How was the government of the Province of Canada structured before the Responsible government?

• A. There was no central government
• B. It was an oligarchy. The British Crown chose governors, who then appoint executive and legislative councils for Upper and Lower Canada, leaving the settlers with little to no say on what their government decided
• C. The government was controlled by the Crown with appointed governors and councils, leaving settlers with little say
• D. There was a fully elected assembly with equal powers

Answer: (C)

Before responsible government, colonial rule in the Province of Canada rested on Crown control rather than elected accountability. The Crown appointed the Governor General, who led an Executive Council, and an appointed Legislative Council acted as the upper chamber. The Legislative Assembly was elected, but real control over policy and budgets lay with the governor and his appointed councils, not with elected representatives. In this setup, settlers had little influence over decisions, because the key governing bodies were not responsible to the people who elected them. This aligns with the idea that the government was controlled by the Crown with appointed governors and councils, leaving settlers with little say. The other descriptions don’t fit: there was a central colonial government in place, it wasn’t an oligarchy in the sense of autonomous local rule, and there wasn’t a fully elected assembly with equal powers.