180 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [PART II
is passive; he refuses action, and thus forces ministers
sither to resign or give way. -
But if ministers resign and do not give way—and of course
normally over any matter of importance the Ministry is
anable to give way, for its supporters would not approve such
action—then the Governor must be prepared to find other ad-
visers in every case where the action is taken as head of the
Dominion Government and not under Imperial instructions.
As was said to the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia in
1846.1 it was impossible to carry on the Government of
Canada except with the will of the people, and therefore, if
the ministers whom the Governor has refused to accept have
the ear of the people, he must yield or go, and a sensible
Governor will, bearing this in mind, remember that his duty
is only to appeal to the verdict of the people when he thinks
that on the whole he will secure it—that is, when the Ministry
are not really in touch with the wishes of the people. It
is a complete mistake to suppose that the Governor is
entitled to refuse advice because he does not approve the
actions of his ministers and thinks that he may have a good
chance of getting a majority for the Opposition if he refuses
their advice ; his duty is not to his own conscience, but to the
people of the Dominion which he governs, and he should exe-
cute that duty independently of every other consideration.
The normal form of the refusal to accept ministerial advice
is when a Ministry beaten in Parliament, or which is losing
its hold on Parliament, asks for a dissolution in order that it
may strengthen its hand in the country.? Now the Imperial
practice in this regard is, of course, that the minister receives
a dissolution when he asks for it. There is in favour of this
view the most important authority, and the expressions of
opinion which have been made on the other side from time
to time are hardly authoritative. It is indeed clear that
the refusal of a dissolution is much too dangerous a course
for the Crown to take ; it at once reduces the Crown, however
Parl. Pap., H. C. 621, 1848, pp. 7, 8. Cf. Hansard, ciii. 1262-89.
* A Governor cannot dissolve except on advice, if for no other reason than
that he could not without advice arrange the machinery fora generalelection.
