Ernest Lapointe - King's Quebec Lieutenant

King's Quebec Lieutenant

Lapointe served as King's Quebec lieutenant and was one of the most important ministers in Cabinet. King did not speak French, and had little interest in Quebec issues; he relied on Lapointe to handle important matters in the province. According to many historians, Lapointe gave a Quebecker voice to the cabinet decision, something that had not existed since the defeat of Laurier in 1911.

Lapointe shared King's vision of Canadian autonomy from Britain, and chaired the Canadian delegation to the Imperial Conference of 1926. This led to the drafting of the subsequent Balfour Declaration that raised the status of dominions to one of equality with Britain, and eventually led to the Statute of Westminster 1931. In the late 1930s, Lapointe disallowed several Acts passed by the Alberta Social Credit government of William Aberhart. However, he failed to disallow the Padlock Act passed by Maurice Duplessis, fearing that doing so would only aid the Union Nationale government.