30 RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT [PART I
has been developed in Canada perhaps more perfectly than
elsewhere, is carried on, as Bourinot! points out, under the
constitutional usage, not under the régime of formal law,
just as much in the Dominion as in the Provinces.
In the case of the Commonwealth, s. 61 of the Constitution
vests in the Queen the executive power of the Commonwealth
and renders it exercisable by the Governor-General as the
Queen’s representative. 8. 62 provides :—
There shall be a Federal Executive Council to advise the
(Governor-General in the government of the Commonwealth,
and the members of the Council shall be chosen and sum-
moned by the Governor-General and sworn as Executive
Councillors, and shall hold office during his pleasure,
S. 64 permits the Governor-General to appoint officers to
administer such departments of the Government as the
Governor-General in Council may establish. Such officers
shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor-General.
They shall be members of the Federal Executive Council,
and shall be the Queen’s Ministers of State for the Common-
wealth. After the first general election no minister of state
shall hold office for a longer period than three months unless
he is or becomes a senator or a member of the House of
Representatives. By s. 65, until the Parliament otherwise
provides, the ministers of state are not to exceed seven in
number, and shall hold such offices as the Parliament or,
in the absence of provision, the Governor-General directs.
Ministers are permitted to hold seats in Parliament without re-
election. Evenin this caseit will be seen that itisnot claimed
that the Executive Council shall be composed of ministers
only, and the letters patent of the Governor-General permit
him to appoint such persons besides ministers as he thinks fit.
In the case of the Union of South Africa the model of the
Commonwealth has been followed with exactness. There
are to be ten ministers who shall be members of the Executive
Council, and who must be either members of Parliament or
must obtain seats within three months. They are not sub-
ject to re-election because of acceptance of office. But here
v Constitution of Canada, p. 163.
