<P> Past governor general the Marquess of Lorne said of the job: "It is no easy thing to be a governor general of Canada . You must have the patience of a saint, the smile of a cherub, the generosity of an Indian prince, and the back of a camel," and the Earl of Dufferin stated that the governor general is "A representative of all that is august, stable, and sedate in the government, the history, and the traditions of the country; incapable of partizanship, and lifted far above the atmosphere of faction; without adherents to reward or opponents to oust from office; docile to the suggestions of his Ministers, and yet securing to the people the certainty of being able to get rid of an Administration or Parliament the moment either had forfeited their confidence ." </P> <P> Though the monarch retains all executive, legislative, and judicial power in and over Canada, the governor general is permitted to exercise most of this, including the Royal Prerogative, in the sovereign's name; some as outlined in the Constitution Act, 1867, and some through various letters patent issued over the decades, particularly those from 1947 that constitute the Office of Governor General of Canada; they state: "And We do hereby authorize and empower Our Governor General, with the advice of Our Privy Council for Canada or of any members thereof or individually, as the case requires, to exercise all powers and authorities lawfully belonging to Us in respect of Canada ." The office itself does not, however, independently possess any powers of the Royal Prerogative, only exercising the Crown's powers with its permission; a fact the Constitution Act, 1867 left unchanged . Among other duties, the monarch retains the sole right to appoint the governor general . It is also stipulated that the governor general may appoint deputies--usually Supreme Court justices and the Secretary to the Governor General--who can perform some of the viceroy's constitutional duties in his or her stead, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (or a puisne justice in the chief justice's absence) will act as the Administrator of the Government upon the death or removal, as well as the incapacitation, or absence of the governor general for more than one month . </P> <P> It is the governor general who is required by the Constitution Act, 1867, to appoint for life persons to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, who are all theoretically tasked with tendering to the monarch and viceroy guidance on the exercise of the Royal Prerogative . Convention dictates, though, that the governor general must draw from the privy council an individual to act as prime minister--in almost all cases the Member of Parliament who commands the confidence of the House of Commons . The prime minister then directs the governor general to appoint other members of parliament to a committee of the privy council known as the Cabinet, and it is in practice only from this group of ministers of the Crown that the Queen and governor general will take direction on the use of executive power; an arrangement called the Queen - in - Council or, more specifically, the Governor - in - Council . In this capacity, the governor general will issue royal proclamations and sign orders in council . The Governor - in - Council is also specifically tasked by the Constitution Act, 1867, to appoint in the Queen's name the lieutenant governors of the provinces (with the Advisory Committee on Vice-Regal Appointments and the premiers of the provinces concerned playing an advisory role), senators, the Speaker of the Senate, supreme court justices, and superior and county court judges in each province, except those of the Courts of Probate in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick . The advice given by the Cabinet is, in order to ensure the stability of government, by political convention typically binding; both the Queen and her viceroy, however, may in exceptional circumstances invoke the reserve powers, which remain the Crown's final check against a ministry's abuse of power . </P> <P> The governor general, as the representative of the Canadian sovereign, carries out the parliamentary duties of the sovereign in their absence, such as summoning parliament, reading the Speech From the Throne, and proroguing and dissolving parliament . The governor general also grants Royal Assent in the Queen's name; legally, he or she has three options: grant Royal Assent (making the bill law), withhold Royal Assent (vetoing the bill), or reserve the bill for the signification of the Queen's pleasure (allowing the sovereign to personally grant or withhold assent). If the governor general withholds the Queen's assent, the sovereign may within two years disallow the bill, thereby annulling the law in question . No modern Canadian viceroy has denied Royal Assent to a bill . Provincial viceroys, however, are able to reserve Royal Assent to provincial bills for the governor general; this clause was last invoked in 1961 by the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan . </P>

Who has more power governor general or prime minister