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Canada's next Governor General
- Thread starter Jonny5
- Start date
LAz
Active Member
And how do you suggest one goes about changing this?
kEiThZ
Superstar
Why fix something that's not broken?
I rather like our heritage thank you very much. And that's speaking as an immigrant.
In my experience, people who whine about the GG and the monarchy usually have very little knowledge of this country's history. Their complaints 9 times out of 10 are centred around how expensive they are. They've obviously never seen how Obama or Sarkozy roll.
kEiThZ
Superstar
afransen
Senior Member
Regardless of how you feel about it, the monarchy is totally intertwined with every aspect of Canadian law and governance. You can't just change the constitution, and that would be a herculean feat in itself. You'd have to change dozens of laws to remove any reference to the Crown, etc.
Finally, we still need a head of state. If it's no longer the GG acting on behalf of the Queen, it has to be someone else. Either we have a ceremonial president which is similar to our current GG (likely appointed so they never have democratic legitimacy), or a more powerful president like the Republic of France. Or we abandon our parliamentary system entirely and move to a presidential system similar to the USA. You can't just get rid of the head of state. The buck has to stop somewhere.
Finally, we still need a head of state. If it's no longer the GG acting on behalf of the Queen, it has to be someone else. Either we have a ceremonial president which is similar to our current GG (likely appointed so they never have democratic legitimacy), or a more powerful president like the Republic of France. Or we abandon our parliamentary system entirely and move to a presidential system similar to the USA. You can't just get rid of the head of state. The buck has to stop somewhere.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
I wonder if William Shatner will accept the first runner up prize, should the next GG fail to met his obligations... or accept Mr. Congeniality.
afransen
Senior Member
Boooo.
cacruden
Senior Member
I am no big fan of the monarchy - being more of a republican myself .... but I really would not be for removing the Queen during her rein - for me it would just be a little disrespectful (which might last another 20 - 25 years based on family genes). After that, I would prefer an end to the monarchy with respect to Canada.
afransen
Senior Member
And then what?
For goodness sake, people. It's fashionable to say the monarchy is anachronistic and ought to be replaced, but that idea quickly loses appeal when you consider the alternative. We can't just not have a head of state.
For goodness sake, people. It's fashionable to say the monarchy is anachronistic and ought to be replaced, but that idea quickly loses appeal when you consider the alternative. We can't just not have a head of state.
cacruden
Senior Member
Not my favourite, but the easiest and simplest change would be an elected President - with weak or mostly ceremonial powers (there are many examples of that).
cacruden
Senior Member
I really don't want Tampon as Head of State.
Rowe
Active Member
I like the GG position.
Yea, maybe an elected GG would be more democratic but I don't want to have party politics in our Head of State.
Steven Harper does not represent all Canadians, but Michaelle Jean did. Hopefully David Johnson will too.
Yea, maybe an elected GG would be more democratic but I don't want to have party politics in our Head of State.
Steven Harper does not represent all Canadians, but Michaelle Jean did. Hopefully David Johnson will too.
Second_in_pie
Senior Member
Assuming that the GG stayed a politically neutral subject, I think that an elected GG would be even less politically charged than the current appointment system. And it'd let people elect their own representation for the country. I think it'd be great.
afransen
Senior Member
Non-political elections? Right...
Rowe
Active Member
Agreed.