Acts of Republic (Canada)

The Acts of Republic, 1988 were a series of four concurrent and complimentary legislative acts passed by the Parliament of Canada between 28 June and 1 July 1988, which formally transformed Canada from a constitutional monarchy into a parliamentary republic. The nature of the transformation was such that things essentially changed only in name, with the office of Prime Minister and all layers below effectively unaware any change had occurred, until the proclamation of Canada as a republic at 5:00 pm EST on 1 July (Canada Day).

Formally four separate acts of Parliament, the first (titled an Act formally removing from the office of Governor General all responsibility to the House of Windsor and the British monarchy) officially severed the link between the office of Governor General and the British monarchy, unilaterally making the office of head of state of Canada into a ceremonial presidency; the second act (titled an Act formally proclaiming Canada a republic, establishing the office of the President, as well as the legal procedure of presidential election) officially renamed Canada the "Canadian Republic" (République canadienne in French), renamed the office of Governor General "President of Canada" (Président du Canada) and set out the procedure for a president's election (as the former governor general was a monarchy-appointed office); the third act (titled an Act to preserve the Canadian political system at all levels below the severance from the British autocracy) made clear the intention of preserving the Canadian political system in all fundamental aspects, as such retaining the Westminster system in which the majority in the House of Commons forms an executive government and appoints the Prime Minister of Canada, who continues to serve as the state's executive head of government with the President relegated mostly to a generally ceremonial role as head of state, as was the case with the preceding office of Governor General.

The fourth and final act (titled Constitution Act, 1988), was the longest of the four republican Parliamentary acts to be passed, and essentially entailed an entire rewrite of the British North America Act, 1867, usually simply referred to as the Constitution Act, 1867 or the "Original Canadian Constitution. The Constitution Act, 1988 left intact the great majority of the governmental procedure included in the original constitution, notably the Westminster system, with the Prime Minister and all levels of government below in the post-1988 Republican Canada being elected/appointed in exactly the same manner as in the days of the Constitutional Monarchy. The only changes made were those made above in the three original acts of Republic; these changes' enshrinement in the Constitution Act, 1988, which also unilaterally abolished the previous constitution, simply made it legally untenable for the state's new republican institutions to be undone or even at odds with the now abolished institutions of the former constitutional monarchy.

The acts of Republic ultimately made good on the promise to retain the country's Westminster political system; notable examples include legal terminology, one example of which is the use of the term "the Crown" to refer to the state in all its aspects (with the prosecution in court cases still referred to officially as "Crown counsel", as or as "Crown prosecutor(s)" or just "the Crown"). Similarly, the pre-1967 Canadian flag featuring the Union Jack in the canton and the royal coat of arms remains officially approved as an alternate national flag, and the Canadian Republic is still a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The "Royal" prefix was not dropped from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as well as the Royal Canadian Mint, the latter of which will continue to manufacture the particular bills and coins featuring the likeness of Elizabeth II until her death and state funeral (all other bills and coins feature important personages in Canadian history, such as former prime ministers, which will be the case with all denominations following the accession to the British throne of Elizabeth II's heir). Similarly, since the Crown now represents the state itself rather than any monarchy, the great majority of government agencies, especially law enforcement and judicial agencies, retain a crown in their official symbol/logo.

The second of the acts also formally abolished the offices of Lieutenant Governor, of which there were thirteen (one for each of the 13 provinces of Canada; each province's lieutenant governor was the official representative of the Governor General and by extension the Monarch of Canada within the respective province. The office itself was kept, but renamed Deputy President, the official representative of the Canadian head of state (the President of Canada) within each province. Thus, just like the primarily figurehead and ceremonial role of the President of Canada, a province's Deputy President performs the same ceremonial function at the provincial level on behalf of the President of Canada. In this way, the President of Canada can be said to be ultimate head of state of each province in addition to the federation as a whole. A deputy president is appointed by the President of Canada on advice of the respective province's premier (provincial head of government).

The system of commissioners, of which there are five (one for each territory), each representing the federal government within a particular territory, was left in place post-1988, as territories do not share sovereignty with the federation and provinces, being subject to the unilateral authority of the Parliament of Canada. As such, within the five territories, the President of Canada and Prime Minister, as well as the Cabinet of Canada, are represented by the respective territory's commissioner, who each oversees the territory's government, which has devolved authority and is ultimately subject to the authority of the federal government via Parliament. Each territory's commissioner is appointed unilaterally by the Prime Minister; the premier (head of government) of the territory is answerable to his territory's commissioner.