Membership
The Constitution Act, 1867, outlines that persons are to be summoned and appointed for life to the Queen's Privy Council by the governor general, though convention dictates that this be done on the advice of the sitting prime minister. As its function is to provide the vehicle for advising the Crown, the members of the QPC are predominantly all living current and former ministers of the Crown. In addition, the chief justices of Canada and former governors general are appointed. From time to time, the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition and heads of other opposition parties will be appointed to the QPC, either as an honour or to facilitate the distribution of sensitive information under the Security of Information Act, and, similarly, it is required by law that those on the Security Intelligence Review Committee be made privy councillors, if they are not already. To date, only Prime Minister Paul Martin advised that Parliamentary Secretaries be admitted to the QPC.
Appointees to the Queen's Privy Council must recite the requisite oath:
| “ | I, do solemnly and sincerely swear (declare) that I shall be a true and faithful servant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, as a member of Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada. I will in all things to be treated, debated and resolved in Privy Council, faithfully, honestly and truly declare my mind and my opinion. I shall keep secret all matters committed and revealed to me in this capacity, or that shall be secretly treated of in Council. Generally, in all things I shall do as a faithful and true servant ought to do for Her Majesty. | ” |
Provincial premiers are not commonly appointed to the QPC, but have been made members on special occasions, such as the centennial of Confederation in 1967 and the patriation of the constitution of Canada in 1982. On Canada Day in 1992, which also marked the 125th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Governor General Ramon Hnatyshyn appointed eighteen prominent Canadians to the Privy Council, including former Premier of Ontario David Peterson, retired hockey star Maurice Richard, and businessman Conrad Black. The use of privy council appointments as purely an honour was not employed again until 6 February 2006, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper advised the governor general to appoint former Member of Parliament John Reynolds, along with the new Cabinet. Harper, on 15 October 2007, also advised the vicereine to appoint Jim Abbott.
On occasion, a non-Canadian has been appointed to the QPC. For example, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was inducted during a visit to Canada on 29 December 1941.
Privy councillors are entitled to the style The Honourable or, for the prime minister, chief justice, or certain other eminent individuals, The Right Honourable, and the post-nominal letters PC (in French: CP). Prior to 1967, the style The Right Honourable was only employed in Canada by those appointed to the Imperial and later British Privy Council in London, such persons usually being prime ministers, Supreme Court chief justices, certain senior members of the Canadian Cabinet, and other eminent Canadians. These appointments ended under Lester Pearson, though the traditional style remained in use, limited to only prime ministers and chief justices. In 1992, several eminent privy councillors, most of whom were long-retired from active politics, were granted the style by the governor general, and, in 2002, Jean Chrétien recommended that Herb Gray, a privy councillor of long standing, be given the style The Right Honourable upon his retirement from parliament.
Read more about this topic: Queen's Privy Council For Canada
Famous quotes containing the word membership:
“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)