King–Byng affair

The crisis came to redefine the role of governor general throughout the Dominions of the British Empire, becoming a major impetus in negotiations at Imperial Conferences held in the late 1920s that led to the adoption of the Statute of Westminster 1931.

After 1931, the governor general remained an important figure in Canadian governance as a constitutional watchdog,[1] but the role was shorn of its previous imperial duties.

In the subsequent election, held on 29 October, Arthur Meighen's Conservative Party won 116 seats in the House of Commons to 101 for King's Liberals.

[citation needed] On 30 October, King visited Byng after consulting with the rest of Cabinet and informed the Governor General that his government would continue until parliament decided otherwise.

[citation needed] A few months later, one of King's appointees in the Department of Customs and Excise was revealed to have taken bribes, after which the Conservatives alleged that the corruption extended to the highest levels of government, including the prime minister.

[5] To avoid the inevitable vote on the Fansher amendment, which would either force his government's resignation or bring his administration into disrepute, King went to Byng on 26 June 1926 seeking a dissolution of parliament.

[6] Byng, citing his reserve powers, stated he was inclined to refuse the request, reminding King of their agreement made the previous October and arguing that the Conservatives, as the largest party in parliament, should have a chance to form a government before an election was called.

Although many Conservatives privately preferred an election, Meighen believed he was bound by honour and convention to accept Byng's invitation and formed a Cabinet.

[8] At that time, convention dictated that the ministers of the Crown drawn from the House of Commons were obliged upon appointment to resign their seats in parliament and run for re-election in by-elections.

This posed a problem for Meighen: his and the other ministers' temporary absence from the House would make the government extremely vulnerable in the event of a vote of non-confidence.

Other authorities agreed with King, since, by custom, the Lord Byng of Vimy was obligated to heed the Prime Minister's request to call the election.

[18] The King–Byng Affair was the most controversial use of a governor general's reserve powers until the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975, in which the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.