The CBC story below suggests Canadians are, at best, largely indifferent to the monarchy.
That's probably true of many things that work quietly and don't make a lot of noise -- people are indifferent about municipal water supplies until they go very wrong.
That said, considered in isolation, one can cogently argue that Canada should not have a Queen (or King). If we were starting Canada from scratch today we would likely have a President and not a Monarch.
However, we do have a Queen (and a good one) and to change that would reopen the Constitution in a major way. And that would not be a good thing unless and until we have a proper national consensus about the proper role of the federal government, the provinces, the Senate, minority language rights ... need I go on?
The present system works -- albeit with plenty of glitches -- and it doesn't make sense to open it up for major revisions simply to change one part of the system that isn't causing any trouble:
"As the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh start their nine-day Canadian tour, a new poll suggests Canadians are feeling rather listless about the visit and the monarchy in general.
The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey of just over 1,000 Canadians found that 45 per cent of respondents didn't know they were coming, while almost half — 48 per cent — agreed when asked if they consider the monarchy "a relic of our colonial past that has no place in Canada today."
As well, 44 per cent said they would support a referendum on whether Canada should keep the monarchy, with 58 per cent of Quebec respondents leading the call for a national question.
http://tinyurl.com/246v3p5"
That's probably true of many things that work quietly and don't make a lot of noise -- people are indifferent about municipal water supplies until they go very wrong.
That said, considered in isolation, one can cogently argue that Canada should not have a Queen (or King). If we were starting Canada from scratch today we would likely have a President and not a Monarch.
However, we do have a Queen (and a good one) and to change that would reopen the Constitution in a major way. And that would not be a good thing unless and until we have a proper national consensus about the proper role of the federal government, the provinces, the Senate, minority language rights ... need I go on?
The present system works -- albeit with plenty of glitches -- and it doesn't make sense to open it up for major revisions simply to change one part of the system that isn't causing any trouble:
"As the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh start their nine-day Canadian tour, a new poll suggests Canadians are feeling rather listless about the visit and the monarchy in general.
The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey of just over 1,000 Canadians found that 45 per cent of respondents didn't know they were coming, while almost half — 48 per cent — agreed when asked if they consider the monarchy "a relic of our colonial past that has no place in Canada today."
As well, 44 per cent said they would support a referendum on whether Canada should keep the monarchy, with 58 per cent of Quebec respondents leading the call for a national question.
http://tinyurl.com/246v3p5"
4 comments:
So what happens if Britain dumps the monarchy? Is she still OUR Queen then? Do we have to give her a castle to live in? Seriously, with rising anti-royal sentiment in Britain if they away with that anachronism wouldn't it be better to make our own decisions before Britain does it for us?
The Monarchy - the richest welfare family in the world. What a waste of life.
She was born so people should keep her in wealth and bow and scrape to her as if she's not just another human being.
Sickening
Interesting point Rat -- well, Dundurn Castle in Hamilton is nice ...
I'd suggest Stornoway. It ain't a castle but it sure could use a resident that isn't deadweight.
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