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FYI: In a nutshill: You needn't love Charles to treasure the Crown

By: Tombits...

31/10/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 2

ON Monday Prince Charles, heir to the British and Canadian thrones -- why does that last bit sound so odd? -- and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will arrive in Canada for a state visit.

If a recent poll can be believed, this will matter to almost no one except for the few members of the Monarchist League, always gung ho for king and country, and the even fewer anti-parliamentarians who would replace Canada's constitutional monarchy -- yes, surprise, this is still a constitutional monarchy -- with a watered-down version of American republicanism.

The poll indicated that more than 64 per cent of Canadians don't think about -- or even of -- Prince Charles, and that while a majority believes the monarchy has played an important part in Canada's past -- who knew that we are such historians? -- 60 per cent today think that the concept of a constitutional monarchy is outdated.

That may explain why Governor General Michaëlle Jean's repeated claims to be Canada's head of state never seemed to bother many Canadians much. Most of us probably didn't know she wasn't.

Ms. Jean has since recanted, in the best monarchical tradition. Her official website was recently revised to give the Queen her proper place and put Ms. Jean back in her role as Queen Elizabeth's vice-regal representative in Canada.

More people should care about this than seem actually to do. Republicanism is a kind of poison pill for democracy in that it eases the consolidation of power in the executive. Some democracies swallow it -- pick almost any African nation -- and others like the United States and most European nations just leave the pill sitting on the plate to be used if necessary. Parliamentary democracies, like Canada's, however, are protected from it by a genuine majesty and historical tradition. We don't have to like Prince Charles to appreciate and treasure the institution that he and Governor General Jean represent, which is the glory of Canadian democracy.

... by Tom Oleson

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 31, 2009 H2

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2 Comments

Posted by: Tammy

November 1, 2009 at 8:26 PM

Oh, please, someone put Tom Oleson out of his misery in writing. Even Crankshaft makes more sense. The glory of Canadian democracy?! That's the people, all of us, not some goofy guy from across the ocean. Time for Canada to finally grow up.

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Posted by: jmt18325

October 31, 2009 at 10:57 AM

Our present government system probably will never change much (thank goodness) because of the Constitutional requirements involved in changing the offices of the Queen or the Governor General. Many of the most prosperous and free countries in the world are monarchies. Don't believe me? Go look for yourself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_heads_of_state_and_government

On a different subject, I'd like to point out that the article isn't really correct when it says that we would switch to an American republican model. Most republics are parliamentary republics that have both a president and a prime minister. Israel is an example of this, as is Italy. In these republics, the prime minister still holds most of the power and the President occupies the same roll as the Queen, France is a slightly mixed version of this type of republic and an American republic where both offices still exist, but the top office of President holds more real power. The American and Mexican styl systems are more rare, in that the offices of head of government and head of state are combined.