Royal Commissions of Inquiry in Canada

Abstract

W HEN it is not abused for partisan purposes of witch-hunting or whitewashing, investigation can advance the objectives of good government in at least three ways. Responsive, responsible, and pure administration may be fostered by independent probes; executive-legislative formulation of policy may be based on wider knowledge and information uncovered by investigators; and investigative agencies may bring the public into closer relations with the government. Canada early borrowed from Great Britain the technique of investigation by royal commission1 and, while the record of their use shows debits as well as credits, it is clear that royal commissions have contributed to the three objectives of good investigative technique. As a means of stirring up the administrative branch or of locating political corruption, royal commissions, with their higher prestige and greater independence, have often been more successful than committees of the legislature. On the other hand, their operations in such stormy partisan waters have often undermined the usefulness of the technique for other purposes. Partly because of the slow growth of an efficient civil service, the Canadian executive has had to lean fairly heavily on such outside sources of information as royal commissions in formulating policies.2 In Great Britain, the