The Monarch’s
Representative
governor. The lieutenant governor
acts on behalf of the monarch to
sign paperwork, attend events, and
do many other tasks.
D
id you know that Canada
is part of the
British
Commonwealth
? At one time,
Canada was a British
colony
.
The king or queen of England,
known as the monarch, ruled
the land. Today, Canada is an
independent country, but the
monarch is still the head of state.
In a monarchy, the king or queen
has total power to make decisions
for a country. However, Canada is
a constitutional monarchy. This
means Canada’s Constitution limits
the monarch’s power. Power is given
to elected leaders instead. The prime
minister of Canada and the premiers
in the provinces and territories
are the true heads of government.
They take on most of the tasks the
monarch once did. The monarch is
mainly just a
figurehead
.
The monarch seldom visits the
provinces so their representative,
the governor general, appoints
someone to represent the monarch
in provincial governments. This
person is called the lieutenant
Eli
z
abeth Dowdeswell
became Ontario’s lieutenant
governor in 2014. She was born in
Northern Ireland and came
to Canada with her
parents in 1947.
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