Section 10 of the Constitution Act, 1867

The Constitution Act, 1867 is part of the Constitution of Canada and thus part of the supreme law of Canada.^[1][2] The Act sets out the constitutional framework of Canada, including the structure of the federal government and the powers of the federal government and the provinces. It was the product of extensive negotiations between the provinces of British North America at the Charlottetown Conference in 1864, the Quebec Conference in 1864, and the London Conference in 1866.^[3][4] Those conferences were followed by consultations with the British government in 1867.^[3][5] The Act was then enacted in 1867 by the British Parliament under the name the British North America Act, 1867.^[6][7] In 1982 the Act was brought under full Canadian control through the Patriation of the Constitution, and was renamed the Constitution Act, 1867.^[2][6] Since Patriation, the Act can only be amended in Canada, under the amending formula set out in the Constitution Act, 1982.^[8][9][10]

Section 10 reads:

Application of Provisions referring to governor general
10 The Provisions of this Act referring to the Governor General extend and apply to the Governor General for the Time being of Canada, or other the Chief Executive Officer or Administrator for the Time being carrying on the Government of Canada on behalf and in the Name of the Queen, by whatever Title he is designated.^[11]

Section 10 is found in Part III of the Constitution Act, 1867, dealing with the federal executive power. It has not been amended since the Act was enacted in 1867.^[11]

There was no provision in either the Quebec Resolutions or the London Resolutions to define the office of governor general. Instead, Resolution 4 of the Quebec Resolutions provided that the executive power would be vested in the British sovereign, to be administered by "the Representative of the Sovereign duly authorized". Resolution 4 of the London Resolutions repeated this provision. However, the terms the "Governor General" and "Governor" are regularly used in both sets of Resolutions, outlining the powers of the office.^{[12][13][14][15]}

What became section 10 evolved through the drafts of the bill. The first rough draft of the bill, like the Resolutions, simply referred to the governor general at various points, outlining the powers of the office, but without any attempt to define the office.^[16] The next draft provided that there would be a governor general, appointed by the monarch.^[17] It was not until the third draft that a version similar to what became section 10 was included, as part of the definitions at the beginning of the bill, and then continued in that form in the fourth draft.^[18][19] The provision took final form as a section specifically about the governor general in the bill introduced in Parliament.^[20]

There was no provision for an administrator in either the Quebec Resolutions or the London Resolutions.^{[21][13][22][15]} The position of an administrator was first mentioned in the rough draft of the British North America bill, in the proposed interpretation clause.^[16] The provision was continued in the interpretation clauses of the third and fourth drafts,^[18][19] and took final form in the bill introduced in Parliament.^[20]