Canada and the Crown: Essays in Constitutional Monarchy ed. by D. Michael Jackson, Philippe Lagassé, and: The Crown and Canadian Federalism by D. Michael Jackson (review)

D. Michael Jackson and Philippe Lagasse (eds), Canada and the Crown: Essays in Constitutional Monarchy (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2014), 320 pp. Paper. £26.99. ISBN 978-1-55339-204-0.D. Michael Jackson, The Crown and Canadian Federalism (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2013), 336 pp. Paper. $27.99. ISBN 978-1-4597-0988-1.These two books overlap extensively. This is not surprising since one is co-edited by and the other written by D. Michael Jackson. Canada and the Crown does make an effort at scholarly objectivity. There are thoughtful papers by Peter H. Russell on the need to educate Canadians on how their system of government actually functions; by David E. Smith on the changing role of the Governor General and the 'tenuousness' of the 'personal bond' between the British monarch and the Canadian people (p. 91); by Robert Hawkins arguing 'how limited the efficient aspect of the governor general's role is in the workings of government' (p. 104); by James Bowden and Nicholas MacDonald arguing that the Governor General and the Cabinet would both benefit from the creation of a cabinet manual that clarified their respective responsibilities; by Richard Berthelsen arguing the benefit of shorter speeches from the throne; by Linda Cardinal questioning the depth of Quebec's commitment to monarchical institutions even before the Quiet Revolution, and by Stephanie Danyluk and Jim Miller on the historical relationship between Canada's First Nations and the Crown. The collection even includes a paper by John D. Whyte making 'A Case for the Republican Option' and there is a thoughtful conclusion by Philippe Lagasse who points out that 'though many of the monarchists insist that the Crown is Canadian, avoiding the institution's inherent Britishness appears disingenuous' (p. 285). Yet this is precisely what many of the contributors attempt to do. In his foreword, David Johnston claims Canada's system of government 'derives from a centuries-old tradition of constitutional monarchy with origins in England and France' (p. xi). In fact, the Canadian system of constitutional monarchy owes precisely nothing to the French system of absolute monarchy under which Canada was governed before 1763. Nor is Serge Royal convincing when he argues that virtually all French Canadians, from Papineau onwards, were dedicated monarchists. The fourth Governor General of Canada and his wife, Princess Louise, may have been popular in Ottawa but this hardly justifies Carolyn Harris's claim that they viewed themselves as Canadians and 'set crucial precedents for the Crown in Canada from the nineteenth centur y to the present reign' (p. 29). Ian Hawkins does not deny the Britishness of Canada's system of government; in fact, he argues that Canadian history 'began in 1066' and that if Canadians really understood their history they would not question Charles's right to be their next monarch. Chris McCreery applauds the fact that lieutenant governors appear to be developing in importance and have become part of a 'Canadian vice-regal family' (p. 156), though his evidence on this point seems flimsy. McCreery also argues for the importance of the role of the private secretary to the governors, which seems a bit self-interested since he is one. Finally Alexander Bolt, a lieutenant-colonel in the Canadian Forces, insists that it is a good thing that Canadian Parliament is not directly involved in the decision to deploy Canadian forces overseas and somewhat bizarrely that this proves that the current system of Crown prerogative is 'a fitting one for our liberal democracy' (p. …

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.