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by Drinking Dano on March 13th, 2005

Drinking Dano

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What would have to take place for Canada to become a Republic?

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  • by Drinking Dano on March 13th, 2005

    Drinking Dano

    We would have to open up a constitutional amendment that would make Meech Lake and the Charlottetown Accords look like a cakewalk.

    Canada does not have a long history of good things happening when it comes to Constitutional Amendments, even to the point of Quebec refusing to sign the Constitution when it was patrioted in 1982!

    The BNA Act, The Constitution Act and a whack of others acts which have become known collectively as The Constitution Act 1982 all specifically state that all powers will continue to be vested in the Canadian Crown.

    In the Constitutional talks in 1982, the then Newfoundland Premier encouraged and got these passages specifically stated in the constitution in reference to the Crown. In short, it makes it clear that for any change to take place with our Canadian Crown, (Along with any other major amendment to the Constitution) there must be the consent of every Province, the majority of the House of Commons and of the Senate, and a 50% plus 1 vote of the people.

    Thusly, Canada becoming a Republic is extremely unlikely anytime soon. There are a couple of reasons for this, not the least of which is you can bet any of the old Tories will fight it to no end. The biggest reason perhaps though, is that Canadians are actually quite ignorant of the fact the Her Majesty is Canada’s head of state, and the VAST majority of us who do know about it, simply don’t feel that its an important enough issue to open up constitutional debates about.

    I think that Jean Chrétien put it best when he said “I have enough trouble with the Separatists, I am not going to start with the Monarchists!”

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  • by RedJohn on October 6th, 2005

    RedJohn

    While the other poster has made a number of good points, I am not in complete agreement. Starting from the top (and not wanting to sound too pedantic)...

    The government of Canada is composed of three parts: the Canadian Crown, the Parliament, and the Senate. The Head of State is the Governor General (GG), who represents the Crown (e.g., the monarchy) in Canada. The Head of Government is the Prime Minister (PM). Changing the role of the Crown requires a constitutional amendment.

    Most constitutional amendments require the support of the federal Parliament and two-thirds of the provinces (numerically), representing at least 50% of the population. For changes affecting the Supreme Court, the monarchy, or the amending formula itself, all ten provinces and the federal Parliament must support the amendment.

    In effect, any such change cannot happen unless a substantial majority of Canadians are opposed to the Crown to such an extent that they would sponsor such an amendment. This unlikely to happen any time soon.

    I believe that the majority of Canadians are fully aware that the Head of State is the Crown's representative, the GG. However, most people are generally indifferent to its political significance. It has been over 75 years since there was an overt clash between the GG and the PM. Most people see the Crown as a benign and somewhat positive tradition. Traditions are difficult to discard, even if they are bad traditions. The worst that can be said about the Crown these days is that it is a neutral tradition. Canada has had approximately 70 Governors General since the early 1600s, beginning during the French regime. To a majority of Canadians, the Crown seems little more than a picture of the Queen on the wall in elementary school, assuming that such a picture is even displayed.

    A small minority of Canadians are staunch monarchists, down from a sizable majority a century ago. However, people have drifted away from the monarchy, feeling that it plays no significant role in their lives. This is particularly true for the large number of immigrants from non-Commonwealth nations over the past half century.

    A somewhat larger group would like to see the role of the Crown abolished, since they feel it is incongruous to have someone from another nation as the Canadian Head of State. The Crown is viewed as a holdover from colonial days and something that Canada, as a mature nation, is ready to grow out of. There are differing opinions about how to implement such a change: merging the Head of State and Government into one person or replacing the Crown with a domestic Head of State (e.g., a republican president).

    I don't think you would find more than a handful of Canadians who would advocate such a change through revolution. Why kill people over something that is more symbolic than otherwise?

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