First Orders: Lieutenant-Governors

On July 1, 1867, the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec were united by the British North America Act. The first order of business for the newly assembled Queen's Privy Council for the Dominion of Canada was to appoint a lieutenant-governor for each province. As representatives of the Crown, lieutenant-governors are part of the federal executive, and serve as the provincial counterparts of the governor general. Like the governor general, lieutenant-governors act on the advice of the political executive, which at the provincial level is the Executive Council, comprised of the premier and provincial Cabinet. The lieutenant-governor's prerogatives are equated in the British North America Act with those of the governor general, including the significant but rarely used power to deny royal assent to provincial legislation and to transfer the matter to the federal Cabinet for the governor general's executive decision.