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The duty required of Thomson was nothing less than the revolutionizing of the Canadian organization of government. The union of the provinces could be accomplished by mere act of parliament after the consent of the provinces had been obtained. Not so the introduction of responsible government. A special training in government and a peculiar political attitude of mind hitherto foreign to Canadian conditions were necessary to the operation of responsible government.

As has been seen, responsible government was not the essential demand of French Canada at the time of the rebellion. It was only in the final stages of the movement, and then rather to enlist British sympathy than from a logical appreciation of its operation, that the claim for responsible government was adopted by the assembly of Lower Canada. Even then an elective legislative council seemed to offer a more direct means of controlling the executive. In Upper Canada, while the demand for responsible government was conscious and deliberate, its real significance was not understood by the reformers. Responsible government involved a discussion of the fundamental relation between the colony and the motherland which had never entered the minds of the reformers of either province. Lord Durham, indeed, had stated the theoretical division of authority, but had neglected to take into account the inevitable conflict which in actual practice would arise between colonial and imperial interests. A clear-cut and definite distinction such as Durham attempted was practically impossible. The same questions affected both colonial and imperial interests; colonial interests were imperial and imperial interests were colonial. Into a consideration of this conflict of interest in its relation to responsible government Canadian reformers had never thought to enter.

Likewise no serious thought had ever been given to the question of the practical working of responsible government. The cabinet system based on party organization found no counterpart in Canada. In Lower Canada party could hardly be said to exist. In Upper Canada there was a broad distinction between reformers and conservatives, but a party capable of pursuing a consistent line of policy had no existence. The only issue on which a definite community of action could be secured was responsible government—as then understood. But responsible government as a single political issue was only an instrument of self-destruction. When responsible government became an active principle of administration it ceased to be a basis of party unity, and, with the disruption of party, responsible government fell. Owing to the loose structure of party in Upper Canada, the operation of responsible government was impossible.

But the existence of a party did not complete the machinery of responsible government. A committee was necessary to give effect to the popular will in the actual administration of government. The organization of a cabinet was Thomson’s next task. The chief executive officers were to be organized into a working unit bound together by a political policy commanding the support of the majority of the popular assembly. Unity and consistency of policy could be maintained only on the basis of a broad spirit of compromise on the part of each member of the committee. From the crude materials at hand Thomson was required to complete the machinery of responsible government by the construction of a cabinet council.

But further, the existing powers of government were opposed to the introduction of responsibility. In Lower Canada the suspension of the constitution and Durham’s dismissal of the councils had done much to clear the ground. Colborne’s Special Council had been restored, but it was not a serious factor in government. In Upper Canada, however, active and determined resistance was to be expected from the Family Compact. The vested interest of the members of the Compact party in the government of Upper Canada had to be removed as an essential condition of reform.