Would Canada vote to be independent from the "Queen"?
- Thread starter SwitSof
- Start date
Has anyone ever tallied up how much the Allegiance to the Royals costs Canadians?
It seems a bit over the top to be paying for some gal who by an accident of birth and her uncle's proclivities for a divorced woman to be getting paid for wearing a crown.
I'm all for tradition, but not paying for it.
Flags are cheap. Queens aren't. Nor is her huge entourage.
Oh I'm going to hell now.... lunch time! bye
It seems a bit over the top to be paying for some gal who by an accident of birth and her uncle's proclivities for a divorced woman to be getting paid for wearing a crown.
I'm all for tradition, but not paying for it.
Flags are cheap. Queens aren't. Nor is her huge entourage.
Oh I'm going to hell now.... lunch time! bye
I could think of better places to put that $1.10/Citizen..... The Federal Government could probably open quite a few hostels to house all of Toronto's homeless people with that $30 million per year....
It wouldn't happen though - the positions would be replaced by slightly more hip sounding positions that are politically partisan and cost 3 times as much.
That money is all spent within our own gov. We don't actually spend money on the Queen herself. We spend money on the lieutenant governor, the ceremonies involved, and the halls/houses etc. If we were to abolish the monarchy, do you really think the gov would have any fewer ceremonies? Stop upkeeping the halls and houses associated with it? And do you really think they wouldn't replace the lieutenant governor with some other political role? To think that money would go into some more worthy program is a nice idea, but I can't see it happening.
Good Point. Or maybe he could give that money to a have-not province like Alberta. :roll:
I'm fine with the present Queen..neither here nor there with her and the systwem..but OMG Prince floppy ears as head of state, we should just quietly drop it all after the Queens death
I know the money isn't being spent directly on the Queen....
I'm in the opinion that paying for former news anchors to globe trot the world on the tax-payers dime is not money well spent when we get little return on it. I think we should replace the various Queens representatives with rubber stamps and save our selves some dough.
Wait a minute. That cost includes of all the engagements of all the Lieutenant Governors as well as the Governor General, who are all Canadian. Canada pays nothing to the Queen other than providing meals and accommodations for her and her crowd when they visit.
The Queen is an apolitical head of state who exercises no power over Canada. The first time she did would be the last time.
Why the 'wait a minute'? That page was pretty clear in explaining all the costs and stuff.
But I disagree in your assessment of the queen's power. If our political process broke down, and the queen was forced to step in, I don't think it would necessarily be the last time. You're assuming that she'd be acting against the wishes of the majority of the country, which isn't necessarily the case. Personally, having a failsafe is reassuring.
The handful of discrpancies we all know of aside, the Governer General performs tireless duties on behalf of the Canadian People almost year round, representing our goodwill toward allies and reassuring them of our commitments. If she or he did not exist, it would be the Prime Minister who would have to do all that ribbon cutting instead, and in my view that's a waste of his time. We need him (or her) to actually run the country and worry about policy.
I for one am not ready to just dump our heritage for nothing. Canada is a free country just like our Commonwealth cousins who share our Queen. It's a Francophone country just like Belgium, who also has a Queen. A progressive northern country like Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands, which are all constitutional monarchies. Having a Queen or King as an expression of our heritage does not take anything away from us as a country, it only adds to the richness of our identity. It also is yet another huge thing separating us from our neighbours to the south, which heaven knows is something we will always need in our struggle to maintain our sovereignty over this great land. And what an added bonus that we don't even have to pay for the Queen. The Brits do that for us. We just pay for her representative in Canada, who is in turn our cultural ambassador to the world.
To the fellow who has a problem swearing allegiance to Her Majesty and her successors... tough. If you really wanted to be Canadian you would accept this country for what it is, a constitutional monarchy with a prime minister, a governer general, and yes, a Queen. If you want a president, I suggest you either stay where you are, or choose another foreign country to adopt as your new homeland.
I for one am not ready to just dump our heritage for nothing. Canada is a free country just like our Commonwealth cousins who share our Queen. It's a Francophone country just like Belgium, who also has a Queen. A progressive northern country like Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands, which are all constitutional monarchies. Having a Queen or King as an expression of our heritage does not take anything away from us as a country, it only adds to the richness of our identity. It also is yet another huge thing separating us from our neighbours to the south, which heaven knows is something we will always need in our struggle to maintain our sovereignty over this great land. And what an added bonus that we don't even have to pay for the Queen. The Brits do that for us. We just pay for her representative in Canada, who is in turn our cultural ambassador to the world.
To the fellow who has a problem swearing allegiance to Her Majesty and her successors... tough. If you really wanted to be Canadian you would accept this country for what it is, a constitutional monarchy with a prime minister, a governer general, and yes, a Queen. If you want a president, I suggest you either stay where you are, or choose another foreign country to adopt as your new homeland.
I think once you cater in the cost of the Secret service and all the fancy planes, bunkers, retreats etc that US president has..
That our head of state is far cheaper. The $1.10 per citizen includes all the governors, which would be like including all the US governors and their expenses (the big one being security).
Our system is far cheaper. Switching would mean fewer homeless shelters (the extra money would need to come from somewhere)
That our head of state is far cheaper. The $1.10 per citizen includes all the governors, which would be like including all the US governors and their expenses (the big one being security).
Our system is far cheaper. Switching would mean fewer homeless shelters (the extra money would need to come from somewhere)
Don't you mean you'd find a good Liberal to pocket $100 million instead.....and the Canadian people would get absolutely NOTHING for their hundred mill!
Im perfectly happy not being a Canadian Citizen, even though I lose a lot of entitlements. Would be nice to vote, but it won't kill me not to.
As the daughter of a long line of patriots, many of whom fought against both Britain and France, to swear allegience would be treason to me. I don't really care if you folks do, that isnt my point. My point is simply to support my view of not taking Canadian citizenship and reminding those who are by birth Canadian that they by birth have an allegiance to the Monarchy. Many people don't particularly like that idea.
ETA Something that Canadians don't talk about though is the opnion of some Americans that Canada is spineless and weak because they never walked away from the breast of mother England. Most Americans don't know all that much about Canada--they really don't have a need to in thier daily grind--but they do know that one thing...that Canada has a Queen and we took care of that problem 231 years ago.
As the daughter of a long line of patriots, many of whom fought against both Britain and France, to swear allegience would be treason to me. I don't really care if you folks do, that isnt my point. My point is simply to support my view of not taking Canadian citizenship and reminding those who are by birth Canadian that they by birth have an allegiance to the Monarchy. Many people don't particularly like that idea.
ETA Something that Canadians don't talk about though is the opnion of some Americans that Canada is spineless and weak because they never walked away from the breast of mother England. Most Americans don't know all that much about Canada--they really don't have a need to in thier daily grind--but they do know that one thing...that Canada has a Queen and we took care of that problem 231 years ago.
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I AM Canadian. I technically didn't choose it (born in SK) but woudn't change it. I stand by not swearing allegiance to the Queen or future King Chuck and the Horse Queen. If a vote were held, I would vote against retaining the monarchy.
But since I am not required to swear an oath to the Queen, and as long she behaves as a figurehead, its not that big an issue for me.
Well don't come off as condescending or anything, just because you don't have a Queen. Hell, half the old bitties in your country are obsessed with every move a member of the Royal Family makes in the first place. You might as well have the Queen. Just because we never wanted to be American and preferred to stay British for a while longer, doesn't make us spineless. And by the way, despite the fact that we willingly keep the Monarchy as a symbol of our heritage, we are a totally free and independent nation. People who were born Canadian, just like those who are born British, don't have to swear allegiance to the Queen. But foreigners who wish to become Canadian are expected to show the highest respect for our national institutions and traditions, and by swearing allegiance to the Queen, they are swearing allegiance to the legal embodiment of the Canadian people. Those who cannot deal with that should go somewhere else, like the states, where instead you swear daily allegiance to a piece of cloth.
I suppose some people don't like the idea of having a monarchy, but they aren't in the majority. And please, if you do like reminding people they have a Queen, keep on doing it. It's about time more young Canadians get in touch with where their country comes from. Don't you see, it's about tradition, and that is a valuable thing.
I don't see why you would want to dump such an important piece of our heritage, but you are free to vote as you wish.
I'm sure that the Prince of Wales will be a perfectly capable king and will serve us just as well (although hopefully not as long) as Her Majesty has. And after him will come William, who I think has the potential to be a great king.
However, after Her Majesty passes on, I don't think we should ever take her off the $20 bill. I think she has been too important to us (rather like Queen Victoria was, whom we still celebrate to this day on Victoria Day).
But honestly, why vote to get rid of it? It doesn't affect your daily life in any way at all, and if you're not into it you don't have to be. But why ruin it for those who enjoy it as a part of their heritage? And it would be seriously difficult to purge the Monarch from our constitution anyway, and very difficult to convince Ontario to do it, where a portrait of the Queen is still proudly displayed in nearly every town hockey rink.