Re: The Monarchy and the Crown for Canada
We should continue the Crown of Canada.
Our position as a constitutional monarchy gives our system a great deal of flexibility that would not be true if we were a republic. The Governor General of Canada, while acting on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada, does have the authority to depart from the decisions of this first minister and act on her own to safeguard our democratic principles and ensure that we have a properly-mandated Government.
For example: Under Canadian law, if the Prime Minister were to lose the confidence of the House of Commons then he or she would, by tradition, recommend the dissolution of the Parliament of Canada. However, what if he refused? What if the Prime Minister decided that Parliament would not be dissolved, and he would ignore a lack of confidence? There would be nothing in law that would force dissolution. In this case the Governor General would have the option, the prerogative, and indeed the duty, to outright dismiss the Prime Minister and dissolve Parliament unilaterally.
For example: Under Canadian law, there is no automatic order of precedence for persons to become the Prime Minister in the event that the Prime Minister is incapacitated. What if there was a disaster, and the Parliament of Canada was utterly destroyed? What if the House of Commons was attacked, as may have happened some weeks ago if the suspected terrorists in Toronto had not been arrested? What if each and every member of the Cabinet had been assassinated? Being a constitutional monarchy, the Governor General could have tossed together a "provisional Government" in a matter of seconds, had the need arisen, to govern during the emergency. What if we didn't have this option?
For example: What if we had multiple successive minority Governments, and each had fallen within a matter of weeks—no budget has been passed in two or three years, and the Government of Canada risks running our public works into bankruptcy. The Governor General could dismiss the Prime Minister and appoint the Leader of the Opposition, or any other party leader, who would be able to govern long enough to ram a budget through Parliament to save the public service.
For example: What if the Government used parliamentary maneuvres and late-night votes to ram a piece of overtly racist or discriminatory piece of legislation through Parliament? The Governor General could refuse to enact the legislation, and it would never enter into law. Without the Governor General, this would not be the case—the consent of the Senate would essentially enact the law, and there would be no last-ditch protection for the people of Canada.
Any of the situations above could be applied to the Provinces—a legislative system without unwritten conventions and principles such as that provided to us through the Westminster system and our constitutional monarchy would mean that we would no longer have the flexibility to address emergencies and unforeseen circumstances. Now, of course, we would all hope that the expansive powers of the Governor General, the Lieutenant Governors and, indeed, the Queen, would ever have to be used.
But we can't rule that out, can we?
