National Post discusses the monarchy’s role in Canada. What’s more useless—the debate over the Crown, or the Crown itself?
We’re sort of hoping the Post is doing its part to distract the nation from the incredibly silly debate over kirpans, and we’d like to help them out. The daily picked a topic that Canada seemingly never tires of: whether this country should ditch its monarch and become a republican state. The idea that anyone can actually be passionate about either side of this debate mystifies us, but the Post gets a pair to hammer away at it. Let the sparks fly.
For the “Yea, ditch the Crown” team, we have historian Michael Bliss:
It’s an absurdity that in 21st century Canada, no Canadian can aspire to be head of state of Canada. The head of state of Canada has to be not just of British descent, but actually a member of the hereditary royal family of Great Britain. Our head of state will be the person who by accident of birth, not for any other reason, happens to be King or Queen of Great Britain. That person must also be a member of the Church of England. No Catholics, atheists, Confucians, Muslims, Jews, or Canadians need apply.
Meanwhile, for the “Nay, keep the Crown” side, John Fraser:
I mean it’s just silly. I want to meet the Canadians who woke up sweating in their bed when they realized Elizabeth the Second was still on the throne. I want to meet the poor sod genuinely terrified by the thought that the governor general might make a prime minister wait three hours before allowing the prorogation of parliament.
What this debate is really missing are the most important points of all. Pro: the excitement of having Prince William on our money. Con: nobody will ever make a Canadian version of The King’s Speech starring Paul Gross.
It is not that simple, of course. On Twitter, Philippe Lagassé (a professor at the University of Ottawa) points out that the Crown isn’t just there for decoration, and removing the monarchy from Canadian law would be a pretty involved constitutional process. (Because those have worked so well for Canada in the past.) We don’t want to necessarily say that the Australians were right when they decided being a republic wasn’t worth the trouble, but let’s not pretend it would be a simple matter of changing the letterhead in the Governor-General’s office.
• Debate: It’s time to retire the royals [National Post]
• Debate: The crown is part of us all [National Post]
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/national-post-discusses-the-monarchys-role-in-canada-whats-more-useless-the-debate-over-the-crown-or-the-crown-itself/&title=National Post discusses the monarchy’s role in Canada. What’s more useless—the debate over the Crown, or the Crown itself?&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/The-Monarchy-Yes-or-No1.jpg&description=
We’re sort of hoping the Post is doing its part to distract the nation from the incredibly silly debate over kirpans, and we’d like to help them out. The daily picked a topic that Canada seemingly never tires of: whether this country should ditch its monarch and become a republican state. The idea that anyone can actually be passionate about either side of this debate mystifies us, but the Post gets a pair to hammer away at it. Let the sparks fly.
For the "Yea, ditch the Crown" team, we have historian Michael Bliss:
It’s an absurdity that in 21st century Canada, no Canadian can aspire to be head of state of Canada. The head of state of Canada has to be not just of British descent, but actually a member of the hereditary royal family of Great Britain. Our head of state will be the person who by accident of birth, not for any other reason, happens to be King or Queen of Great Britain. That person must also be a member of the Church of England. No Catholics, atheists, Confucians, Muslims, Jews, or Canadians need apply.
Meanwhile, for the "Nay, keep the Crown" side, John Fraser:
I mean it’s just silly. I want to meet the Canadians who woke up sweating in their bed when they realized Elizabeth the Second was still on the throne. I want to meet the poor sod genuinely terrified by the thought that the governor general might make a prime minister wait three hours before allowing the prorogation of parliament.
What this debate is really missing are the most important points of all. Pro: the excitement of having Prince William on our money. Con: nobody will ever make a Canadian version of The King’s Speech starring Paul Gross.
It is not that simple, of course. On Twitter, Philippe Lagassé (a professor at the University of Ottawa) points out that the Crown isn’t just there for decoration, and removing the monarchy from Canadian law would be a pretty involved constitutional process. (Because those have worked so well for Canada in the past.) We don’t want to necessarily say that the Australians were right when they decided being a republic wasn’t worth the trouble, but let’s not pretend it would be a simple matter of changing the letterhead in the Governor-General’s office.
• Debate: It’s time to retire the royals [National Post]
• Debate: The crown is part of us all [National Post]){kind=link}
I’d like to add something else to the debate: what’s more useless than the National Post?
“what’s more useless than the National Post?”
The readers comments section at the Toronto Star online…
put it to a vote HARPER…
I’m a 14 years old .. And i haven’t done anything with my life! Nothing that i could remember forever or something stupid .. I have no friends.. Never had a bf ..I hate my body, i have talents that has no use for me in this world, i’m in love with a guy that i’m pretty sure doesn’t even love/like or even look at me,I’m not good at taking school tests.. I just don’t get it .. I’m 57 kg and 1.54 cm tall .. I have breasts,you can little see small waist ,but i have no butt which looks so weird because i have huge thighs that can’t fit into jeans and it look so disgusting i feel so disgusting i mean if i had something at least little thing behind i would be happy but no .. there is nothing it’s all flat ! Whenever i go up in Weight the fat goes to my thighs and nowhere else .. just thighs not butt ! I know it’s not the worlds first problemm but i just feel so sad because of all these things going into my life and getting oout .. I just feel so alone and so ugly ..
I’ve heard a lot of discussions about these new anti-online-piracy organizations as ACTA, SOPA, and PIPA. I’m just wondering, why does everyone think its so bad? I mean; its just to prevent people from doing something illegal and from being thieves. I also see a lot of exaggeration when it comes to the punishment. Rumors, saying that you can get 50 years of prison for sharing files, that is not true! Also, as far a i know, its only the person sharing the files who will get punished, not the streamer/downloader, even though that’s illegal too and you could get punished for that as well.
Why does everyone think that its OK to steal on the internet, when they would never even think about stealing from a store? In theory is the same action being done.
Do you think its OK to steal from the internet?
Dont you feel sorry for the people who are loosing a lot of money from your stealing? (No, not just a little bit, A LOT!)