Why Does Canada Have A Queen?

[Placebo]

I've been trying to educate myself about the Canadian system of government, but one thing I just don't understand is why Canada has a queen, Queen Elizabeth II.

"Canada is a democracy, a constitutional monarchy. Our head of state is the Queen of Canada, who is also Queen of Britain, Australia and New Zealand, and a host of other countries scattered around the world from the Bahamas and Grenada to Papua New Guinea and Tuvalu. Every act of government is done in the name of the Queen, but the authority for every act flows from the Canadian people."

source: http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/idb/forsey/intro_01-e.asp

So if she doesn't have any real power, what's the point? :shrug:

[tuvor]

1. Ceremony. n/t

[lcordero]

2. the point is

that it's a form of extravagant aristocratic welfare.

[LiberalEsto]

3. The British Empire

used to include not just Canada, but Australia, India, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, and other places I can't recall offhand. All of them used to consider the queen their head of state, though only in a ceremonial role, with national parliaments really running the show. Some of these places have won their independence or been returned to their original nations, or strenghtened their Parliaments and opted to stop considering the Queen their sovereign.
The ones that do, do it as a quaint, though ghastly expensive to maintain, old custom.

[Maple]

9. We pay nothing

to the Queen. And the Brits pay about a dollar a year.

[sweetheart]

15. It costs a lot more than that

The real costs, of security and the big picture, travel and whatnot
is much much higher, but they focus on only direct costs, to sell
the public, many of whom are republicans, the continuing theory that
some people are born special.

The real cost of saying on one hand that all people are equal under
the law, and then, by example, creating a government that blatantly
denies such thinking, is to create a permanent class divide. You
cannot put a dollar value on the social cost of that divide.

[TO Kid]

4. Read a bit of history

Our constitution (the real one, not Trudeau's fraud) is rooted in English Common Law that evolve over the past thousand years or so. Your question makes as much sense as asking why Britain has a queen or the USA has a president.

[Placebo]

7. Well you don't have to be rude about it.

I was just asking.

[Maple]

8. Our constitution

is the same one it's always been, and has nothing to do with English common law.

Trudeau simply brought it to Canada from the UK.

[absolutezero]

5. don't know

It's mostly ceremony and tradition I guess

[Maple]

6. Canada has always been a monarchy

from day one. First under the French, then under the English.

The Queen is the head of state, by our continuing choice. Above politics, and with the power to dismiss a government if need be. Or to ask someone to form a government. This rarely happens, but sometimes we get a tie vote, or a government falls in Parliament. She is an objective referee.

We are members of the Commonwealth, along with Australia, New Zealand and a host of other countries...and share the Queen.

She gives authority of govt, without being a politician or subject to a vote. A figurehead, but one that everyone respects...not a president.

The office or position, not the individual person.

Continuity, thousands of years of history, stability, and above the petty politics of day to day. An objective authority.

[Placebo]

10. Thanks!

:pals:

[MADem]

11. Jesus, maybe we should rent her for a day

...and ask her to dismiss OUR government.

We could use a damn do-over.

[LiberalEsto]

14. Excellent idea!

Let's do it!

[CarbonDate]

17. Wow, that's a great idea....

...subject ourselves to royal rule again. :eyes:

[LiberalEsto]

19. It's just Queen for a Day

and then back to normal after she takes a broom to the cu7rrent Misadministration.

[MojoRoad]

20. Just an anachronism

The Queen represents part of Canada's colonial past. That's it. Nothing more. Despite Maple's assertion, that she is a defacto head of state, is, in reality, utter nonsense. We do, however have a governor general, Adriane Clarkson, the queens so called Representative - appointed by CANADA'S Parliament - ( another anachronism IMHO) that actually serves the nations role as "figurehead". The honest truth is the queen is still on some of our money (oh, and some stamps) mainly because the last generation of English "monarchists" hasn't quite died off yet....It's not exactly a burning issue here -why cause any nasty debate if it can be avoided (the Canadian way), but soon enough even the nominal figurehead role she has here will be history.

In my understanding of our constitution (And I admit I'm a little foggy) the Queen no longer has ANY political authority in Canada.

[foreigncorrespondent]

12. Because...

...It is part of the Commonwealth Nations.

See: http://www.thecommonwealth.org/HomePage.asp?NodeID=20593 for a better understanding. :)

[Lefty48197]

13. You should ask this in the Canadian forum

They might know, eh?

[Minstrel Boy]

16. Why does America have a King?

I can't find an explanation in your constitution.

[autorank]

18. Canada's True Queen: One They Can All Respect

[Blue_Tires]

22. lol n/t

[LSdemocrat]

21. Just for the hell of it