Torlyn is right, lets focus on "here" and "now". The political landscape of the 1040's is not really relevent to what the Citizens of Canada need (and deserve) today.
Canuck 25, all you've offered is to the argument is to tell people who do not want a monarchy to go to the United States - maybe I should say that if you want a Monarchy, pack up and go to the United Kingdom where it resides. If you do not want to take part in a critical debate, then go somewhere else before I have to put a muzzle on you.
Anyways, here is a new look at the argument which may be a suitable (and uniquely Canadian) approach to satisfying the issue.
I have two chief problems with the maintenance of the Monarchy as the institution responsible as our Head-of-State:
1) It is an unelected position, meaning that the actions of those who
inherit it are unaccountable to the citizenry who hold the sovereign estate in a liberal democracy (witness the gaffe of members of the Royal Family in the press). As well, since it is inherited, none may rise to take on the duties and responsabilities of such an important office.
2) Since it is an unelected institution that flies in the face of the liberal democratic order, it has been reduced to a mere figurehead having no
de facto political power in our system, despite having the constitutional right to do so.
However, I still wish to maintain the advantages that the Parliamentary Democracy affords us, the central one being that the Chief Executive is above the political partisanship of Parliament and that loyalty goes to the Crown first and foremost instead of two some body of political hacks. A good example of this is the fact that the Governor-General, as representative of the Queen, is the
de jure Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces. As the nations top military officer, the CDS has the right (enshrined in law) to go through his Chain-of-Command, above Parliament, and appeal/complain directly to the Chief Executive. This principle is to keep the military loyal to the people (whos will is embodied in the Crown) rather then to the partisan political group of the day. However, the fact is that since the King-Byng affair our Chief Executive, the GG, has basically been "de-clawed" of their constitutional duties. The result, the Office of the Prime Minster is the most centralized chief executive postion in the Western World. The Prime Minister literally has more power then the US President with regards to what he can legally do in executing his duties. This means that there is limited "checks-and-balances", central to democracy since its inception under Cleisthenes in Athens, on an office which basically rules by fiat after being elected (something the original monarchy/Parliament arrangement was meant to curtail).
Here is my solution which may be able to satisfy both requirements - I'll call it
21st Century Parliamentary Democracy.
All States need a symbol. In the US, the symbol is the Constitution of the United States of America (which sprung from the principles of the Declaration of Independence) for which the Government is charged to uphold and maintain. In Canada, our enduring symbol has been the Crown, where all loyalty is focused. The problem is that the Crown is held by a monarchy which has managed to stick around despite going out of style over a century ago.
When Queen Elizabeth II passes on, Canada should refuse to accept her heir as the new Head of State. Rather, we will request (buy?) a Crown from the British; the Tower of London has a bunch, so I'm sure they won't mind losing one.
This Crown shall become the Crown of Canada. It will be the embodiment of the Sovereign State of Canada and the resting place of the Sovereign Estate of the People (like Hobbes's
Leviathan). It, like our Constitution, will rest in Canada. The Crown will still be the "symbol" of Canadian sovereignty - loyalty will be sworn to the Crown, public land will still remain "Crown Land", and the Rule of Law will still be executed by "The Crown". This ensures that sovereignty is focused on an apolitical object rather then a partisan body.
The Governor-General shall become our Head of State and be given the title of
"Holder of the Crown" (They
will not wear it). The office of the Governor-General will be one that is open to any Canadian citizen and one that is elected and responsible to the Citizens of Canada.
However, in order to maintain the notion that the Chief Executive is above partisan politics, the Governor-General will be a largely reactive institution. I would like it to a position for which the holder is elected for a long period of time, say 10 years (with certain recall conditions), in order to give the Office a sense of an enduring presence in politics. Lacking any sort of Constitutional proactiveness, the goal of setting up the Governor-General as the Chief Executive is to institute the "Elder Statesman" position within our government; a figure that is reserved and observant, but influential (and supplied with the Constitutional powers to do so) if the situation requires it.
The day-to-day running of the Government will reside with Parliament and the Prime Minister (although I'd like to see an expanded role for the Senate). All the skulduggery and muckraking can stay in Parliament where it belongs. Parliament shall remain charged with delivering "Peace, Order, and Good Government" while the Governor-General shall be charged with overseeing the figurative and physical protection of the Crown (our sovereign embodiment) by making sure Parliament does its job. They will largely be responsible for representing Canada abroad, overseeing the organization of new Governments in Parliament, be charged with (in full or shared responsibility) for certain important Government appointments, and shall act as the Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces.
This shouldn't require much of a shift from the present Constitutional arrangement, rather it is more of a realignment of political power structures to the way they were intended. Other states function with Executive Duties being split between two equally important figures (France has a President and a Prime Minister) so I'm sure we can function like this and look to others to learn from their experiences. I am sure that, now that the office would be elected, we could transfer some of the powers of the Prime Minister to the Governor-General. However, as I said above, I'd want to be careful to avoid making the GG a proactive political office, as this will bring the GG, as Holder of the Crown, inappropriately down to the level of partisan politics. Sure, we will never eliminate bias or political outlook in those who occupy the office, but constitutionally we can limit the effect this has on the execution of their duties.
There you go, this proposal may be the best route to take because it satisfies the following problems:
1) It upholds our heritage of Parliamentary Democracy which is subordinated to The Crown (it will now be
our Crown)
2) It maintains our tradition of having our Head-of-State being above partisan politics and overseeing the Government.
3) It satisfies the liberal democratic principle of the Head-of-State being accountable to the will of the Sovereign estate (The citizenry of Canada).
4) It satisfies the liberal democratic principle which sees the position of Head-of-State being one of a meritocracy (those who merit the popular vote of their fellow citizens) rather then one of a inherited estate (those who happen to be the offspring of Royalty).
[I should add 5) The military gets to maintain its traditional link as a servent of The Crown, with all the regalia (Crown Colours), titles (Royal shall be a Crown designation given by the Governor-General on behalf of the Crown), and traditions ("To The Crown and the Governor-General!").]
Roundheads and Cavaliers unite in comments and criticism (Kirkhill, I'm looking at you
)
Infanteer
