page_title: Lieutenant governor (Canada)
section_title: Selection and appointments
hierarchical_section_title: Lieutenant governor (Canada) / Selection and appointments
caption_attribution_description: English: Lieutenant Governor's Commission of Appointment, 1925. Appointing James Robson Douglas as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. Calligraphy on velum, sealed under the Great Seal of Canada. Displayed at Government House Halifax.
context_page_description: In Canada, a lieutenant governor is the viceregal representative in a provincial jurisdiction of the Canadian monarch and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II. On the advice of his or her prime minister, the Governor General of Canada appoints the lieutenant governors to carry out most of the monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties for an unfixed period of time—known as serving at His Excellency's pleasure—though five years is the normal convention. Similar positions in Canada's three territories are termed Commissioners and are representatives of the federal government, however, not the monarch directly.
  The offices have their roots in the 16th and 17th century colonial governors of New France and British North America, though the present incarnations of the positions emerged with Canadian Confederation and the British North America Act in 1867, which defined the viceregal offices as the "Lieutenant Governor of the Province acting by and with the Advice the Executive Council thereof."
context_section_description: Unlike the federal viceroy, the Canadian lieutenant-governors have been since 1867, if not Canadian-born, at least long-time residents of Canada and not of the peerage, though a number, up until the Nickle Resolution in 1919, were knighted. While required by the tenets of constitutional monarchy to be nonpartisan during their time in office, lieutenant-governors have frequently been former politicians and some have returned to politics following their viceregal service. Canadian lieutenant governorships have also been used to promote women and minorities into a prominent position: The first female viceroy in Canada was Pauline Mills McGibbon, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1974 to 1980, and many women have since served in both that province and others. There have been two Black (Lincoln Alexander and Mayann E. Francis) and several Aboriginal lieutenant governors. Norman Kwong, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta from 2005 to 2010, was Chinese-Canadian and David Lam, the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia from 1988 to 1995, was Hong Kong-Canadian. Former Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec Lise Thibault used a wheelchair, while David Onley, the former Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, had polio as a child and used crutches or a scooter.
  The lieutenant-governors are appointed by the Governor General of Canada on the advice of the prime minister. There is no constitutional requirement or consistent practice for the Prime Minister to consult with the province's premier on the appointment of the lieutenant governor.
  Besides the administration of the oaths of office, there is no set formula for the swearing-in of a lieutenant-governor-designate. Though there may therefore be variations to the following, the appointee will generally travel to the legislative assembly building in the provincial capital, where a guard of honour awaits to give a general salute. From there, the party is led by the speaker of the legislative assembly to the legislative chamber, wherein all justices of the province's superior court, members of the legislative assembly, and other guests are assembled. The governor general's commission for the lieutenant-governor-designate is then read aloud, and the required oaths are administered to the appointee by either the governor general or a delegate thereof; the three oaths are: the Oath of Allegiance, the Oath of Office as lieutenant-governor, and the oath as keeper of the province's great seal. With the affixing of their signature to these three solemn promises, the individual is officially the lieutenant governor, and at that moment the Viceregal Salute is played and a 15-gun salute is conducted outside. The lieutenant governor then receives the insignia of the province's order or orders. Since the appointment in 1956 of John J. Bowlen as Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, newly installed lieutenant governors will, at some point in the first year of their mandate, be invited to a personal audience with the monarch.
  Though incumbents are constitutionally mandated to serve for at least five years, unless the federal parliament agrees to remove the individual from office, the lieutenant-governors still technically act at the governor general's pleasure, meaning the prime minister may recommend to the governor general that a lieutenant governor remain in the Crown's service for a longer period of time, sometimes upwards of more than ten years. A lieutenant governor may also resign and some have died in office.
  The governor general also has the power to appoint a person as "administrator", to act in the place of a lieutenant-governor who is unable to act, for example due to illness or absence from the province. Since 1953, the practice has been that the chief justice of the province has a standing appointment to act as administrator. However, if the position of lieutenant governor is vacant, for example due to the death of the lieutenant governor, the administrator is not able to act until a new lieutenant governor is appointed.
  This situation arose in Saskatchewan in 1978, when the Lieutenant Governor, George Porteo
caption: Lieutenant Governor's Commission of Appointment, 1925. Appointing James Robson Douglas as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.
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