To Put an End to 1848 ! (Part 1)
In a Westminster-style political system, the convention of responsible government means that executive advisers must be members of Parliament and that, in order to govern, these ministers must enjoy the confidence of the majority of MPs. According to this definition, it appears that in the Parliament of the Province of Canada, the principle of ministerial responsibility was established as early as 1841, and not in 1848 as traditional historiography would have it. Reformers Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin embodied this constitutional convention to such an extent that a myth was created around their liberal political actions. However, this partisan politics overshadowed the Conservative government which, from 1844 to 1848, also administered the colony according to the principles of the 1840 Constitution.