In 1840, Upper and Lower Canada were united as the Province of Canada. Reformers such as Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine and Robert Baldwin, in parallel to Joseph Howe in Nova Scotia, worked with British governors toward responsible government.
The first British North American colony to attain full responsible government was Nova Scotia in 1847-48. In 1848-49 the governor of United Canada, Lord Elgin, with encouragement from London, introduced responsible government.
This is the system that we have today: if the government loses a confidence vote in the assembly it must resign. La Fontaine, a champion of democracy and French language rights, became the first leader of a responsible government in the Canadas.
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