Canada and a constitutional conundrum

This is a good analysis of the current constitutional imbroglio in Canada, which will be watched by "Constitutional Experts"* in the same way as twitchers flock to remote spots to catch a glimpse of some rare bird blown off its migratory course.

In countries that follow the broad outline of the UK constitution like Canada and Australia, there will be moments when the Sovereign, or the Governor-General acting as Sovereign, has to act in the absence of clearly defined rules. That is not to say that there are no rules. Analysis of the recent constitutional history of the UK, Australia and Canada provides the advisors to the Governor-General of Canada with a broadly clear set of guidance within which to act. Events such as the dismissal of Gough Whitlam's government in Australia and the fall of the Heath government in the UK have created a framework to direct the actions of the Crown.

There is also clear precedent within Canada's own constitutional history where the Governor-General upheld the tenets of responsible government and faced down a mob of truculent Tories who proceeded to burn down Parliament. Few remember the then leader of the Tories, but the Governor-General is now seen as a founding father of the Canadian constitution. He even had a hotel named after him.

* (recently described in the Spectator as a historian who gives journalists his telephone number)