Emergency Government in Canada

wm•. rm• CaNaI)IXN CONSTrrUT•O• has been the subiect of much discussion in recent years, the topic of constitutional or limited government and the requirements for its preservation has received little attention.Constitutional government is essential in maintaining a free society, yet that society may have to violate some of its fundamental norms to protect itself.The manner by which a nation provides for and deals with emergencies is one of the most revealing tests of its constitutional order?This paper will examine the manner by which Canada dealt with one such emergency, World War I.That crisis has been chosen over others because of the greater availability of information and, more importantly, because it represented the first occasion in which Canada's Parliament delegated broad, permissive powers to the executive.With no precedent of its own, though influenced by contemporary British example, Parliament in 1914 drastically altered the balance of forces making for normal peacetime government.The central problem of constitutional government during crisis is the reconciliation of the theory of constitutionalism with the practice of emergency rule.It is the essence of limited government to divide political power, while it is a characteristic of emergencies to promote its concentration.Since the executive is usually iudged the branch of government most capable of quick, resolute action during emergencies, it has become customary to lodge special powers with that body?•The literature on constitutional government increases annually, but the subiect of constitutional government and emergencies has virtually ceased to be discussed.See