Yes Hydrogen, the same words as I would use, "no purpose." That seems to be reinforced when I read the reasoning proposed by some, or just observe the overly emotional reactions that accompany the symbolism.
If individually focused upon, those 'decorative' aspects of the Monarachy may appear outwardly harmless, I submit that the collective litany of them all, have had a decidedly pernicious impact on the maturation of the Canadian identity. I thank Vexil for effectively stating that notion in that one and only post left thus far.
When I was a child here, my father would wax incessantly about how regal this country of his adoption all appeared. It surprised me given how he questioned so many other things in his writings, but not this. Before he died, he finally questioned what he had earlier praised, and went a few steps further. I suspect it had nothing to do with anything his friends, or even members of his family said to him - and we gave him all sorts of arguments both academic and otherwise. But being an intelligent man, he slowly came around to another position in his own stubborn way, as he reflected on the peculiar regal residue working itself into the institutions and psyche of this nation.
A friend of my father, who now lives in Wales, still sends me clippings of some of the disenchantment there with the crown, appending quotes from my father on the margins. Charming asides, throwaways perhaps, but as I travel around and continue to see how it looks both inside and outside the Canadian context I return with deepen conviction that the sooner the Monarchy is gone, in any of its forms, the better it will be for this country.