Fire the Governor General -
- Thread starter Goober
- Start date
My dad was a monarchist. I never understood why. I'm with Spade on this one.
"Do you still consider Canada a colonial appendix of a dead empire?"
Absolutely not!
"Do you still consider Canada a colonial appendix of a dead empire?"
Absolutely not!
Re: Governor General of Canada
There is no question as to whether The Queen of Canada is the head of State — absolutely no question. Per s. 7 of the Constitution Act, 1867, executive power over Canada is vested exclusively in The Queen. That section of the constitution has never been amended or repealed, nor has any member of the Honourable the Senate or Commons ever even mused about any such amendments. It is easy enough to say that the Governor General is the de facto head of State, but the de jure head of State is The Queen. Anyway who has honestly convinced themselves that we are no longer a constitutional monarchy is quite clearly delusional.
There are arguments that because the Governor General exercises most of The Queen’s functions, that it is appropriate for Her Excellency to be termed the ‘head of State’. Though I respect these arguments, and they may be sound enough for private citizens, I feel that the Governor General has a role to play in ensuring that Canadians are knowledgeable about our system of constitutional government, and the role that The Queen plays (the Governor General is, of course, the representative of The Queen foremost).
Constitutional monarchy provides for Canada the most stable system possible; The Queen is the most non-partisan, and above politics head of State that any nation could hope to have, because Her Majesty hasn’t endured personal elections, and because Her Majesty doesn’t account to the prime minister. The very fact that constitutional executive power is reposed in the monarch, and exercised by the Governor General, tends to be enough to stop abuses of power by governments.
Her Majesty’s Government for Canada has stated, despite these controversies over the ‘head of State’ nomenclature, that the Government remains supportive of Her Excellency The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D., the Governor General of Canada, and the Governor General’s program. Let us hope that the Web site is corrected post-haste, so that Canadians can be back to the comfortable practice of appreciating the Governor General’s work and the advantages of constitutional monarchy without distraction.
God save The Queen! ;-)
There is no question as to whether The Queen of Canada is the head of State — absolutely no question. Per s. 7 of the Constitution Act, 1867, executive power over Canada is vested exclusively in The Queen. That section of the constitution has never been amended or repealed, nor has any member of the Honourable the Senate or Commons ever even mused about any such amendments. It is easy enough to say that the Governor General is the de facto head of State, but the de jure head of State is The Queen. Anyway who has honestly convinced themselves that we are no longer a constitutional monarchy is quite clearly delusional.
There are arguments that because the Governor General exercises most of The Queen’s functions, that it is appropriate for Her Excellency to be termed the ‘head of State’. Though I respect these arguments, and they may be sound enough for private citizens, I feel that the Governor General has a role to play in ensuring that Canadians are knowledgeable about our system of constitutional government, and the role that The Queen plays (the Governor General is, of course, the representative of The Queen foremost).
Constitutional monarchy provides for Canada the most stable system possible; The Queen is the most non-partisan, and above politics head of State that any nation could hope to have, because Her Majesty hasn’t endured personal elections, and because Her Majesty doesn’t account to the prime minister. The very fact that constitutional executive power is reposed in the monarch, and exercised by the Governor General, tends to be enough to stop abuses of power by governments.
Her Majesty’s Government for Canada has stated, despite these controversies over the ‘head of State’ nomenclature, that the Government remains supportive of Her Excellency The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D., the Governor General of Canada, and the Governor General’s program. Let us hope that the Web site is corrected post-haste, so that Canadians can be back to the comfortable practice of appreciating the Governor General’s work and the advantages of constitutional monarchy without distraction.
God save The Queen! ;-)
Majority of Canadians want to drop monarchy: poll | International | Reuters
Is Canada a democracy or monarchy?
Is Canada a democracy or monarchy?
"The queen is a lizard and eats little children."
Do we want to be associated with this monster?8O :lol:
Do we want to be associated with this monster?8O :lol:
Re: “Is Canada a Democracy?”
That’s not even a reasonable question.
Of course, Canada is a representative parliamentary democracy — Her Majesty’s Government for Canada is responsible and accountable to our elected representatives of the House of Commons. Our elected representatives debate and approve the Government’s expenses; they pass, amend of defeat the Government’s program and agenda; they move and debate legislation outside of the Government’s agenda as the needs of the day dictate. They are responsive, and responsible, to Canadians.
That’s not even a reasonable question.
Of course, Canada is a representative parliamentary democracy — Her Majesty’s Government for Canada is responsible and accountable to our elected representatives of the House of Commons. Our elected representatives debate and approve the Government’s expenses; they pass, amend of defeat the Government’s program and agenda; they move and debate legislation outside of the Government’s agenda as the needs of the day dictate. They are responsive, and responsible, to Canadians.
Re: Cliffy’s Irresponsible Comment
That was just extremely poor taste.
Her Majesty The Queen has done much to further the cause of good for the sixteen Realms of the Commonwealth of Nations (and Her Majesty is head of State of each of these sixteen constitutional monarchies). The comment is irresponsible, and sensationally immature. (A comment such as that would have a member of the House of Commons named by the Speaker, and thrown out.)
That was just extremely poor taste.
Her Majesty The Queen has done much to further the cause of good for the sixteen Realms of the Commonwealth of Nations (and Her Majesty is head of State of each of these sixteen constitutional monarchies). The comment is irresponsible, and sensationally immature. (A comment such as that would have a member of the House of Commons named by the Speaker, and thrown out.)
It is the Standings Order of the House of Commons, not the monarchy, that makes that rule.
You changed my statement through your quote, please don’t change the meaning of my words.
I said that the Government is responsible to the House of Commons, and that our elected representatives in the House of Commons are the ones responsible to the Canadian people. It seems to me that a good number of members never had to take civics or social studies during their elementary or high school years.
I don't know about the sentimentalists, but I would like to taste the stuff sometime.
That's the theory anyway. In reality the wiggle this way & that if something goes wrong and accountability is tossed out the window. The same goes for bureaucrats. Not much we can do about it either as between the pols and the bureaucrats, they engineered the system for their benefits. Politics is a bane to humans and a joke to some. And Canada has become an Oligarchy as a result.
FiveParadoxProbably a DNS or other such Interweb issue, but I don’t seem to be able to access the Web site of the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General at the moment. I have access to other Canadian government domains, though. How odd? Can anyone access the Office’s Web site? (I have a shred of hope that the Ms. Sheila-Marie Cooke, the Secretary to the Governor General, has made the proper decision to take down the Web site to make corrections to save face for the ‘head of State’ issue of recent days.)
Role and Responsibilities
Role and responsibilitiesConstitutional ResponsibilitiesCommander-in-ChiefRepresent CanadaEncourage ExcellenceBring Canadians TogetherGrant Armorial BearingsTheir ExcellenciesGovernor General Michaëlle JeanJean-Daniel LafondFormer Governors General
Represent Canada
As representative of the Crown and head of State, the governor general carries out responsibilities with a view to promoting Canadian sovereignty and representing Canada abroad and at home. At the request of the prime minister, the governor general:Why blame the secretary with no evidence what so ever - shooting the messernger a tad early I would say - if it was her this would not be online - this is coming from the GG, as it has been in the news for nearly a week.
Re: Office of the Secretary to the Governor General
I’m not sure what happened there with your URLs and quotes, Goober.
Nonetheless, the Secretary to the Governor General is the head of the Governor General’s ‘department’, so to speak; Ms. Cooke is responsible for the operations of the Web site, and any other matters that relate to Government House. The issue of the Governor General’s own words and speeches are a subject that I’ve also discussed, and I’ve suggested that Her Excellency should simply take the prime minister’s advice for future speeches and move on. As for the Web site, that is Ms. Cooke’s role, and I hope that she sees corrections make as soon as possible. The constitutional inaccuracies and omissions should be a cause for concern not only for monarchists, but for all Canadians.
The Web site is © the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General of Canada.
The Web site is now back up, with a notice of ongoing technical problems under ‘Important Notices’.
I’m not sure what happened there with your URLs and quotes, Goober.
Nonetheless, the Secretary to the Governor General is the head of the Governor General’s ‘department’, so to speak; Ms. Cooke is responsible for the operations of the Web site, and any other matters that relate to Government House. The issue of the Governor General’s own words and speeches are a subject that I’ve also discussed, and I’ve suggested that Her Excellency should simply take the prime minister’s advice for future speeches and move on. As for the Web site, that is Ms. Cooke’s role, and I hope that she sees corrections make as soon as possible. The constitutional inaccuracies and omissions should be a cause for concern not only for monarchists, but for all Canadians.
The Web site is © the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General of Canada.
The Web site is now back up, with a notice of ongoing technical problems under ‘Important Notices’.
It would appear the wording on the web site has been changed.
As for who is responsible for what.... the GG is ultimatley responsible for all her employees. The buck stops with her. The GG made the comments in her speach, and that was reflected in her web site. As far as I am concerned, the Government of Canada and the Prime Minister must make it VERY clear that this is completely unacceptable and imediatley replace the present GG. This will send a clear message to any future GG'snot to try and usurp more power or privilige than they are afforded by the Monarchy of Canada, the House and Senate, and the people of this country.
As for who is responsible for what.... the GG is ultimatley responsible for all her employees. The buck stops with her. The GG made the comments in her speach, and that was reflected in her web site. As far as I am concerned, the Government of Canada and the Prime Minister must make it VERY clear that this is completely unacceptable and imediatley replace the present GG. This will send a clear message to any future GG'snot to try and usurp more power or privilige than they are afforded by the Monarchy of Canada, the House and Senate, and the people of this country.