The bang of Byng

Here is back this delicious time. The wind is fresh, the leaves twirl, the constitutionalists rub their hands. They return to the less frequented shelves of their library. Look under the headings "Minority Government" and "Governor General's Powers". They take old treaties out of them. They happily throw some logs into the stove and, moved, turn the yellow pages to the crackling fire.

Yves Boisvert
The Press

Because for a rare time, we do not know which party will get the most seats in the federal election. Better: we seem to be moving towards a minority government. Better yet, we do not know if the party with the most seats will form the government!

It is therefore time to re-read the "King-Byng" case, for both legal and purely musical reasons.

King-Byng! Tell me about a name that sounds.

It was in 1926, the prime minister's name was King, and the governor general's name was Byng.

The Liberals of William Lyon Mackenzie King had been in power since 1921. That year they had the most seats, but they were short of two to have a majority. Various alliances, defections and maneuvers allowed them to govern until 1925.

But the 1925 election saw the Conservatives in first place, with 115 seats (out of 245), the Liberals in the second with 100. The Liberals nevertheless retained power, thanks to the support of the "Progressive Party". Why ? The constitutional convention is that the party in power is the one that gets the confidence of the House of Commons. The question does not arise in case of majority. In case of minority, in principle, the one with the most seats is in a better position to gain that confidence. But not always !

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When the House is dissolved, elections are called, but the government remains in office. If the party in power does not get a majority, it can seek the support of the House. Even if he comes in second place.

Just last year in New Brunswick, the Liberals (who were in power) got one seat less than the Conservatives. Prime Minister Brian Gallant refused to step down, hoping for support from Green MPs. He was defeated at the first opportunity. In British Columbia, the NDP rules with the Greens, even though it has fewer seats than the Liberals.

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Let's go back to King-Byng.

In 1925, King remained in office even though the Conservatives had 15 more seats. The 22 "progressives" supported him.

Except that this alliance did not last and, the following year, the progressives dropped the liberals.

King went to see Lord Julian Byng – because at the time, the governor general was still a British aristocrat. He asked him to dissolve the House and call an election.

Byng refused.

Boom!

King resigns. Conservative leader Arthur Meighen becomes prime minister by decision of the governor general. But four days later, the Conservatives are defeated in the House. Meighen will then see Byng to dissolve the House.

Bang, Byng triggers elections.

They are held on September 14, 1926. The Liberals win a majority of seats – but fewer votes than the Conservatives.

Poor Meighen remained Prime Minister less than three months.

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Experts still disagree over whether the Governor General exceeded his powers in 1926 by refusing to dissolve the House, as King asked. But as we have seen, it did not change much: four days later, we returned to square one.

Constitutionalist Peter Hogg points out that this English lord with a melodic name refused the Liberal prime minister's request, which relied on British precedents. It's up to Canada to establish its own precedents, the aristocrat retorted!

However, note Hogg, the irony is that King made his campaign of 1926 on the theme of Canadian nationalism: he denounced as an interference the refusal of the representative of the king to respect his request … based on British traditions.

Even today, the debate is raging. Well, let's say a little rage? Experts believe that Byng did well, because King wanted to dissolve the House by pure maneuver, to avoid a vote of no confidence. Others, on the contrary, believe that the Governor General does not have the power to refuse a request for the dissolution of the head of the government.

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Apart from this affair, Baron Byng gave his name to a school on rue Saint-Urbain. It's mostly thanks to his wife, Marie Evelyn Moreton, that her name still rings out every spring: Lady Byng, a great hockey fan, has given her name to a trophy that honors a player whose performances are "remarkable", but who "keeps a sporting spirit", which does not always go hand in hand, in sport as in politics.

The progressives imploded and ended up merging with the Conservatives, who have been known for many years (and still are in some provinces) under the strange name of "Progressive Conservatives."

The moral of this story ? In the end, the rule is not infinitely complicated: it is not enough to arrive first at the finish line, it is especially necessary, to govern, to obtain the support of a majority of deputies, whatever their party .

Also, the small parties that help the big ones to survive in power are often eaten up and end up in the history books in the company of old barons.