Canadian History and Government

Within the spheres as signed to them, these provincial courts. Like the United States, Canada has a Supreme Court for the whole country. The final court of appeal for Canada in the more impor tant cases is not, however, this court, but the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England—a curi ous survival of Canada's former col onial status. There are not a few Canadians who wish to see appeals to this Judicial Committee abolished or restricted; though there are many others in favor of the continuance of the present arrangement, which has the advantage of giving Canada a distinguished and impartial court of last resort far removed from the stress and storm of Canadian politics.

In general, it must be said that if this and other slight limitations on Canadian independence continue to exist, it is because the Canadian peo ple have willed that they should exist.

Education in Canada comes under provincial jurisdiction, and its char acter differs therefore in different provinces. On the whole, however, it is of a high standard. There are few countries of Canada's size which boast of so many universities; and in most of the provinces school attendance is compulsory. The ex istence side by side in Canada of French-speaking Roman Catholics and English-speaking Protestants has introduced complications into the educational system; and at the time of the confederation both Ontario and Quebec had to accept "separate schools"—schools, that is to say, that are Roman Catholic in Protestant Ontario and Protestant in Roman Catholic Quebec. In Onta rio, moreover, difficulties have arisen from the fact that the " sepa rate school" supporters are both French and English in " legislatures are supreme. They have even complete oversight of the system of municipal government, which is everywhere based on the principle of popu lar election; and they determine the form of the point of language, whereas the official language of the province is English. But these difficulties are not impossible of solution, nor do they seriously affect the efficiency of the educational system.