User Contributed Dictionary
Extensive Definition
In
Canadian constitutional law, disallowance and reservation are
constitutional powers to reject any bill passed by Parliament
or any legislature in Canada on the authority of the Queen of
Canada. Before the Statute
of Westminster the monarch would use this power on the advice
of the "Imperial
Parliament", however, post-1931 the monarch would be advised by
Her Canadian Prime
Minister. These powers, granted under sections 55 through 57
and 90 of the Constitution
Act, 1867, were used a total of 112 times by the monarch on the
advice of her Canadian
government to veto provincial legislation. The last law
"disallowed" occurred in April 1943 under King George
VI of Canada: it was "An Act to Prohibit the Sale of Lands to
any Enemy Aliens and Hutterites for
the Duration of the War" by the Alberta
Legislature.
Early in Confederation these powers were
exercised relatively frequently, but soon fell into disuse.
Currently, through a constitutional convention, they are regarded
as obsolete and without force even though they were never formally
eliminated. However, the ability of the Queen of
Canada to disallow legislation has never been tested since it
was last used in 1943. An attempt was made in 1971 to remove it
from the Constitution
with the Victoria
Charter, but this failed. The first ministers decided not to
remove it in the Constitution
Act, 1982.
Reservation
The power of reservation is held by the Governor General of Canada or Lieutenant Governor of a province. It gives them the authority to refer a bill to the Crown to make a final assessment of the validity of the law. Before the Statute of Westminster the Governor General of Canada would use this power to refer federal legislation to the "Imperial Parliament" or the provincial Lieutenant Governor would use the prerogative to refer legislation to the federal government. However, after Statute of Westminster, the Governor General of Canada could only reserve legislation for the review of the monarch (this has never been done).The last time a provincial Lieutenant
Governor reserved legislation for the review of the federal
government was 1961 in Saskatchewan.
Provincial Lieutenant Governors have used their right of
reservation a total of 112 times, the most being in the province of
Manitoba (21 times).
Disallowance
The power of disallowance is held by the Crown whereby the monarch reserves the right to nullify any bill passed by the federal or provincial government.Prime
Minister Macdonald
exercised his power of disallowance against provincial legislation
regularly. By 1911 the practice of disallowing provincial bills
became very infrequent; however, it was used in the 1930s by
Ernest
Lapointe to strike down various Alberta laws during
the Social Credit
Party of Canada government. Since 1911, disallowance has been
used only 17 times.
References
- La Forest, "Disallowance and Reservation of Provincial Legislation" (Ottawa: Department of Justice, 1955).
Notes
disallowance in French: Désaveu et
réserve