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Union Government In early 1917, during WORLD WAR I, recruitment for the CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE fell to a very low level. PM Sir Robert BORDEN, opposed to any reduction in Canada's commitment to the war effort, announced on 18 May 1917 that the government would introduce CONSCRIPTION to Canada.

The lieutenant-governor combines the monarchical and the federal principle in provincial governments. Although the lieutenant-governor is appointed by the Governor General on the prime minister's advice, in the words of an 1892 decision by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, a lieutenant-governor "is as much the representative of Her Majesty, for all purposes of provincial government, as the Governor-General himself is for all purposes of Dominion Government."

Sovereignty is an abstract legal concept. It also has political, social and economic implications. In strictly legal terms, sovereignty describes the power of a state to govern itself and its subjects. In this sense, sovereignty is the highest source of the law. With Confederation and the passage of the British North America Act, 1867, Canada’s Parliament was still legally under the authority of the British Parliament. By 1949, Canada had become fully sovereign in relation to Great Britain. This was due to landmark legislation such as the Statute of Westminster (1931). The Constitution Act, 1982 swept away Britain’s leftover authority. Questions of sovereignty have also been raised by Indigenous peoples in Canada and by separatists in Quebec. The latter, for a time, championed the concept of sovereignty-association.

Labour Canada, established 1900 as the Department of Labour under the Conciliation Act to "aid in the prevention and settlement of trade disputes." In 1994, it became a ministry within the newly created Department of Human Resources Development.

See MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

Metropolitan government is a form of REGIONAL GOVERNMENT. It may be used in urban centres with a population over 100 000, known in Canada as CENSUS METROPOLITAN AREAS (CMAs).

Municipal finance is concerned with the revenues and expenditures of municipalities. Revenues are secured from local taxes (see TAXATION) and other local revenues and from provincial and federal grants.

Municipalities in Canada are similar to provincial governments in a number of important respects.

Nationalization is the takeover of ownership and control of a privately owned enterprise by the STATE.

Confirmed as British by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the peninsula of Nova Scotia was neglected until 1749 - a period of "phantom rule" and "counterfeit suzerainty.

Public ownership refers to government provision of goods and services; the commercial or business activities of the STATE.

One of the earliest signs of authority (the right to enforce obedience) was probably a wooden club, in which symbolism grew directly out of practical application: the humble club became both an instrument by which power was exercised and (consequently) a symbol of authority.

An ombudsman is an independent officer of the legislature who investigates complaints from the public against administrative action and, if finding the action unfair, recommends a remedy.

Agriculture, Federal Task Force on, established 1967 to advise the federal minister of agriculture on problems of Canadian agriculture and to recommend policies.

The Council of Ministers of Education of Canada modelled on the West German Kultursministerkonferenz, was established in 1967 to provide a collective provincial voice on educational matters to federal government offices and agencies and to facilitate interprovincial consultation and co-operation.

Canada’s federal and provincial governments are divided into three branches — the legislative, executive and judicial.

Support for the British Empire and imperialism was strong in much of Canada in the decades after Confederation. But gradually, imperialist loyalties declined and Canadians demanded and won full autonomy within the empire.