Editing Reserve power (section)

====Canada====
The reserve powers in Canada fall within the [[royal prerogative]] and belong specifically to [[Monarchy of Canada|the monarch]], as the [[Constitution Act, 1867]], vests all executive power in the country's sovereign.<ref>{{cite web |title=Constitution Act, 1867: III. Executive Power |url=https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-1.html#h-3 |website=Department of Justice Canada: Justice Laws Website |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=14 May 2023 |language=English |date=29 March 1867}}</ref> King [[George VI]] in 1947 issued [[Letters Patent, 1947|Letters Patent]] permitting the [[Governor General of Canada|governor general]] "to exercise all powers and authorities lawfully belonging to Us [the monarch] in respect of Canada."<ref>{{Cite journal| last=George VI| author-link=George VI| date=1 October 1947| title=Letters Patent Constituting the Office of Governor General of Canada| location=Ottawa| publisher=King's Printer for Canada| url=http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/LettersPatent.html| access-date=29 May 2009}}</ref>

The reserve power of dismissal has never been used in Canada, although other reserve powers have been employed to force the [[Prime Minister of Canada|prime minister]] to resign on two occasions: The first took place in 1896, when the Prime Minister, Sir [[Charles Tupper]], refused to step down after his party did not win a majority in the House of Commons during [[1896 Canadian federal election|that year's election]], leading Governor General [[John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair|the Earl of Aberdeen]] to no longer recognize Tupper as prime minister and disapprove of several appointments Tupper had recommended. On the second occasion, which took place in 1925 and came to be known as the [[King–Byng affair]], Prime Minister [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]], facing a [[Motion of no confidence|non-confidence motion]] in the House of Commons, [[Advice (constitutional)|advised]] the Governor General, [[Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy|the Viscount Byng of Vimy]], to [[dissolution of parliament|dissolve]] the new parliament, but Byng refused.

At the provincial level, on 29 June 2017 [[Lieutenant Governor]] of [[British Columbia]] [[Judith Guichon]] used her reserve powers to deny the request of Premier [[Christy Clark]] to dissolve the legislature and call a new election only 51 days after the recent provincial election. Clark had advised Guichon to dissolve the legislature as, in her view, the appointment of a Speaker would have resulted in frequent tie votes and an untenable position. Guichon refused this advice and instead asked [[John Horgan]] to form a government, becoming the new premier.<ref name="guichon">{{cite book | last=Twomey | first=Anne |author-link=Anne Twomey (academic) | date=27 April 2018 | title=The Veiled Sceptre: Reserve Powers of Heads of State in Westminster Systems | publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] | pages=432–433 | isbn=978-1107056787 }}</ref>

No modern governor general has [[Disallowance and reservation in Canada|disallowed]] a bill, though [[Lieutenant Governor (Canada)|provincial lieutenant governors]] have.<ref>"[https://www.assembly.ab.ca/lao/library/lt-gov/bowen.htm The Honourable John C. Bowen, 1937–50] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220124432/http://www.assembly.ab.ca/lao/library/lt-gov/bowen.htm |date=2008-12-20 }}". Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Retrieved on 22 April 2007.</ref>

[[Peter Hogg]], a constitutional scholar, has opined that "a system of [[responsible government]] cannot work without a formal head of state who is possessed of certain reserve powers."<ref>{{citation| last=Hogg| first=Peter| author-link=Peter Hogg| title=Constitutional Law of Canada| page=253| publisher=Carswell| location=Toronto| year=1999| isbn=978-0459239251}}</ref> Further, [[Eugene Forsey]] stated "the reserve power is indeed, under our Constitution, an absolutely
essential safeguard of democracy. It takes the place of the legal and judicial safeguards provided in the United States by written Constitutions, enforceable in the courts."<ref>{{citation| last=Forsey| first=Eugene| author-link=Eugene Forsey| title=Freedom and Order| page=48| location=Toronto| publisher=McClelland and Stewart| year=1974| asin=B005JL56TA}}</ref>