----- Original Message -----
From: "John Sessoms"
Subject: Re: OT - Saw the Queen Today
From: frank theriault
Is she still? I ?thought Canada had grown past all that.
>
> Live and learn.
The fact that some doddering old fart on the Other Side of the Pond
can still legally veto legislation passed by our democratically
elected parliament should be our national shame.
Oddly, however, it isn't.
cheers,
frank
I thought they sent a new doddering old fart, excuse me, Governor General
every few years so they wouldn't have to veto legislation on the Other
Side of the Pond; they've got someone local to do it for them.
Under our system of government, the GG is actually a necessary evil. Frank
doesn't like having a vestigial representative of the British Crown, but the
fact is, having final arbiter of whether a legislation passes is not really
a bad thing in a system of government where the elected members of
government do not represent the people who elect them, which is how the
Canadian system works.
One of the beauties of the American system of government is that your
representatives actually represent their constituents, in the Canadian
system, the elected representatives represent the party, and
hence the Prime Minister if they are part of the majority party.
We have a thing called the Senate (which is the body that should be
revamped), which is supposed to be the "sober second thought" component of
our government, but the PM has appointing power, and so new PMs tend to
stack the Senate in their favour, which leads to rubber stamping of
legislation.
Of course the PM also has appointing power regarding the GG, with the
British Crown rubber stamping that appointment, so the whole thing is moot.
The PM creates the legislation he wants, the MPs representing his party vote
for it whether or not it's the right thing for their constituents because to
do otherwise will get them kicked out of the party, thereby hobbling their
political career, and legislation passes through Parliament to the Senate,
which the PM has done whatever he can to make amenable to his wishes, and
then it goes on
to the GG, who also owes his or her position to the PMO, and hence is
effectively owned by the PMO.
I wonder if the present GG, who is purported to be a descendant from African
slaves understands the irony of the position she has accepted.
As a matter of interest, when out present GG was appointed, she was a dual
citizen of Haiti and Canada with ties through her husband to a terrorist
organization called Front de libération du Québec, which blew a few people
up back in the 70s, and was, from what I've heard through various media
sources fairly sympathetic to the concept of Quebec separation and
independence.
What this means is that in Canada, a majority government puts near
dictatorial powers into the hands of the PM (witness Liar Jean (my opinion
only) and what he
got away with).
The situation we are in now is a minority governing situation with a Liberal
official opposition that knows it can't win an election, so they just
merrily go along with whatever the government wants so that they won't force
an election and possibly give the Conservatives a majority, whether or not
that legislation agrees with their party philosophy or not.
It could be worse though, we could give Herr Harper a majority government,
which would be a disaster for the country.
Anyway, the good thing about having a GG is that the person holding the post
has the power to throw out legislation from a government that is running
amok, and can also force a dissolution of Parliament if a government is no
longer fit to govern.
The fact is though, they do not exercise this power, which makes them more
of a danger than a benefit.
I truly believe that the GG is a necessary position given the style of
government that we have, especially considering that our Parliament no
longer represents the electorate, but the GG also has to exercise the powers
that the office grants, and not just be a rubber stamp for the PMO.
In this, the GG is a total failure, but unless we want to completely revamp
our political system to enforce an American style of representation, we need
her just in case we have to remove a government that no longer represents
the best interests of the country.
William Robb
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