement of Civil Service Personnel and Salaries in the Month of January, 1912-1924, (Ottawa, King's Printer, 1925); Parliament of Canada, Civil Service Employees: Number, Total Salaries and Bonus, (Ottawa, King's Printer, 1923); Civil Service Commission, Personnel Administration in the Public Service, A Review of Civil Service Legislation, (Ottawa, Queen's Printer, 1959); G.V. LaForest, Department of Justice, Disallowances and Reservations of Provincial Legislation, (Ottawa, Queen's Printer, 1955); Debates of the House of Commons, (Ottawa, Queen's Printer), various years; Journals of the House of Commons of Canada, (Ottawa, Supply and Services Canada), various years; Chief Electoral Officer, Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, various years; A Statistical History of all the Electoral Districts of the Province of Ontario, (Toronto, undated); Province of Quebec, Bureau of Statistics, Annuaire du Québec, (Quebec, Queen's Printer), annual since 1913; Province of Saskatchewan, Who's Who; Great Britain, The Public General Acts and Church Assembly Measure, 1960, (London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1961).

Non-government publications

J.M. Beck, The Government of Nova Scotia, (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1957); George Henderson, Federal Royal Commissions in Canada 1867-1966, a Checklist, (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1967); H. McD. Clokie, "Basic Problems of the Canadian Constitution", Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8, no. 2, February 1942; R. Ares, Dossier sur le pact fédératif de 1867, (Montréal, Bellarmin, 1967); Canadian Parliamentary Companion, annual 1862 to 1897 (various editors and published at various places); Copp Clark Publishing, Canadian Almanac and Directory (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal), various years; R. MacGregor Dawson, The Government of Canada, 3rd edition (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1957); James G. Foley, Resume of General Elections, 1896-1911; Canadian Annual Review, beginning in 1960, (Toronto, University of Toronto Press); Paul Gérin-Lajoie, Constitutional Amendment in Canada, (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1950); J.E. Hodgetts, Royal Commissions of Inquiry in Canada, (University of Toronto, M.A. thesis, 1939); Cole Taylor, The Canadian Bureaucracy: a study of Canadian civil servants and other public employees, 1939-1947 Duke University Press, 1949; Pierre G. Normandin, editor, Canadian Parliamentary Guide, annual since 1898, apparently a successor of the Canadian Parliamentary Companion, (Ottawa); John Saywell, The Office of Lieutenant-Governor, (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1957); H.G. Skilling, Canadian Representation Abroad, from Agency to Embassy, (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1945); Norman Ward, The Canadian House of Commons: Representation, (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1950).

Important sources of information, which contain much material included in the above sources, are the federal and provincial sessional papers.

The British North America Act (BNA Act) 1867 and its Amendments are the main formal foundation of government in Canada. They are not complete statements, however, of even the formal part of the constitution. Other statutes of the United Kingdom, such as the Statute of Westminster 1931, statutes of the Parliament of Canada on such matters as the houses of Parliament themselves, on election procedures and the like, and statutes of provincial governments on matters such as their own electoral and legislative forms are examples of the more formal part of the constitutional structure. In addition the informal part of the constitution is very important. The system of Cabinet government, responsible to Parliament and particularly the House of Commons as developed in the United Kingdom, has been adopted in Canada; and other usages have also been adopted from the British Parliament. The increasing numbers of conventions that have developed within the Parliament of Canada itself and within the provincial legislative bodies are also important parts of the constitution. (See the Canada Year Book, 1957-58, pp. 39-41, for the short but good statement on which this paragraph is based.)

The tables are available as comma separated value files (csv). They may be viewed using a variety of software. You may have to create an association between your software application and the csv files. The pdf files should be used to verify table formats. For example, footnotes appear in a column to the right of the cell they reference in the csv files; while in the pdf files footnotes appear as superscript numbers.

The Federal Government, Executive and Legislative Posts and Occupants (Series Y1-40)

Table Y1-2 The monarchy, 1867 to 1978. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y1-2
The monarchy, 1867 to 1978

Source: Canada Year Book, 1976-77, p. 85.

Table Y3-5 Governors General, 1867 to 1978. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y3-5
Governors General, 1867 to 1978

Source: Canada Year Book, 1976-77, p. 85.

The Governor General of Canada is now appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada. Before 1890 the Governor General was appointed by the Monarch on the advice of British authorities alone, but thereafter the Government of Canada was usually (though not always) consulted. The present practice dates from the Imperial Conference of 1926 which agreed that a Governor General was not the representative or agent of the British government but of the Monarch. Until 1952, when a Canadian was first appointed Governor General of Canada, the incumbent was invariably a person of title from the United Kingdom. The term of appointment of the Governor General is not fixed, though six years is considered normal. No Governor General of Canada has been removed from office, though undoubtedly the government could advise the Monarch to remove her representative. The Governor General has two deputies (both are justices of the Supreme Court of Canada) who are empowered to act in his absence and in the event of a vacancy in the office the BNA Act recognizes an administrator who can carry on in the name of the Queen.

Table Y6-16 Canadian ministries, dates, numbers of portfolios, turnover of personnel, and party afilliation, 1867 to 1976. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y6-16
Canadian ministries, dates, numbers of portfolios, turnover of personnel, and party afilliation, 1867 to 1976

Source: Guide to Canadian Ministries since Confederation, July 1, 1867 - January 1, 1957, Canada Year Book, 1976-77, pp. 89-90; Canadian Parliamentary Guide, various issues.

The Canadian ministry at any one time consists of all those sworn to act as the Monarch's confidential advisers on affairs of state. The great majority of the ministers serve as heads of departments of government (for example, the Minister of Agriculture is said to hold the Agriculture portfolio), but it is common for the ministry to include one or more 'ministers without portfolio', who have the same responsibilities as any other minister except those of a department head. Usually in Canada the ministry and the Cabinet consist of the same people, but before 1926 it was customary for the incumbents of a few junior portfolios to be outside the Cabinet. The parliamentary secretaries (members of Parliament assigned to assist ministers) are not officially recognized as members of the ministry, although after some initial experimentation during World War I they have been accepted as a permanent part of governmental machinery. The term of a ministry is not fixed, but coincides with the term of a prime minister, who serves as long as he has the confidence of a majority of the members of the House of Commons, and thus may continue through several general elections. During the life of one ministry, a single portfolio may be held in succession by several individuals, while a single individual may in succession hold several portfolios. It is not uncommon for a portfolio to be temporarily vacant, during which period an acting minister will serve, or for one individual to hold two portfolios coincidentally. Ordinarily all members of the Cabinet must have, or obtain, a seat in the House of Commons, except for the government leader in the Senate.

The following qualifications and definitions apply to series Y6-16.

Y7. Dates of ministry are opening and closing dates of the prime minister's term in office.

Y8. Party gives the affiliations of prime minister and cabinet members.

Y9. Number of portfolios gives the total number of separate portfolios in existence during the ministry (excludes the position of prime minister).

Y10. Number of occupants gives the total number of persons holding portfolios in series Y9, including acting ministers and the prime minister, if he held a portfolio.

Y11. Ministers without portfolio, number of posts, gives the maximum number of such posts in existence, at any one time in the ministry.

Y12. Ministers without portfolio, number of occupants, gives the total number of persons holding posts of series Y11 at any time in the ministry.

Y13. Non-cabinet posts are the total number of ministerial posts whose incumbents were not members of the Cabinet.

Y14. Number of occupants of non-cabinet ministers posts is the total number occupying such posts, at any time.

Y15. Parliamentary secretaries' posts (the term was first used in Borden's ministry of 1917-20) are non-cabinet posts held by Members of Parliament, and identified by the term. The figures give the maximum number of posts at any one time in the term of the ministry.

Y16. Number of occupants of parliamentary secretaries' posts gives the total number of persons holding such posts at any time in the ministry's life.

Table Y17-29 Growth of representation in the House of Commons and redistribution (general and partial), by province, 1867 to 1974. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y17-29
Growth of representation in the House of Commons and redistribution (general and partial), by province, 1867 to 1974

Source: Canada Year Book, 1976-77, p. 97; Ward, The Canadian House of Commons, p. 56.

Representation in the Canadian House of Commons is based on the single-member constituency system (with two exceptions, each having two members) adapted to recognize the federal principle. Seats in the House of Commons were divided among the provinces after each decennial census, in accordance with a formula described in the BNA Act. At present, the House of Commons has a total of 264 seats divided among the provinces, primarily on a basis proportionate to population. No province can have fewer members of Parliament in the House of Commons than it has senators. The allocation of seats among the provinces is prescribed by law, but the actual drawing of constituency boundaries within each province, from 1903 to 1962, was effected by legislation prepared by a committee of the House of Commons; prior to that, constituencies were created by legislation sponsored by the Cabinet. Since 1963, changes in representation are governed by the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act which is administered by the Office of the Representation Commissioner. The revised representation, which was given Royal Assent in December 1974, will go into effect in the General Election of 1979. Each province will have the following number of members: Ontario, 95; Quebec, 75; Nova Scotia, 11; New Brunswick, 10; Manitoba, 14; British Columbia, 28; Prince Edward Island, four; Saskatchewan, 14; Alberta, 21; Newfoundland, seven; the Northwest Territories, two; the Yukon Territory, one; for a total of 282.

Series Y17-29 show general redistributions (1872, 1882, 1892, 1903, 1914, 1924, 1933, 1947, 1952, 1968, 1974); partial redistributions occasioned by the admission of one or more new provinces (1871, 1873, 1887, 1907, 1949); or a constitutional amendment (1915).

Y25-26. Saskatchewan and Alberta, for the period prior to their creation in 1905, show the representation of the Northwest Territories from which they were formed.

Y28. The Yukon Territory was the only territory represented in the House of Commons after 1905, until the creation of the constituency of Mackenzie River in 1952. Since then, each territory has had one representative in the House of Commons.

Table Y30-40 Growth of representation in the Senate of Canada, 1867 to 1975. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y30-40
Growth of representation in the Senate of Canada, 1867 to 1975

Source: Canada Year Book, 1976-77, p. 152; supplemented by information in Journals of the House of Commons, various issues.

Representation in the Senate of Canada, as prescribed by the BNA Act, was originally intended to give equal representation of 24 senators each to the three main regions of Canada: the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario, 72 in all. As the four western provinces developed, the same regional equality was ultimately extended to them by a constitutional amendment in 1915 and total Senate representation reached 96. The admission of Newfoundland in 1949 marred the symmetry of representation in the Senate but it had been agreed in 1915 that, in the event of Newfoundland's admission to Canada, the province was to be given the same number of seats as each of the last four provinces that were brought up to the basic principle of equality. As a result, the number of senators reached 102 in 1949. In 1975, an act of Parliament amended the Canadian Constitution to entitle the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories to be represented by one senator each. Total membership in the Senate is now 104.

The Federal Government, Elections and Parliamentary Sessions (Series Y41-210)

Table Y41-50 Dates of general elections and sessions of federal parliaments, 1867 to 1974. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y41-50
Dates of general elections and sessions of federal parliaments, 1867 to 1974

Source: Canada Year Book, 1976-77, p. 151; supplemented by information in Journals of the House of Commons, various issues.

The Parliament of Canada has no fixed term. The BNA Act sets a maximum life of five years to a Parliament, the time beginning from the day on which the writs certifying each member's election are returned. In 1916 the life of the 12th Parliament was extended one year by constitutional amendment. Within the five years prescribed by law, the actual choice of the date of a dissolution, a general election, and an opening and closing (or prorogation) of each parliamentary session, are within the discretion of the government, which formally advises the Governor General to make the appropriate announcement. A dissolution terminates the life of a Parliament, and is shortly followed by an election.

Y45. Days of session include some adjustments to source data to adjust for the fact that, for an unexplained reason, the official sources deduct numerous adjourned days, commonly in long sessions, from the length of the session. Where they can be detected, these omitted days have been added in obtaining series Y45.

Y46. Sitting days are not available before 1936 but could be computed from the Journals of the House of Commons for each year. There are minor discrepancies in the sources. For example, the Canada Year Book, 1945, p. 53, gives the length of the 18th Parliament as 4 years, 3 months, 13 days; the Journals of the House of Commons, 1951, p. 61, gives it as 4 years, 2 months, 16 days.

Table Y51-74 General elections, number of electors on lists and votes polled, by province and election, 1896 to 1974. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y51-74
General elections, number of electors on lists and votes polled, by province and election, 1896 to 1974

Source: Canada Year Book, various issues; Foley, Resume of General Elections, 1896-1911. No official compilations of numbers of electors on lists exists before 1911; the detailed reports of general elections, constituency by constituency, appear in the Sessional Papers following each general election, 1867 to 1908. The statistics compiled by Foley were accumulated by him while he was Clerk of the Crown in Chancery and thus are virtually official. For changes in the franchise see Ward, The Canadian House of Commons.

Lists of electors in Canada are compiled for each general election, by house to house enumeration; an urban elector must be on a list in order to vote, but rural electors can be sworn in on polling day. Since 1920, the franchise has been determined by the Parliament of Canada, but for two periods, 1867 to 1885 and 1898 to 1920, provincial franchises were used in federal elections; during most of these periods, provincial polling lists were also used. The columns entitled 'Polled' indicate the numbers of electors who cast ballots and include wasted ballots, which are now a negligible factor in elections.

Series Y55-58 from 1896 to 1965, and series Y59-60 and Y63-64 from 1896 to 1930, are skewed by the existence of two-member constituencies. In each instance each elector had two votes, but was counted only once as an elector; thus in Prince Edward Island in 1965, for instance, 24,250 electors cast 44,895 votes in one constituency. See Canada Year Book, various issues, and also for slight skewing of results caused by occasional acclamations. Series Y73-74 include the electoral districts of the Yukon Territory and Mackenzie River, 1953 to 1958; the Yukon Territory alone, 1908 to 1949; and the Northwest Territories alone, 1896 to 1900. (Alberta and Saskatchewan were formed from the Northwest Territories in 1905.)

Female suffrage in federal elections began on a partial basis in 1917, when female relatives of members of the armed forces voted, and was general for the election of 1921.

Y75-198. Votes polled in federal elections, by party and province, 1896 to 1974

Table Y75-198a Elections 1962-1974. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y75-198a
Elections 1962-1974

Table Y75-198b Elections 1940-1958. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y75-198b
Elections 1940-1958

Table Y75-198c Elections 1925-1935. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y75-198c
Elections 1925-1935

Table Y75-198d Elections 1896-1921. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y75-198d
Elections 1896-1921

Source: Foley, Resume of General Elections, 1896-1911; Canadian Annual Review, 1917, p. 643; 1921, p. 509; 1925-6, p. 45; Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. The series for 1926 to 1940 were compiled by The Canadian Press and thereafter by the Chief Electoral Officer, who was required after 1944 to ascertain party affiliations for the convenience of electors in the armed forces.

Compilations of election results by parties are at best semi-official. The actual votes polled by individual candidates in each constituency are initially counted by the deputy returning officers in each polling division and reported to the constituency returning officer, who in turn reports to the Chief Electoral Officer. The party affiliations of candidates do not appear on the ballots or other official papers, except those used by members of the armed forces. The series for each general election show, in the left-hand column, the party polling the most votes but not necessarily (as in 1926 and 1957) winning the election.

Y80. 'Others' refers more often to independents from Quebec than to any other group of candidates. A multiplicity of parties began to appear after the general election of 1917, however, and the 'Others' columns altogether include votes polled by over twenty separate groups, all of which are identified in the compilations made by the Chief Electoral Officer after 1944, and The Canadian Press, 1926 to 1940.

Table Y199-210 Members elected in federal elections, by party and province, 1867 to 1974. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y199-210
Members elected in federal elections, by party and province, 1867 to 1974

Source: Canadian Parliamentary Companion; Canadian Parliamentary Guide; Canadian Annual Review; Canadian Almanac and Directory; all throughout their years of publication.

The series depend primarily on newspaper compilations of election results, and each Member of Parliament's own statement of his party affiliation as listed in biographical works such as the Canadian Parliamentary Guide.

No official statistics on election results by parties are kept and there is room for disagreement over the classification of particular Members of Parliament, especially for the earlier years. There are discrepancies in the sources and the table has been corrected where possible by other evidence. Each general election result lists the winning party first.

The Liberal party has been popularly called by that name since shortly after Confederation; for earlier years, members frequently identified themselves as 'Reform' or 'Grit'. The party now called Progressive Conservative has changed its name several times: Progressive Conservative 1945 to date; National Government in 1940; Conservative and Liberal Conservative before 1935, except for 1917, when most Conservative candidates (and many Liberals) ran as Unionists. These various changes in name are not all shown in the series.

The Federal Government, Employees and Representation Abroad (Series Y211-263)

Y211-259. Federal government employment, by department, branch and service, 1900 to 1977

Table Y211-259a Totals for Canada, Agriculture to Fisheries. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y211-259a
Totals for Canada, Agriculture to Fisheries

Table Y211-259b Forestry to National Film Board. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y211-259b
Forestry to National Film Board

Table Y211-259c National Health and Welfare to Science and Technology. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y211-259c
National Health and Welfare to Science and Technology

Table Y211-259d Secretary of State to Veteran Affairs. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y211-259d
Secretary of State to Veteran Affairs

Source: for 1968 to 1977, Statistics Canada, Federal Government Employment, (Catalogue 72-004) from 1968 to 1977; for 1924 to 1967, Statistics Canada, Canada Year Book, (Catalogue 11-202), various years; for 1912 to 1924, Statistics Canada, Statement of Civil Personnel and Salaries in the Month of January, 1912-1924; for 1900 to 1915, Parliamentary Returns, Civil Service Employees.

A continuously reliable series of statistics on government employees classified by department or agency does not exist. Changes in the names and internal organizations of departments; the transfer of branches from one department to another; changes in the ways in which civil servants are classified as permanent, casual, and temporary, and in records concerning them; all make a single consistent set of series impossible. Therefore, the statistics in this series must be used with great caution. A statement of the limitations on statistics from the Canada Year Book can be obtained from Statistics Canada. In order to enable the user to judge on the consistency of the series in the three sources, overlaps of the data are given for 1924 and for 1912 to 1915. The report on Civil Service Employees actually gave data running from 1900 to 1922.

For the years 1924 to 1958, the Canada Year Book gives tables for government employment under different headings for different years. The figures in the tables are subject to the qualifications and reservations given in the relevant years of the Canada Year Book, in addition to those given in these notes. The series from 1925 to 1952 was originally intended to list only employees covered by the Civil Service Act, but Statistics Canada is the authority for the statement that there was considerable diversity among departments in reporting on their employees, so that some lists do not include all civil servants covered by the act while others include employees not covered by the act. A new series (explained in the Canada Year Book, 1954, p. 98) was begun after 1954.

For 1912 to 1924, inclusive, the Statement of Civil Service Personnel and Salaries in the Month of January, 1912-1924, is now a scarce document. This second source is generally not comparable with the first, for it was compiled on a different basis than the tables in the Canada Year Book after 1924.

The source for figures prior to 1915, Civil Service Employees, printed by order of Parliament in 1923, is also a scarce document. Here a very different basis for these statistics was used, and the figures before 1915 from this source are generally not comparable with those for later years from the other sources. Each of the three sources employs a different time period as the basis of selection.

Further information on sizes of staffs from 1878 to 1900 (not given here because no complete figures could be compiled) can be found in the Reports of the Auditor General of Canada after 1878, and in the Civil Lists published annually from 1867.

All statistics in this table, according to the sources, show the total number of employees (permanent and temporary, casual and other, and inside and outside service which includes staff at Ottawa and elsewhere) who can properly be regarded from the records as members of the staff of the departments and services named. Admittedly this compilation of totals can be misleading, especially for departments employing large numbers of casual workers. Further, it seems apparent from a comparison of the two sets of overlapping data for the years 1912 to 1915 that the figures given in Civil Service Employees must have omitted at least substantial numbers of outside employees for certain departments such as the post office (series Y241), transport (series Y255) and others. In some instances the detailed notes in the last-mentioned source state that the figures are only for the inside service. The Canada Year Book, for the series for 1953 to 1955 and 1956 to 1958, breaks down totals into subtotals. The table does not list separately most temporary departments and branches such as Registrar General, Industry, Resources and Development, Mines and Resources, Reconstruction and Supply, and Munitions and Supply. Nor does it list Soldiers' Settlement Board (1918 to 1948, when its activities were absorbed into Veterans Affairs) and Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment (1918 to 1927), statistics of which can be found in all three sources given above. Where possible, temporary departments are tabulated with the newer departments into which they subsequently developed, and such tabulations are explained below. Other departments and services which were absorbed into new or reorganized departments are referred to below.

The series do not include the significant numbers of staff members (now around 130,000) employed by the non-departmental Crown corporations and other public enterprises. Tables of employment in these institutions, showing totals only for 22 enterprises, appeared first in the Canada Year Book, 1955, p. 112, and were published in the same source until 1972. Since then the data appears in Federal Government Employment. Detailed figures by enterprises can be calculated from the annual reports of most of the separate enterprises and from evidence which some of them have given to committees of the House of Commons.

In the following detailed notes for each series, the dates given for the establishment of departments are taken from the first annual report of the department itself.

Y211. 'Total', this is the grand total of series Y212-259. The totals for 1933 to 1936 given in the Canada Year Book have been adjusted to exclude employees of the Canadian Broadcasting Commission since they disappear from the figures from 1937 onward when the commission became a corporation and employees were no longer a part of the civil service. Similarly, employees of the National Capital Commission (and its predecessor, the Federal District Commission) have been removed from the total and from series Y242, Privy Council, for 1953 to 1955, since as far as could be determined they were not included before 1953 and again after 1955 when they are reported with Crown corporations. The totals for 1912 to 1924 from Civil Service Personnel in the Month of January, as given in the source, are the sums of the figures in series Y212-259.

For 1956 to 1959 the total combines the categories of 'Classified Prevailing Rate' and 'Casuals and Others' as given in the Canada Year Book; for 1953 to 1955 the totals, as adjusted, combine 'Classified' and 'Exempt'.

Y212. Agriculture, created in 1867, for 1900 to 1915, it includes the total of permanent and other employees. From 1912 to 1922, figures include a small number of employees from the Conservation Commission.

Y213. Auditor General's Office, created in 1878, has performed the same general functions throughout its life.

Y214. Chief Electoral Officer, created in 1920, contains statistics for prior years referring to the relevant staff in the office of Secretary of State. The statistics are for Ottawa staff only.

Y215. Citizenship and Immigration, created in 1949, includes employees of services previously in other departments. Citizenship and Immigration combined the Administrative Branch, Canadian Citizenship Branch and Canadian Citizenship Registration Branch previously under Secretary of State (series Y250) and those for Immigration and Indian Affairs previously under Mines and Resources.

For the years 1900 to 1936 this series includes statistics for the Department of Immigration and Colonization created in 1917. From 1867 to 1892 immigration was handled by the Department of Agriculture and from 1892 to 1917 by the Department of the Interior. This series, 1900 to 1915, from Civil Service Employees includes employees in the inside service only. See also the note to series Y219.

In 1966, Immigration was transferred to Manpower and Immigration (series Y234).

Y216. Communications, created in 1969, includes employees previously in other departments or agencies such as the National Research Council (series Y238) and Transport (series Y255). Data on employment became available in 1970. See also the note to series Y241, Post Office.

Y217. Consumer and Corporate Affairs, created in 1967, incorporated the former Department of the Registrar General of Canada which existed as a separate department only from 1966 to 1967. Before that date, the Registrar General was included with the Secretary of State (series Y250).

Y218. Defence Production, created in 1951, includes statistics for Reconstruction and Supply (1945 to 1949) and Munitions and Supply (1940 to 1945). Munitions and Supply was not organized until after the fiscal year 1939-40, hence there are no data for 1940. Defence Production was transferred to Supply and Services (series Y253) in 1970. See also the note to series Y244 which explains the jump in employees which occurs in 1965.

Y219. Energy, Mines and Resources was created in 1966. The department was known by various names throughout the period covered here. From 1907 to 1935, it was called Mines; from 1935 to 1949, Mines and Resources; and from 1949 to 1966, Mines and Technical Surveys. In 1936 the former departments of Immigration and Colonization, Indian Affairs, and Interior, were transferred to Mines and Resources. For the period prior to 1936 the last two departments are shown separately. The series for all departments from 1900 to 1915, from Civil Service Employees, show employees in the inside service only.

Y220. Environment, created in 1971, includes the former Department of Fisheries (series Y223); and Forestry (series Y224); as well as the Atmospheric Environment Service formerly with Transport (series Y255); Inland Waters, formerly with Energy, Mines and Resources (series Y219); Wildlife Service and Lands Service, formerly in Indian Affairs and Northern Development (series Y227).

Y221. External Affairs, created in 1909, included the staff of the Prime Minister's Office for the years prior to 1948. Since then, the latter has been included with the Privy Council. The Information Division of the department, created in 1947, integrated the former Canadian Information Service into the department. The employees of the Canadian Information Service for 1946-47 and its predecessor, the Wartime Information Board, 1943 to 1945, have been added to External Affairs. Data for the International Joint Commission has been included in External Affairs since 1912.

Y222. Finance, created in 1869, includes the staff of the Comptroller of the Treasury from 1934 to 1969; and, where necessary, the Government Contracts Supervision Commission, Wartime Prices and Trade Board and similar groups. The series includes civil servants in inside and outside services throughout.

Y223. Fisheries was created in 1930, from part of the former Department of Marine and Fisheries (see also the note on series Y255). In 1969, it was transferred to the new Department of Fisheries and Forestry and the data for Fisheries include Forestry (series Y224) for the years 1970 and 1971. Since 1972, the data for Fisheries are included with Environment (series Y220).

Y224. Forestry and Rural Development was created in 1960 from relevant branches of the departments of Agriculture, and Northern Affairs and National Resources. In 1969, the Forestry Branch of the department was merged with Fisheries (series Y223), and the data for 1970 and 1971 are included with Fisheries. Since 1972, the data are contained in Environment (series Y220).

Y225. Governor General and Lieutenant-Governors include figures for staff only, and exclude the Governor General or Lieutenant--Governors themselves; before 1953, the figures are for the Governor General's secretarial staff only.

Y226. Indian Affairs, created in 1880, disappears in 1936, when this department was transferred to Mines and Resources. This series for 1900 to 1915, from Civil Service Employees, includes employees in the inside service only. See also the note on series Y219. In 1949, Indian Affairs became part of Citizenship and Immigration (series Y215) and the data are included with that department from 1950 to 1966. Since 1967 the data appear under Indian Affairs and Northern Development (series Y227).

Y227. Indian Affairs and Northern Development was created in 1966, superseding the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources. See also the note to series Y240.

Y228. Industry, Trade and Commerce was created in 1969 from the former departments of Industry and of Trade and Commerce. Industry had a short duration (from 1963 to 1969) and the data for those years are included with Trade and Commerce (series Y254).

Y229. Insurance, created in 1875 as a branch of Finance, is reported separately from Finance. It became a separate department of government in 1910.

Y230. Interior, created in 1873, disappears in 1936 when this department was transferred to Mines and Resources, later Mines and Technical Surveys and later still Energy, Mines and Resources. This series, for 1900 to 1915, from Civil Service Employees, gives employees in the inside service only. See also the note to series Y219.

Y231. Justice, created in 1868, includes the staff of the Commissioner of Penitentiaries and Solicitor General's office until 1966, when the new Department of the Solicitor General was formed (series Y251). From 1952 to 1956, approximately three hundred judges, then listed as salaried employees, were included in the data.

Y232. Labour, created in 1900, includes only full-time employees for 1900 to 1915, from Civil Service Employees, and thereafter as described in Canada Year Book for the various years.

Y233. Legislation, includes statistics for the House of Commons, Senate, and Library of Parliament; these three institutions are listed separately in the sources down to 1952, and together thereafter. The records of the House of Commons were destroyed by fire in 1916, and the series from 1912 to 1916 is for the Senate and Library only.

Y234. Manpower and Immigration was created in 1966, from the Immigration Branch of Citizenship and Immigration (series Y215) and certain components formerly included in Labour (series Y232). See also the note to series Y257.

Y235. National Defence, created in 1922, includes the former Department of Militia and Defence, the Naval Service and Air Board. The series shows permanent civilian employees only. From 1941 to 1947, the data include employees of National War Services.

Y236. National Film Board, created in 1939, is given separately though the board has been attached in turn to several departments, and statistics of its employees have had an erratic history. The board was not organized for the fiscal year 1939-40; statistics of its employees for 1941 were included with Trade and Commerce, and for 1945 to 1947 with National Health and Welfare.

Y237. National Health and Welfare, created in 1944 from part of the former Department of Pensions and National Health also includes predecessor bodies. The Department of Pensions and National Health was formed in 1928 from the Department of Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment, which had been created in 1918; the Department of Health, created in 1919; the Board of Pension Commissioners, established in 1917; and the Federal Appeal Board, established in 1926. The Military Hospitals Commission, 1916 to 1918, had in turn been incorporated in Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment. From 1919 to 1928, by far the larger part of the combined employment was in Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment which had 8,121 employees in 1920, 3,823 employees in 1923 and 1,890 employees in 1928. In 1945, many employees of the department were transferred to the new Department of Veterans Affairs. See also the note to series Y236.

Y238. National Research Council, created in 1917, and whose first laboratories were established in Ottawa in 1928, was included in Trade and Commerce before 1934. The Atomic Energy Control Board, created in 1946 and a separate body, has been included here.

Y239. National Revenue, created in 1927, covers also the predecessor departments of Customs and Excise (1921 to 1927) and of Customs and Inland Revenue (1918 to 1921). Before 1918 customs and inland revenue acts were administered by separate departments and the statistics before 1918 combine the data from these departments. The series for 1900 to 1915, from Civil Service Employees, include both inside and outside service employees. The figures for 1924 and 1925 include the Commissioner of Income Taxation, listed separately in the Canada Year Book, 1925, p. 986. From 1917 to 1924 the data from Civil Service Personnel in the Month of January also include the Commissioner of Income Taxation.

Y240. Northern Affairs and National Resources was created in 1953 from the former Department of Resources and Development. Before 1950 it was part of Mines and Resources. See also the notes to series Y219, Y220 and Y227.

Y241. Post Office, created in 1867, gives data for personnel in the inside service only for the period 1900 to 1915, from Civil Service Employees. From 1970 to 1972, the data for Post Office were included in the new Department of Communications. Figures were extracted from annual reports for the Post Office and this amount subtracted from the total to provide data for Communications. See also the note to series Y216.

Y242. The Privy Council was created in 1867 and for administration purposes has been regarded as a department of government since 1946. The series does not include employees of the Wartime Information Board (1943-44); the Canadian Information Service (1944 to 1946); the Federal District Commission and the National Capital Commission (throughout their existence). In 1958, 21 employees of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads in Food Products and the Royal Commission on Energy Policies were included with Privy Council. Data for the Prime Minister's Office, included with External Affairs before 1948, has been included with Privy Council from 1948 to 1977. See also the notes to series Y211 and Y221.

Y243. Public Archives and National Library, created in 1872 and 1953 respectively, are combined in official sources after 1953. Before that date the series is for archives only, except for 1951 and 1952, when six and eight members of the staff of the Bibliographic Centre were included. Before 1913, the archives statistics were included with Agriculture.

Y244. Public Printing and Stationery, created in 1886, was attached to Secretary of State until 1963. In that year, all the printing functions were transferred to the Department of Defence Production and became known as the Canadian Government Printing Bureau. The decrease in employees did not show in employment data until 1965. Public Printing and Stationery ceased to exist when its small remaining staff was transferred to Supply and Services in 1970.

Y245. Public Service Commission, created in 1967, replaced the Civil Service Commission which had existed from 1908 to 1966. The statistics on employees relate to a consistent function throughout.

Y246. Public Works was created in 1867. From 1900 to 1915, the data from Civil Service Employees are for inside service only. The statistics on employees relate to a roughly consistent function throughout.

Y247. Regional Economic Expansion was created in 1969 from the Rural Development Branch of the former Department of Forestry and Rural Development (series Y224). Statistics first became available in 1970.

Y248. Royal Canadian Mounted Police, created in 1873 as the North-West Mounted Police, includes only the administrative staff prior to 1953. Since 1953, the force itself is included in the official sources.

Y249. Science and Technology was created in 1971 but separate statistics on employees did not become available until 1973.

Y250. Secretary of State, created in 1867, contains roughly comparable statistics throughout. For 1920 to 1927, the staff of Patents and Copyrights (formerly in Agriculture), listed separately in official sources, has been added; for 1940 and 1941, the staff of Superintendent of Bankruptcy, also given separately, has been added; and for 1950 to 1955, the staff of the Custodian of Enemy Property, again listed separately, has been added. From 1950 to 1966, Citizenship was included with Citizenship and Immigration (series Y215). Since 1967, Citizenship has reverted to Secretary of State.

Y251. Solicitor General became a separate department of government in 1966 and includes the Canadian Penitentiary Service. Prior to 1966 data were included with Justice (series Y231).

Y252. Statistics Canada (formerly Dominion Bureau of Statistics) was created in 1918. Since 1967, data on employees have been available separately. Before that time the figures were included with Trade and Commerce (series Y254).

Y253. Supply and Services, created in 1969, includes the former Department of Defence Production (series Y218) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury (formerly part of Finance, series Y222) as well as small segments of other departments.

Y254. Trade and Commerce, created in 1887, has rough comparability until 1966. Since 1967, data for Statistics Canada (series Y252) has been shown separately. The department was merged with Industry in 1969 to form the new Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce (series Y228). See also the notes to series Y236 and Y238.

Y255. Transport, created in 1936, covered various departments and agencies in earlier years. Transport was formed from the former departments of Marine and of Railways and Canals, and from the Civil Aviation Branch of National Defence.

For the years 1930 to 1936 the series include employees in the departments of Marine and of Railways and Canals and of the Board of Railway Commissioners. The Department of Marine had in turn been established in 1930, when the Department of Marine and Fisheries was separated into the departments of Marine and of Fisheries. Prior to 1930 the fisheries personnel are included in this series. See also the note to series Y223.

Y256. The Treasury Board, created in 1867, was an integral part of the Department of Finance (series Y222) until 1966 when it became a separate department of government. Since 1967, the data have been shown separately.

Y257. Unemployment Insurance Commission was created in 1940, and employee data are available since 1942. In 1977, the Unemployment Insurance Commission was merged with the Department of Manpower and Immigration (series Y234) to form Canada Employment and Immigration Commission. As the series in this table run only to 1977, no figures are provided for the new entity.

Y258. Urban Affairs was created in 1971 and data are available since 1972.

Y259. Veterans Affairs, created in 1944, includes for 1945 to 1948 the staff of the Soldier Settlement Board, and prior to 1945 consists exclusively of that staff. The series does not include the Department of Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment (1916 to 1927), which was merged into Pensions and National Health in 1928. See also the note to series Y237.

Table Y260-263 Representation of the Government of Canada abroad, 1867 to 1977. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y260-263
Representation of the Government of Canada abroad, 1867 to 1977

Source: Statistics Canada, Canada Year Book, 1976-77, pp. 1095-1103; files of the Historical Division, Department of External Affairs. See also Skilling, Canadian Representation Abroad, from Agency to Embassy.

Prior to the Imperial Conference of 1926, Canada's sole formal representative abroad was the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, an office created in 1880. Although Canada began to play an important role in the negotiation of commercial treaties with other countries early in its nationhood, the formal role of representatives of the British government, as co-signers of treaties, continued until World War I. In the negotiation of political treaties Canadian progress was slower and it was not until Dominion status was achieved in 1926 (and confirmed in the Statute of Westminster in 1931) that Canada and the other members of the Commonwealth assumed a role as fully independent nations in external affairs. Independence in internal affairs had been achieved much earlier. After 1926 Canadian representation abroad grew steadily, as is shown in series Y260-263. The status of representatives is hierarchical: high commissioner (in Commonwealth countries) and ambassador (in non-Commonwealth countries) rank highest; then come minister, chargé d'affaires, consul general and consul. Prior to World War II Canada had only six representatives ranked as ambassadors and four high commissioners to Commonwealth countries. This changed dramatically in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s as Canada established diplomatic relations with the new emerging nations.

The Federal Government Disallowances of Provincial Acts, Reservations of Provincial Bills and Federal Royal Commissions (Series Y264-296)

Table Y264-266 Formal amendments to the British North America Act, 1867 to 1975. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y264-266
Formal amendments to the British North America Act, 1867 to 1975

Source: no official list of amendments to the BNA Act, 1867, exists, but there is general agreement among authorities that the amendments to the act include more than just the statutes subsequent to 1867, also entitled BNA Act. The list in series Y264-266 is from a standard monograph, Gérin-Lajoie Constitutional Amendment in Canada; supplemented by data in Dawson, The Government of Canada; and Great Britain, The Public General Acts and Church Assembly Measure, 1960. There is disagreement, however, among authorities as to the number and classification of amendments to the BNA Act, 1867. For a list somewhat different from series Y264-266, see Clokie, "Basic Problems of the Canadian Constitution", in Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8, no. 1, (February 1942), pp. 1-32. The formal citation of each statute refers to the year of the Monarch's reign (for example, 9 Elizabeth II is the ninth year of the reign of Elizabeth II). See also A Consolidation of the British North America Acts, 1867 to 1975, (consolidated as of June 1, 1976), Ottawa, Supply and Services Canada, 1976.

Until 1949 most relevant sections of the BNA Act could be amended formally only by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which passed the original statute. All the amendments before 1949 are statutes of the United Kingdom. In 1949, the Parliament of Canada assumed jurisdiction over those parts of the BNA Act which refer only to the federal government's part of the constitution.

Table Y267-270 Provinces and territories, dates and processes of admission and present areas, 1867 to 1976. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y267-270
Provinces and territories, dates and processes of admission and present areas, 1867 to 1976

Source: Canada Year Book, 1976-77, pp. 33 and 72. The source should be consulted for more detailed information on changes in the areas of several of the provinces after their original establishment, and of the territories. See also series L1-2.

The provinces have become parts of Canada in three ways: by original creation as provinces in 1867; by subsequent creation out of territories that were themselves part of Canada; and by the admission as provinces of new areas that were not formerly part of Canada. The Canadian government's power to admit certain colonies as provinces was recognized in the BNA Act of 1867, and enlarged to include the creation of new provinces out of territories in 1871. Thus British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland were admitted as established entities. The Prairie provinces were created from the territories which had been purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1870, and then annexed to Canada. Once a new province is established, the Canadian government is not competent to alter the act of creation except in regard to boundary changes, which can be made only with the province's consent.

Table Y271-281 Number of provincial statutes disallowed by the federal government, by province and decade, 1867 to 1976. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y271-281
Number of provincial statutes disallowed by the federal government, by province and decade, 1867 to 1976

Source: LaForest, Disallowance and Reservation of Provincial Legislation, pp. 83-101. The source lists each statute by citation, title, reasons for disallowance, date of report of the Minister of Justice, and provides further references.

The Canadian government has the unqualified power to disallow any act of a provincial legislature within a year of its passage. The power was widely used in the four decades immediately following 1867, but its employment is now rare, as political, legal and economic developments have all enhanced the status of the provinces within Confederation. The power still exists in law, unrestricted, and attempts to persuade the federal government to use it against provincial legislation that is unpopular with various organized groups are not uncommon.

Some of the earlier statistics are in one sense misleading, for sometimes the federal government disallowed substantially the same provincial act several times; each separate disallowance is given in the series.

Table Y282-292 Number of provincial bills reserved by Lieutenant-Governors, by province and decade, 1867 to 1976. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y282-292
Number of provincial bills reserved by Lieutenant-Governors, by province and decade, 1867 to 1976

Source: LaForest, Disallowance and Reservation of Provincial Legislation, pp. 102-115. The source includes a detailed examination and list of reserved bills, including the disposition made of each bill, and the reasons therefore; James R. Mallorey, "The Lieutenant-Governor's Discretionary Powers: The Reservation of Bill 56" Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, Toronto, vol. 27. 1961.

The Lieutenant-Governor of each province, who is appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada, has the power to reserve assent to any bill passed by the provincial legislature, and to refer it to the federal government for the signification of the latter's pleasure. If the federal government takes no action of any kind for one year, the bill dies; but the Canadian government may also instruct that assent to the bill be given, or give assent itself. Generally the federal authorities have held that Lieutenant-Governors should reserve a provincial bill only on instructions from Ottawa, but in fact most reserved bills have been reserved without instructions, and in most cases the federal government has taken no action. As with disallowance, the use of the reservation power has declined, but it was employed in 1961 when the Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchewan reserved a bill without instructions, and in due course was instructed to give his assent.

Table Y293-295 Federal royal commissions, 1867 to 1976. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y293-295
Federal royal commissions, 1867 to 1976

Source: Henderson, George F., Federal Royal Commissions in Canada, 1867-1966, supplemented by a list available on photostat in the Privy Council; J.C. Courtney and John Childs, Canadian Royal Commissions of Inquiry; 1946 to 1962: An Investigation of an Executive Instrument of Inquiry, Ph.D. thesis, Duke University.

The definition of 'Royal Commission' is not at all clear. Presumably all commissions issued under Part I of the Public Inquiries Act qualify; but these include many minor investigations into individual charges of political partisanship and the like. A number of these may have been omitted from the column headed 'minor commissions'. Commissions issued under Part II of the Inquiries Act do not bear the Great Seal and therefore technically fail to qualify; but again several important investigations set up as 'departmental inquiries' under Part II have been regarded as royal commissions. The compilation contains some of these. Several other statutes have provided for public inquiries, and commissioners appointed under these acts have often been designated royal commissioners, for example: 38 Victoria, chap. 53 (1875) to adjust claims to Manitoba lands; the Combines Act; the Judges Act (to study a case for dismissal of a judge). Pre-dating the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act there were also many commissions set up to study industrial unrest. These have been included, mainly in the column headed 'minor commissions'. The segregation into 'major' and 'minor' commissions has been based on the importance of the subject and/or the value of the report(s).

Table Y296 Subjects of major royal commissions, 1867 to 1976. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y296
Subjects of major royal commissions, 1867 to 1976

Source: see series Y293-295.

Series Y296 lists the major federal royal commissions designated in series Y293.

The Provincial Governments, Lieutenant--Governors and Premiers (Series Y297-301)

Table Y297-298 Lieutenant-Governors, by province, 1867 to 1976. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y297-298
Lieutenant-Governors, by province, 1867 to 1976

Source: Department of Provincial Affairs, Newfoundland; MacKinnon, The Government of Prince Edward Island; Deputy Provincial Secretary, Nova Scotia; Beck, The Government of Nova Scotia; Annuaire du Québec, Quebec, various issues; Saskatchewan, Who's Who, various issues; Canada Year Book, various issues; Canadian Parliamentary Guide, various issues. See also Saywell, The Office of Lieutenant-Governor.

The Lieutenant-Governor is nominally the chief executive officer of each province. He is appointed and paid by the federal government, ordinarily for a term of five years though removable for cause, and was originally intended to be a federal official in each province. Judicial decision has added to his powers a status not unlike that of the Governor General, that is, he is Her Majesty's representative in each province. His functions are largely ceremonial, but Lieutenant-Governors have made more frequent use of their powers to reserve or withhold assent to bills than have Governors General of Canada or Monarchs in the United Kingdom. The powers and prestige of the Lieutenant-Governor vary from individual to individual and from place to place, but in general have declined throughout Canada since 1867. The Lieutenant-Governor is still nonetheless an integral part of each provincial legislature.

Table Y299-301 Ministries, by province and premier, 1867 to 1976. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y299-301
Ministries, by province and premier, 1867 to 1976

Source: MacKinnon, The Government of Prince Edward Island; Deputy Provincial Secretary, Nova Scotia; Beck, The Government of Nova Scotia; Annuaire du Québec, Quebec, various issues; Saskatchewan Archives Board; Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Alberta; Deputy Provincial Secretary, British Columbia; and various issues of the Canadian Parliamentary Companion, Canadian Parliamentary Guide, and Canada Year Book.

The office of premier, as leader of a government with a majority in the legislature, has been recognized in most provinces since their establishment, though Professor W.L. Morton has observed in Encyclopedia Canadiana, vol. 2, p. 45, that it is doubtful if the position of premier was recognized in Manitoba before 1874. Certainly the powers of the premier, and his views of his functions and his relations with the other parts of the provincial government, have not been identical in all the provinces since they entered Confederation.

The determination of party affiliations for earlier years is in several instances difficult, and in a few impossible. In any event, a provincial party label then, as now, did not always mean that a provincial premier of one party gave his whole-hearted support to the same party at the federal level, or paid much attention to the party of the same name in other provinces.

The Provincial Governments, Provincial Elections (Series Y302-387)

Y302-387. Provincial government elections, party standing and size of legislature, 1867 to 1977

Table Y302-387a Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y302-387a
Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island

Table Y302-387b Nova Scotia, New Brunswick. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y302-387b
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick

Table Y302-387c Quebec, Ontario. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y302-387c
Quebec, Ontario

Table Y302-387d Manitoba. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y302-387d
Manitoba

Table Y302-387e Saskatchewan, Alberta. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y302-387e
Saskatchewan, Alberta

Table Y302-387f British Columbia. Opens a new browser window.

Table Y302-387f
British Columbia

Source: Chief Electoral Officer, Newfoundland; MacKinnon, The Government of Prince Edward Island; Chief Electoral Officer, Prince Edward Island; Chief Electoral Officer, Nova Scotia; Department of the Provincial Secretary, New Brunswick; Annuaire du Québec, Quebec, various issues; Chief Electoral Officer, Ontario; A Statistical History of All the Electoral Districts of the Province of Ontario since 1867; Saskatchewan Archives Board; Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Alberta; Chief Electoral Officer, British Columbia; and various issues of the Canadian Parliamentary Companion, Canadian Parliamentary Guide, Canadian Almanac and Directory, and Canada Year Book.

Provincial election results, by parties, include some of the most elusive political statistics in Canada, and must be used with caution. The Deputy Provincial Secretary, Prince Edward Island, for example, has confirmed that information in the Canadian Parliamentary Guide may be considered official for P.E.I.; although it has included inconsistencies in its data, including different dates for the same election and different party affiliations for individuals. Other provinces appear to have kept official statistics of their elections since Confederation.

Several sections of series Y302-387 require special qualification.

First, multi-member constituencies are far less common than they were. In Nova Scotia, for example, all constituencies returned at least two members from 1876 to 1916; now only three two-member constituencies remain. See Acts of Nova Scotia: 1914, chap. 16; 1932, chap. 19; 1948, chap. 47; 1955, chap. 7.

Second, series Y327-335 excludes the former Legislative Council of Quebec. Quebec, in 1968, was the last province to divest itself of a bicameral legislature, though several of the older provinces formerly were bicameral. The series throughout Y302-387 refer only to the lower houses.

Third, party affiliations in Manitoba, series Y347-359, have not always been sufficiently clear to make tabulation easy, and in earlier years (especially 1870 and 1874) the number of members whose affiliation was not known (shown in 'Other' column) is formidable. Detailed study of party results in Manitoba requires more qualification than can be provided here. The main limitations on series Y347-359 are: (a) after 1932, the column 'Liberal and Liberal Progressive' represents a combination of Liberal and Progressive forces which cannot be separated; (b) the elections of 1941, 1945 and 1949 resulted in coalition governments of a type not suggested in the statistics, (see the Canadian Parliamentary Guide for relevant year); (c) the election of 1921 is shown in the Canadian Parliamentary Guide as returning 21 'Government' candidates who were Liberals according to the biographical sketches in the 1921 issue of that publication, although other Liberals opposed 'Government' candidates at the polls.

Fourth, the Province of British Columbia is authority for the statement that the election of 1903, in series Y379-387, was the first run on party lines, hence the gaps in the table before that date. The Canadian Parliamentary Guide for elections before 1903 identifies candidates as 'Government' and 'Opposition' only.

The author of this section wishes to acknowledge that he has used the excellent text of Dr. Norman Ward, prepared for the 1965 edition of the Historical Statistics of Canada. The bibliography has been updated and minor changes to Dr. Ward's introduction were made.


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