Disallowance and reservation in Canada

rdf:langString Disallowance and reservation in Canada

rdf:langString Disallowance and reservation are historical constitutional powers in Canada that act as a mechanism to delay or overrule legislation passed by Parliament or a provincial legislature. In contemporary Canadian history, disallowance is an authority granted to the governor general in council (federal cabinet) to invalidate an enactment passed by a provincial legislature. Reservation is an authority granted to the lieutenant governor to withhold royal assent from a bill which has been passed by a provincial legislature. The bill is then "reserved" for consideration by the federal cabinet. In Canadian constitutional law, the powers of reservation and disallowance of federal legislation still formally remain in place in Sections 55 and 56 of the Constitution Act, 1867, and are extended to provincial legislation by Section 90. The initial intent of disallowance, and its practice for the first few years of Confederation, was considered a means of ensuring constitutional compliance. Since Canadian Confederation in 1867, one federal enactment has been disallowed by the Government of the United Kingdom, and 112 provincial enactments have been disallowed by the government of Canada, with the last occurrence in 1943 invalidating Alberta's legislation restricting land sales to Hutterites and other "enemy aliens". The powers of reservation have been used 21 times by the governor general, all prior to 1878, and 70 times by respective lieutenant governors, with the last occurrence in Saskatchewan in 1961 with the lieutenant governor reserving assent on a bill related to mining contracts.