CHAP.I] THE DOMINION OF CANADA 715 
In Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and British Columbia 
the number of executive councillors is actually limited by 
law to nine and seven (eight by Act c. 10 of 1911) respectively, 
and in the latter case all but six (now seven) are ministers 
with departments and salaries, and the seventh is President 
of the Council, so that if only a parliamentary tenure of 
office was required there would be a responsible ministry, 
necessarily parliamentary, but this is not the case. Freely 
have the provinces exercised their powers as regards the 
size of the Houses and similar matters, such as the franchise. 
Of course the power is not absolute, for it is clear that 
the power to amend supposes the existence of something, 
and does not in such a case (this is shown by the retention 
of the office of the Lieutenant-Governor beyond provincial 
control) render the Legislature competent to abolish the 
Legislature, but in all probability this limitation applies also 
to a Colony. 
The power of constitutional alteration, the power of 
legislation which is within limits exclusive, and the growth 
of population, have strengthened the provinces of late years, 
as is shown by the fact that the Federal Government is more 
and more chary of dealing with things except through the 
aid of the provinces, as has been shown in its reluctance to 
accept treaties on provincial subjects without full control, 
and by its asking the Provincial Governments to agree to its 
appointing a Royal Commission on education, to which they 
all consented, waiving the constitutional objection on the 
grounds of the desirability of such a subject receiving common 
treatment, and by associating them in the proposals for 
considering natural resources. If the Dominion controls 
them by its power of veto, they deny. as Ontario has denied, 
* This is a continuation of the old system in which the royal instructions 
provided for a maximum of nine members, a maximum already fixed in the 
Governors’ commissions of 1764 and 1784. There has been no legislation 
in Prince Edward Island, and the maximum therefore remains undefined in 
virtue of the continuance of the constitution as it existed in 1872 under Lord 
Dufferin’s letters patent and instructions by the Order in Council for union 
in 1873. In New Brunswick Rev. Stat, c. 10, the number is not limited.