Talk:Lieutenant governor

Massachusetts

I think the mention of the succession in Massachusetts is slightly confused, in that it suggests the existence of a title of "Acting Governor". There is no such title; the Constution provides, rather, that the Lieutenant Governor shall act with the authority of the Governor when the Governor is unable to perform his or her duties. (This means, as an unusual quirk of process, that the Lieutenant Governor has that authority whenever the Governor is out-of-state!) The style of the Lieutenant Governor remains the same in such cases: "His/Her Excellency the Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth".

I'm not aware of any other state in which the Governor must be located in the state in order to legally carry out his/her duties. Occasionally it's a minor news story here when the Gov is out of town (usually fund-raising for some campaign for higher office) and the LG ends up signing some non-controversial bit of new legislation. 18.26.0.18 05:42, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Capitalisation

I have reverted the clumsy mass-decapitalisation by Radiojon which not only imposed the lower-case in inappropriate places (see Wikipedia:Capitalization, but broke a number of links. I have no objection to a careful edit that follows the manual of style, but performing a mass "replace" is disrespectful to those who have spent time and effort on this article. Andrew Yong 17:00, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

As a title of a government office, "lieutenant governor" is incorrect under rules of style - it's always "Lieutenant Governor" Peter Grey 08:10, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Hi! At least in a Canadian context there are numerous, and not mutually agreeable, notions. According to The Canadian Style (an official federal government style guide), the term is generally Lieutenant-Governor (upper case with hyphen; p. 46) though lieutenant-governors (lower case and hyphenated) when pluralised (p. 70). However, The Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage (p. 244) equivocates somewhat, indicating use of upper case only when used in and associated with specific provincial L-Gs or names, not generally, and varied use. Lastly (and further to that), a visitation of numerous provincial websites typically indicate Lieutenant Governor (of Province) (upper case and no hyphen), probably due to the primacy of those positions in their respective jurisdictions.

So, unless there's an objection and in a desire for some consistency, I've adopted the Oxford standard when referring to Cdn. lieutenant-governors in Wikipedia. Thoughts? Thanks! E Pluribus Anthony 05:57, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

Now, am I only being archaic and fusty or isn't the still-correct proper English plural "Lieutenants-Governor"?? As is also the case with "Governors-General" (which for some reason I seem to hear more often, unlike the former)?? In colloquial English (aka debased latter-day media English) "Lieutenant-Governors" has become the standard, more's the pity (there's a certain air to the correct/older form). Redirects at least, I suppose; and I have to go with the hyphen and capitalizations, at least in Canadian use; NB in Canadian use the same form is used for other British colonies and possessions, as the holders of these titles sometimes show up in BC's histories, e.g. soembody or other who had been L-G of the Falkland Islands (Col. Richard Clement Moody, commander of the Royal Engineers in BC)), and more if I stopped to think of their names; what I mean is I don't know what the L-G (or G-G) plural use, or w/wo hyphen, happened to be such and so a way in which colony; there's a lot of variation in official Englishes, even within the Commonwealth; obviously Wikipedia has evolved its own style/orthography guides, but at least redirects should be brought into play to address the existence of alternative capitalizations/plurals/hyphenations/etc for these and other words.Skookum1 06:53, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

Usage (i.e., capitalisation and hyphenation) is varied. According to my style guides (e.g., The Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage, The Canadian Style (also cited above)), "governor" is the noun, so it's Governor General yet Lieutenant-Governor, and Governors General yet Lieutenant-Governors. As the note for "lieutenant-governor" indicates, uppercase L-G (and GG, actually) is typically used only in association with a specific official (e.g., Lieutenant-Governor Lincoln Alexander), not generally but varies (e.g., Canadian governors general, Lieutenant-Governors of Ontario). This has been the driving force in my recent changes (for consistency, if nothing else); I've been trying to redirect as needed, but acknowledge more may be needed. Thoughts? Thanks! E Pluribus Anthony 07:26, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

Yes, "governors general" is correct; "lieutenants governor" is wrong -- it's a hypercorrection based on "governors general". Indefatigable 21:20, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

Although the Canadian Oxford suggests lower case for lieutenant governor, I would argue that since current useage (January 22 2007) by all ten provinces is to capitalize the term, that is what should be used at Wikipedia. I have changed it here, but not at the main site in light of the apparent controversy this has generated in the past. Discuss. Flyguy649 15:31, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Secession of Québec

I think that the following statement is biased :

« Some have argued that in this situation, the Lieutenant Governor not only could refuse Royal Assent, but would be duty bound to do so. »

I recognize that it is possible that 'some' had argued that, but I remember that the actual lieutenant governor of Québec said publicly that she would not go against the elected government of Québec in the case of a secession. I found on the web the following quote:

« Je sanctionnerais parce qu’on ne peut pas, en démocratie, ne pas respecter la voix du peuple. […] Maintenant, c’est certain qu’il y a des constitutionnalistes, c’est certain qu’il y a des gens qui, peut-être, donneraient d’autres orientations, mais, vous savez, le gouverneur général aussi peut à ce moment-là ne pas reconnaître ma sanction » [Le Devoir, 24 janvier 1997, pp. A1 et A10].

Strait forward transcription:

« I would sanction because we can't, in democracy, disrespect the voice of the people. [...] Now, it is certain that there is constitutionalists, it is certain that there is some people who, maybe, would give other orientations, but, you know, the governor general can also do not recognize my sanction at this moment. » [Le Devoir, January 24 1997, pp. A1 and A10].

I didn't correct the article directly because I couldn't check the newspaper quoted.

Lieut-Gov colonial vs provincial

The BC list of L-Gs includes the pre-Confederation Governors; and omits the pre-Confederation Lieutenants-Governor (note proper, if archaic, form of the plural). I'll be building separate wikipages for the BC colonies (VI and BC) and so am intending on revising the L-G tables to reflect that; or at least to break away to a prior page, or for the colonial administration redirect to the Governor of British Columbia-Governor of Vancouver Island and their L-Gs. These were executive posts, not ceremonial, and they don't belong on the same page as the viceregal positions, at least not without a lengthy explanation that might as well be a separate page.Skookum1 08:17, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

New Zealand

There seems to be some confusion regrarding L-Fs of NZ. Edward_John_Eyre is listed in his biography as being a L-G of NZ but he is listed by rulers.org as a L-G of New Munster a province of NZ. Which is actually the case? Abeorch 03:50, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

Only took me 4 years to respond - sorry :) Michael King describes in his Penguin History of New Zealand (2003) from page 198 onwards how the New Zealand Constitution Act 1846 came into place. On that latter page, the L-Gs are listed.

The New Zealand entry on this article would thus appear to not be correct. Anybody inclined to look into this a bit more and attempt to fix it? The page is almost like a disambiguation page (although it doesn't comply in style with it), so a separate article on the New Zealand L-G would probably be in order. Schwede66 (talk) 18:46, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

Australia

I disagree with the point on Australia - in New South Wales at least the Lieutenant-Governor is a position held by the Chief Justice of the NSW Supreme Court (presently James Spigelman, previously Murray Gleeson, now Chief Justice of the High Court). It is not a position that only comes up when the Governor is away, dead, or has resigned. I'm not sure about other states, but this should be fixed. (JROBBO 05:32, 28 April 2006 (UTC))

I agree that the text does not represent reality. It should be changed. In 1998 Kennett appointed Adrienne Clarke as lieutenant governor of victoria.Joan Gos 03:23, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

The section saying that the Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia the Chief Justice is just plain wrong..... and the source given contradicts what the article says. The Lieutenant-Governor is Hieu Van Le, not the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice is only the Administrator if both the Governor and the Lieutenant is unable to carry out vice-regal duties....121.45.152.189 (talk) 02:25, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Canada

I was always under the impression that while the Lieutenant Governors were appointed by the Governor General, the appointment advice was provided by the respective provincial premiers, not by the prime minister. As well, the sovereign may still appoint the LGs, it is simply that in practise it is done by the GG. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Coldacid (talk • contribs) 03:16, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

See the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario's web site's FAQ: [1]

Who Appoints the Lieutenant Governor? Lieutenant Governors are appointed by the Governor General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Canada and the federal Cabinet (the Governor General-in-Council).

--thirty-seven (talk) 17:42, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Not a disambiguation page

This article appears to be a valid link target, describing a general title and listing specific uses of that title. As an article and a valid link target, it would not be a dab page. If it really is to become a dab page, the descriptive "article-like" text would be removed and we would have:

Lieutenant Governor may refer to:

• Lieutenant governor (Australia)
• Lieutenant-Governor (Canada)

...

and none of the current categories. Then most of the incoming links would need to be disambiguated to link to the article they intended. Is that the expectation? -- JHunterJ (talk) 11:26, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

I would agree with the approach of turning this into a disambiguation page. See also my comments on the NZ article above. Schwede66 (talk) 18:48, 7 January 2010 (UTC)