A responsible government is a government that is accountable to the elected representatives of the people. This means, for example, that government ministers are accountable to Parliament for their actions and decisions.

The term “responsible government” is also referred to as “departmental responsibility.”

Louis-Hyppolite La Fontaine and Robert Baldwin, joint leaders of the United Canada government (then including Quebec and Ontario), were the main instigators of responsible government.

It was Louis-⁠Hyppolite La Fontaine who gave his first speech to Parliament in French, a language that had been prohibited since the Act of Union of 1840.