Lieutenant governor
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A Lieutenant Governor or Lieutenant-Governor is a government official who is the subordinate or deputy of a Governor or Governor-General. In India this position is slightly different.
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Australia
While Australia was a collection of colonies of Britain, lieutenant-governors ran Australian colonies that were initially subordinate to the colony of New South Wales, such as Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) or the Bay of Islands (New Zealand).
Today there are no Lieutenant Governors in Australia. When a Governor-General or state Governor dies, resigns, or is absent, an Administrator, or acting Governor, would be appointed. In many states, this role is played by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The state Administrators have no standing powers but stand ready to take up the Governor's role.
Canada
Image:CanadaLtGovernorswithMichaelleJean.jpg
In Canada, the lieutenant-governor (sometimes without a hyphenTemplate:Ref, pronounced Template:IPA), in French lieutenant-gouverneur (always with a hyphen), is the Queen's, or Crown, representative in a province, much as the Governor General is her representative at the national level. The lieutenant-governor is therefore the province's vice-regal representative, but has little or no executive role.
Similar positions in Canada's three territories are termed Commissioners and are representatives of the federal government, however, not the Queen directly. Yukon and Nunavut have had Commissioners since they were founded, but in Northwest Territories the position dates to 1905, when the most populous part of the territory was split away to become the provinces Alberta and Saskatchewan. Before then, the Northwest Territories had a Lieutenant Governor.
Like similar officials, lieutenant-governors hold considerable reserve powers which are not normally used. One interesting constitutional question is the role of the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec in the hypothetical case of the Quebec National Assembly voting to unilaterally secede. Some have argued that in this situation, the lieutenant-governor not only could refuse Royal Assent, but would be duty bound to do so.
Nominally, lieutenant-governors are appointed by the governor general for a usual term of five years. In practice, they are chosen by the Prime Minister of Canada, usually in consultation with their respective provincial Premiers. Lieutenant-governors are often retired "elder statesmen" from the prime minister's party. The salary of lieutenant-governors is paid by the federal government rather than by the provincial government, though other costs associated with the office are covered by the respective province. In the past, the lieutenant-governors were a direct representative of the governor general, however they now directly represent the Queen in their respective provinces.
The difference in authority between the Australian state governors and the Canadian provincial lieutenant-governors is significant constitutionally. In Australia, governors are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the appropriate state premier. Canadian lieutenant-governors are appointed by the governor general, rather than the Queen directly, on the advice of the prime minister.
Canadian lieutenant-governorships have been observed often to be used to promote women and minorities into a prominent position. The first female Vice-Regal in Canada was the Honourable Pauline Mills McGibbon, Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario from 1974 to 1980. Five of Canada's ten current lieutenant-governors and one of the three territorial commissioners are women. There have been one black (Lincoln Alexander) and several Aboriginal lieutenant-governors. The current Lieutenant Governor of Quebec uses a wheelchair. The current Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia is Jewish. The current Lieutenant Governor of Alberta is a Chinese-Canadian, as was the Hon. David Lam in British Columbia (Lieutenant Governor from 1988 to 1995).
In 1999, Queen Elizabeth II approved the design of a Vice-Regal Badge of Service. The distinctive badge features a diamond-like shape framing a red circle with a maple leaf. The lieutenant-governor's badge is gold in appearance and the badge of one's spouse is silver. On 1 January 2000, all living current and former lieutenant-governors and their spouses were presented with this badge. [1]
See lieutenant-governors:
- Alberta
- British Columbia
- Manitoba
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Nova Scotia
- Ontario
- Prince Edward Island
- Quebec
- Saskatchewan
- Northwest Territories (formerly)
India
- See also: List of Governors of India
In India, a Lieutenant-Governor is in charge of a Union Territory. He is given almost the same powers chief ministers have over their states. However the rank is given just to the union territories of Chandigarh, Delhi, Pondicherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Lieutenant-governors hold the same rank as a governor of a state in the list of precedence.
The other territories have an administrator appointed, who is an IAS officer.
New Zealand
The only person to have held the rank of Lieutenant Governor of New Zealand was Captain William Hobson, RN from 1839 - 1841, during which time the New Zealand colony was a dependency of the colony of New South Wales, governed at that time by Sir George Gipps. When New Zealand was designated a crown colony in 1841, Hobson was raised to the rank of Governor, which he held until his death the following year.
Subsequently in 1848 New Zealand was divided into three provinces, New Ulster, New Munster and New Leinster each with their other Lientenant Governors.
Channel Islands and Isle of Man
In the British Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, the Lieutenant Governor is the Queen's representative, but the post is largely ceremonial, with executive power remaining with each Island's elected administration. In the Isle of Man, the Lieutenant Governor was until 1980 the presiding officer of the Legislative Council and of Tynwald Court (the Legislative Council and the House of Keys in joint session), but both roles have been transferred to the President of Tynwald. Now, the Lieutenant Governor only presides once a year on Tynwald Day. On the 19th October 2005 Tynwald approved proposals to change the title of the Lieutenant Governor to Crown Commissioner or Barrantagh y Chrooin as he/she will be known in Manx. This Bill must now go before the Lord of Mann Elizabeth II for Royal Assent before it becomes law.[2]
See also List of Lieutenant Governors of the Isle of Man, List of Lieutenant Governors of Jersey, List of Lieutenant Governors of Guernsey
United States
In the United States, the office of Lieutenant Governor is the second-highest executive office in a state and is nominally subordinate to the Governor. The procedure for election of Lieutenant Governor varies from state to state with 24 states having the Governor and Lieutenant Governor elected as running mates on a joint ticket (for example in New York, Maryland and Kansas), while in 18 states, the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor run separately. The latter can cause the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to be from different parties and bitter political rivals (such as is often the case in California, Virginia, and Alabama).
In the U.S. the main duty of the Lieutenant Governor is to act as Governor should the Governor be temporarily absent from the office. In addition, the Lieutenant Governor generally succeeds a Governor who dies or resigns. In most states, the Lieutenant Governor then becomes Governor, with the title and its associated salary, office, and privileges. In a few states, like Massachusetts the Lieutenant Governor instead becomes "Acting Governor" until the next election.
Other than this primary constitutional duty, most state constitutions do not prescribe the duties of the Lieutenant Governor in detail.
- In a few states such as Hawaii and Utah, the position of Lieutenant Governor is equivalent to that of Secretary of State.
- In some states the Lieutenant Governor is the Speaker of the upper house of the legislature. In the states of Mississippi and Texas, the Lieutenant Governor, elected separately from the Governor, presides over the State Senate, and by convention and legislative rule has a great deal more influence on legislation than the Governor. Thus, when a Lieutenant Governor of Texas becomes Governor, they assume a higher office, but lose some of their previous authority.
In Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee and West Virginia the President of the state Senate assumes the office of Governor upon a vacancy. In November 2005, New Jersey voters approved a constitutional amendment to create the office of Lieutenant Governor. The office will be officially enacted following the 2009 general election. Even though the West Virginia Constitution establishes no such office, West Virginia Code 6A-1-4 assigns the title of Lieutenant Governor to the Senate President. In Tennessee, the leader of the Senate's full title is the Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the Senate. John S. Wilder was elected to that post in 1971, which, as of 2006, he still holds. As of 2006, he is both the longest-serving and oldest Lieutenant Governor in the United States.
Arizona, Oregon and Wyoming also do not have a Lieutenant Governor. In these three states and Puerto Rico the Secretary of State becomes Governor upon the office's vacancy.
American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands have the office of Lieutenant Governor.
The office of Lieutenant Governor existed in all of the 17th- and 18th-century British colonies that later became the initial thirteen United States of America. The defining difference between the Lieutenant Governor and the Royal Governor was that the Lieutenant Governor would be required to live in the colony to which he was appointed. Also, the Royal Governor would be paid directly by the crown, where as the Lieutenant Governor would be paid by the colonial treasury.
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Notes
- Template:Note In a Canadian context there are numerous, and not mutually agreeable, notions regarding hyphenation and capitalisation of the position title. The Canadian Style (an official federal government style guide), indicates Lieutenant-Governor (upper case with hyphen; p. 46) though lieutenant-governors (lower case and hyphenated) when pluralised (p. 70). Similarly, governor is the main noun in this title and it is the term that is pluralised. The Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage equivocates somewhat, indicating upper case only when used in and associated with a specific provincial L-G or name, not generally (e.g., Lieutenant-Governor Lincoln Alexander), and varied use (p. 244). Moreover, a visitation of numerous provincial websites typically indicate Lieutenant Governor (of Province) (upper case and no hyphen), likely due to the primacy of those positions in their respective jurisdictions.
- For consistency in Wikipedia, the Oxford standard can be used when referring to Canadian lieutenant-governors.es:Teniente Gobernador