The burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal was an important event in pre-Confederation Canadian history and occurred on the night of April 25, 1849, in Montreal, the then-capital of the Province of Canada. It is considered a crucial moment in the development of the Canadian democratic tradition, largely as a consequence of how the matter was dealt with by then co-prime ministers of the united Province of Canada, Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin.

The St. Anne's Market building lodging the Legislative Council and Assembly of Canada was burned down by Tory rioters as a protest against the Rebellion Losses Bill while the members of the Legislative Assembly were sitting in session. There were protests right across British North America. The episode is characterized by divisions in pre-Confederation Canadian society concerning whether Canada was the North American appendage of the British Empire or a nascent sovereign nation.

In 1837 and 1838 Canada was hit by an economic depression caused partly by unusually bad weather and the banking crisis in the United States and Europe. A few Canadians in Upper and Lower Canada (now the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec respectively) used the bad economic climate to demand political changes. The Rebellions of 1837 occurred first in Lower Canada, then in Upper Canada. After Lord Durham's Report political reforms followed the rebellions.

Many key leaders of the Rebellions would play focal roles in the development of the political and philosophical foundations for an independent Canada, something achieved on July 1, 1867. The Rebellion Losses Bill was intended to both offer amnesty to former rebels (permitting them to return to Canada) and an indemnity to individuals who had suffered financial losses as a consequence of the rebellions. In Upper Canada only those not convicted of Rebellion were compensated. Lord Durham had granted an amnesty to those involved in the first Rebellion but not to those in the Second Rebellion. The rioters wanted the compensation money to go only to loyalist French and English Canadians. The Rebellion Losses Bill diverted money away from just Loyalists but to many who had caused the Rebellion. The bill was passed by the majority of those sitting in the Legislative Assembly and remained unpopular with most of the population of Canada East and West whose tax money went to rebels. Those in Montreal decided to use violence to demonstrate their opposition. It is the only time in the history of the British Empire and Commonwealth that citizens burned down their Parliamentary Buildings in protest. The Parliament buildings were destroyed amidst considerable mob violence, and an invaluable collection of historical records kept in the parliamentary library was lost forever.

Despite the tense situation and deplorable socio-cultural crime committed by the mob, Lafontaine proceeded cautiously, fought off armed thugs who had shot through his window, and maintained restraint and resolve in his actions. Jailed members of the mob were released on bail soon after their arrest and a force of special constables established to keep the peace. Though there was public concern this might be a crushing blow to the reform movement, Lafontaine persevered despite the opposition, and would continue in his role developing the tenets of Canadian federalism peace, order, and good government. Within a decade public opinion had shifted overwhelmingly in the development of a sovereign Canada.

The governor general of Canada (French: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but she resides in her oldest and most populous realm, the United Kingdom. The Queen, on the advice of her Canadian prime minister, appoints a governor general to carry on the Government of Canada in the Queen's name, performing most of her constitutional and ceremonial duties. The commission is for an indefinite period—known as serving at Her Majesty's pleasure—though five years is the usual length of time. Since 1959, it has also been traditional to alternate between anglophone and francophone officeholders—although many recent governors general have been bilingual.

The office began in the 17th century, when the French crown appointed governors of the colony of Canada. Following the British conquest of the colony, the British monarch appointed governors of the Province of Quebec (later the Canadas) from 1763 onward. Consequently, the office is, along with the Crown, the oldest continuous settler institution in Canada. The present version of the office emerged with Canadian Confederation and the passing of the British North America Act, 1867, which defines the role of the governor general as "carrying on the Government of Canada on behalf and in the Name of the Queen, by whatever Title he is designated". Although the post initially still represented the Government of the United Kingdom (that is, the monarch in her British council), the office was gradually Canadianized until, with the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931 and the establishment of a separate and uniquely Canadian monarchy, the governor general became the direct personal representative of the independently and uniquely Canadian sovereign, the monarch in his Canadian council. Throughout this process of gradually increasing Canadian independence, the role of governor general took on additional responsibilities. For example, in 1904, the Militia Act granted permission for the governor general to use the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian militia, while command-in-chief remained vested in the sovereign, and in 1927 the first official international visit by a governor general was made. Finally, in 1947, King George VI issued letters patent allowing the viceroy to carry out almost all of the monarch's powers on his or her behalf. As a result, the day-to-day duties of the monarch are carried out by the governor general, although, as a matter of law, the governor general is not in the same constitutional position as the sovereign; the office itself does not independently possess any powers of the royal prerogative. In accordance with the Constitution Act, 1982, any constitutional amendment that affects the Crown, including the office of Governor General, requires the unanimous consent of each provincial legislature as well as the Parliament of Canada.

The 30th and current governor general is Mary Simon, who was sworn in on 26 July 2021. An Inuk leader from Nunavik in Quebec, Simon is the first Indigenous person to hold the office. She was nominated on 6 July 2021 to replace Julie Payette, who had resigned in January; Richard Wagner, the chief justice of Canada, had served as Administrator of the Government of Canada in the interim.