Politics & Power Quote by Charles Tupper

Tupper’s line is political jujitsu: a statesman wrapping himself in the robes of judicial necessity to make a contentious choice look inevitable. By insisting the government is "not... constructing a law" but merely "carrying out a decision", he shifts responsibility away from elected officials and onto the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council - the imperial court of last resort that, in Canada’s early constitutional life, could overrule domestic instincts with distant authority.

The intent is defensive. Tupper is preempting accusations of overreach or opportunism by reframing governance as administration. The subtext is sharper: if you dislike the outcome, your quarrel is with the court, not with us. That posture also flatters the idea of rule-of-law restraint while quietly narrowing democratic agency. It’s a useful trick in any era when governments want to treat political choices as technical obligations.

Context matters because the Privy Council wasn’t just any court; it was London’s voice in colonial-turned-dominion affairs, shaping federal-provincial power and rights through decisions that Canadian politicians had to swallow or strategically reinterpret. Tupper’s phrasing reflects a Canada still negotiating where sovereignty actually lived: in Parliament, in the courts, or in the imperial architecture that sat above both.

What makes the quote work is its careful grammar of inevitability. "Finds itself" suggests circumstance, not strategy. "Carrying out" suggests duty, not desire. It’s accountability management, dressed up as constitutional humility.