[bourinot] CANADA DURING THE VICTORIAN ERA 27 



through the Imperial authorities, will be considered as the most patent 

 evidences of Canada being still a dependency of the empire. Even the 

 restraint imposed upon Canada with respect to any matters involving 

 negotiations with foreign powers has been moditied to a great degree by 

 the fact that England has acknowledged for over thirty years that 

 Canada should be not only consulted in every particular, but actually 

 represented in ail negotiations that may be carried on with foreign 

 powers atfecting her commercial or territorial interests. 



Another illustration of the growing importance of Canada in the 

 Councils of the Empire is the fact that quite recently, in this jubilee 

 year, a Canadian judge has been placed on the Judicial Committee of the 

 Privy Council, the Supreme Court of Great Britain and Ireland, India, 

 and all the dependencies of the Crown. 



XII. 



From this brief historical summary of the leading features of the 

 political organization of Canada it will be seen how remarkable has been 

 the expansion of the hberties of the people since 1837, when they exer- 

 cised no control over the executive, when England imposed restrictions 

 on their trade, and officials of Downing Street were practically the 

 governing powers. 



In the formation of their constitution the Canadians have naturally 

 borrowed the best featui'es of the federal system of their American 

 neighbours, and of the governmental institutions of the parent state, 

 though not without improvement. The following brief summary shows 

 some of the advantages which Canada possesses over the institutions of 

 the United States as far as an experience of many years goes to prove : 



1. That the powers of the provincial and federal governments are 

 enumerated, while the residuum of power is left, in express words, to- 

 the central authority of the Dominion ; the very reverse of the constitu- 

 tion of the United States, which gives to the national government only 

 certain express, or necessarily implied, powers, and leaves to the several 

 states all those powers of local or state sovereignty not so expressly 

 taken away. 



2. In adhering strictly, in the Dominion and every Province, to the 

 principles of parliamentary government which makes the ministry or 

 advisers of the executive responsible to the legislature for every act of 

 administration : a flexible system which works admirably compared with 

 the too rigid constitutional rules of the federal and state governments, 

 which separate the executive from the legislative authority and do not 

 permit the advisere of a president or a governor of a state to sit in the 

 legislature and direct its legislation. 



