162 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [paRT II 
In so far as it may be intended by the clause to vest in the 
Governor the full constitutional powers which Her Majesty 
if she were ruling personally instead of through his agency 
could exercise, it is of course perfectly correct. The Governor- 
General has an undoubted right to refuse compliance with 
the advice of his ministers, whereupon the latter must 
either adopt and become responsible for his views or leave 
their places to be filled by others prepared to take that 
sourse. 
But the language of the clause is wider and seems to 
authorise action in opposition to the advice not merely of 
a particular set of ministers but of any ministers. 
Notwithstanding the generality of the language there are 
but few cases in which it is possible to exercise such a power ; 
for as a rule the Governor does and must act through the 
agency of ministers, and ministers must be responsible for 
such action. 
As to cases not falling within this limitation the sub- 
committee assume that the power in question is to be 
exercised only in the rare instances in which, owing to 
the existence of substantial Imperial as distinguished from 
Canadian interests, it is considered that full freedom of action 
is not vested in the Canadian people. In all other cases the 
sub-committee assume that the Governor is as of course to 
act on the advice of responsible ministers, 
The sub-committee have not attempted to formulate with 
absolute precision the indicated limitations, but the general 
sense in which according to their view the clause should be 
framed and understood will, they trust, sufficiently appear 
from their observations. 
The same principle, that the Governor-General should be 
a constitutional monarch, he carried out in his views on the 
question of pardon : he could not admit that the Governor- 
General was at liberty to use his personal discretion at all, 
except conceivably in cases where Imperial interests were 
concerned, and even then he deprecated any reference to 
the power of deviating from ministerial advice. So in the 
legislative sphere he wished the Governor-General to be 
allowed full freedom of assent to all Canadian Acts, leaving 
them to be disallowed if the Imperial Government took 
exception to them. His conception and that of the Govern- 
ment of Canada of the day was that the whole Government