True enough...but I have the benefit of a fairly intuitive position, since I'm just operating from 'maybe they
call it a monarchy because..well...it's a monarchy', which does seem much easier to defend. Never let it be said that I always choose the difficult path.
My argument, reduced to simplest terms:
The political cartoonists often drew the Liberal PMs wearing crowns and robes trimmed in ermine. They drew Stephen Harper wearing a humungous cowboy hat.
I'm the opposition in the thread and I'm not claiming anything. I'm just trying to figure out how this works. Is it like a reverse North Korea- Canada claims its a monarchy while it's actually a democracy? How much power could the queen actually wield if she were to take an interest in Canadian affairs?
There were some who were wishing she would override Michaelle Jean's failure to act when Harper prorogued Parliament rather than face the music over his misdeeds some years ago.
Monarchies have religious implications, like the concept that the Monarch is appointed by God for example. For that reason the fact that Canada is a Monarchy in-and-of-itself means that Canada cannot be described as totally secular.
But even if you and I disagree on that point, it is irrelevant, because we still agree that Canada cannot be called entirely secular because of the Charter of Rights language.
The reason these things are related, is because of an older (much, much, much, older) argument we were having (on this thread or perhaps another thread, I don't recall TBH), where one side was arguing that the mention of God in the Canadian national anthem was inappropriate, and possibly unlawful discrimination against atheists, because Canada is a fully secular country. On the other side were those (including myself) arguing that Canada has religious elements of its government and so God was an understandable component of the anthem.
I am really,
really,
REALLY sick of this argument getting thrown around. Yes, it started in another thread. It got dragged into this one. No, it is not "understandable" that God is included in the anthem, because I remember a time when the first verse that everyone sings did
not include any reference to God.
I can't see it happening. It's pretty much inconceivable that the Queen would address the British public in any way other the most anodyne way she does for every Christmas speech. Which she doesn't write herself, btw.
Selective breeding over many generations has ensured that British monarchs simply aren't particularly bright individuals. Think Reagan, or Bush, but with even less talent.
This may well be a good thing.
On a good day, the Queen can sit nearly upright, and wear shoes. Political power doesn't really enter into the equation.
I hope this is nothing more than a joke in really poor taste.
The Queen is not a stupid woman. Yes, she has lived a privileged life, with perks and servants and other things most of the rest of us can't even imagine, let alone that these are things that are considered a normal part of life (for example, I read the two books by Prince Charles' former valet, who stated that one of his duties was to put the toothpaste on Charles' toothbrush for him!). She seriously misread the mood of the people after Diana died and didn't understand their anger at her failure to publicly express some sort of grief at her former daughter-in-law's death.
But she still commands respect even from anti-monarchists who figure it's okay to hang on to the monarchy until she dies, and then drop it.
Introducing Diana into the blood line may have been an error. Those youngsters appear to have some pretty strong opinions.
It's Charles who has the opinions and sometimes opens his mouth when he shouldn't. Diana wasn't responsible for that.
The reference to God is easwy enough to do away with. Just adopt an actual bilingual version that carefully select which part to use from which language (as opposed to the current unofficial bilingual version which seems designed to hit as many reference to God and the christian faith as possible AND that one gender-biased line ("in all thy sons command"))
Yep, the anthem is actually fairly easy to fix, changing the offending lines and still keeping the right number of syllables and correct rhyme.
The irony of this question is that this "Canada is a Monarchy" argument began when I asked a Canadian whether Canada was a Democracy or Democratic Republic or something similar, and the Canadian responded that no, Canada is actually a Constitutional Monarchy.
To which I responded "Oh that simplifies things then, because a Monarchy has religious underpinnings"... and off to the races the argument went.
Yeah, we know. Ad nauseaum.
Or you could just go with
God Save the Queen.
We already do sing that at some ceremonies. For example, it's part of the Remembrance Day ceremony.
What do you expect? She's ancient. One of the virtues of monarchy is that by the time the chief executive becomes the chief executive they are pretty much all done in. If someone convinces the royal family to skip over Charles and go directly to one of these youngsters when the old queen finally kicks it you guys might get a good shaking...which would probably be for the best.
I don't agree with everything the Queen has said and done, and there have been times when she's seemed like a miserable snob. But I will be sad when she's gone, just like I was sad when the Queen Mum died. She was like Canada's honorary grandmother in a way, at least among the monarchists. Even my father was sad when she died.
Was she ever hot?
That's a very pretty picture of her.
Indeed, as someone who immigrated to Canada 25 years ago from a fairly religious and rather specifically in denomination religious place, my impression of the "Canadian character" is that Canadians generally think of secular virtues as ones worth upholding and building a nation around.
If Quebec is the province to thank for what's in place, then I'd like to thank Quebec.. even if parts of our system seem contradictory and aren't perfect.
It's Trudeau you should be thanking. He did his best to drag some aspects of Canadian law and society kicking and screaming into the modern era. It's a shame we can't dig him up, revive him, and let him straighten things out again, since I have very little hope that the current batch of politicians can do it.
<----monarchy.
