Lord Dorchester's Connection with America

Previously published in Examiner
Part 2 of the Guy Carleton series

To learn more about Canadian or Quebec politics, both McGill University and Concordia University in Montreal offer wonderful political science degrees, that you may want to look into.

For further reading, Montreal's Concordia University has a wonderful women's studies program at the Simone do Beauvoir Institute

We now are setting the tone for the three female Governor Generals of Canada, two of which were from Montreal Quebec. The duties of a governor general is to represent the ruling British Monarch in Canada. The governor general carries out administrative duties and also celebratory or festive activities.

A history of the evolution of Canada is important to the understanding of the role of a governor general. We will look at four male governors over four different periods of Quebec and Canadian history. They mark the stage for governor generals. These men made decisions primarily on behalf of men. Women's issues were really not considered with any semblance of respect before the 20th century. The actions of these governors affected the lives of women and that is why they are chosen as a preamble before our women governor generals will be discussed.

Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester: First Governor General of the Canadas

Governors-in-Chief/Governors General of The Canadas, 1786-1840

Earlier commissions

The Quebec Act of 1774 and the American connection

The Quebec Act of 1774, determined how Quebec would be governed and these rules were based on Carleton's recommendations. The Quebec landowners and clergy were happy with the new rules, but the merchants and migrants from the American 13 colonies were not. They saw it as pro-catholic. The Act restored some rights to French Quebec by allowing them to practice their own religion and to be part of the governing assembly. It also removed the Protestant faith from any significance in Quebec and this is why the English colonists found it pro-catholic and undemocratic. The French law was restored in Quebec. This law is still in practice today. While the rest of Canada adheres to the Common Law system, Quebec has its version of the French Napoleonic Code.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Carleton,_1st_Baron_Dorchester