Should Elizabeth II be Canada's Elizabeth the Last?

I think about Canada more than most United Statesians. The current Queen cannot endure much longer and her passing will present our Neighbor to the North with a choice...to accept the new King as Head of the Kingdom of Canada (for that is what Canada will be) or to finally cut all ties with the ancient Monarchy in favor of, as I suppose, some sort of elected President.

Canada as a Republic would function much as Canada as a Kingdom functions but I wonder if losing the King will blur yet another of the differences between Canadians and...well...US as it were. Canadian identity really does concern itself with being distinctly difference from their boisterous Southern cousins.

Thinking aloud here.

 

I'm one Canadian who can verify that this is indeed how I and many Canadians feel.

There is a solid 10% of Anglophiles who love and follow the Royals, but for the rest? It's a historical relic.

 

Not to the British. It has a lot to do with national identity.

I'll leave that one to the Canadians.

Three reasons immediately come to mind. First, our roots and shared cultural identities. Second, a lack of a similar phenomenon here. Third, Americans love soap operas, celebrities, and scandals.

 

I agree strongly with that last point.

I don't know about extricating the monarchy from Canada though. Sounds simple but it isn't. Everything governmental from the rank insignia of the RCMP to the management of provincial lands occurs, if at all, in the name of the Queen. I'm not sure how easily a republican Canada could adjust the relationships between the provinces and Ottawa if all of a sudden the lieutenants governor no longer derived their authority from a distant and neutral Sovereign. The Queen is just absolutely everywhere.

 

Then again, would it matter if an elected ceremonial Head of State replaced the monarch? Well, it might if that person came from Alberta and not Quebec.

 

Perhaps I should have said "sounds simple but it might not be."

 

Why? Japan still has an Emperor. That's their tradition. Not weird to me - even if they no longer really have an Empire.

 

Dup. post. removed - J

 

Then it'll probably never happen -- that's asking a LOT!

 

Thinking some more out loud here...the UK might still have a Queen because of a sort of Horrible Example across the Channel. France went through a terrifyingly bloody and chaotic Revolution then didn't seem to like its first few Republics well enough to stick with them. So two Napoleons spread misery and destruction on multiple occasions. Toss in Vichy...Might be something to be said for the calm stability and order of England. Post Glorious Revolution anyway. After all, who would want to emulate the (snort) French??

 

Big monarchies lasted long after the French Revolution. In World War I, the major powers were almost all monarchies, including the UK, Ottoman Empire, Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Russia. Only the UK survived that one, and that was because it was already a constitutional monarchy with a robust democracy, so the government actually ran the war (like in France). (Also, they won. That never hurts.) The others were hobbled by bad leaders who'd inherited their positions. And that's not limited to the monarchs. Their military leaders were often from the nobility and were not professional officers. (This was true even in Germany, although less so because it also had the Prussian traditional of professional officers.)

I think the UK's monarchy survives BECAUSE it is less powerful as a constitutional monarchy. Those roots go back to at least the Restoration in 1660 (after Cromwell's death), but could arguably go back to 1215 with the Magna Carta and King John. There's been an evolution of the monarch's role from then to today, so it seems much more natural to have still the monarch than it would be to forgo her.

I happen to like the monarchy. I like the history, the traditions, and the honours system. I think it lifts a huge burden off the head of government. And it ain't too bad for tourism, neither. Cheers!

 

Moi, peut-être. N'avez-vous jamais vu Jennifer Lamiraqui, mon ami? Elle est française. https://www.theplace.ru/photos/jennifer_lamiraqui/pic-99459/

(Me, perhaps. Have you never seen Jennifer Lamiraqui, my friend? She is French.)

 

I think Canada import most of US culture, franchises, and businesses. Canadian university education is similar too. They accept US exams, GPA standard, administration rules, etc. There are exam centers in Canada where you can take US exams like CLEP, DSST, SAT, GRE, etc. I agree that not too many Canadian people are into the old Britain culture and rules.

 

Yeah? Well, maybe there used to be. I live in the Greater Toronto area and as far as I know, I'm 1000 miles from the nearest Canadian CLEP centre - not that I have any reason left to write any. Much easier, in a country where almost everybody lives within 75 miles of the US border, to go there. IF they'll let you in - and IF the Canadian border people will let you come back home.

There used to be a women's Jewish religious college in Toronto that administered CLEPs. Then they restricted them to their own students. As a male atheist, I was justifiably shut out. CLEPS are useless here anyway. Only good for US study. Nobody - not one University I know in Canada, including Athabasca, which is RA - will accept CLEP.

And I'd not like my chances with NA degrees here, with schools or employers. There's a strong bias against them in certain areas. They'll cling to that prejudice even when they clearly have no right to, by their own rules. . Ask Stanislav. He and co-workers helped someone out when an employer took that stance. They sued, employer caved.

Yep - we import many of the worst things America has to offer. Including guns. Bad people make up to 1000% profit here, (That's right - 1,0-0-0) selling guns they had their girlfriends buy on US shopping trips and bring back packed in their luggage. And we resist some of the best things. American merchants often send their reject stock here, believing we'll buy anything. Sometimes, sadly, they're right. Other times they take a shellacking and retreat home - e.g. Krispy Kreme and Target. Good riddance to both.

I think the Chinese make more money off us than Americans do -except maybe the gun dealers. And I wish it weren't true.

 

Further to the above - some stores don't "translate" very well when they come to Canada. E.G Michael's - the hobby people. Great stores in US. Miserable here. Sour, inept and uncooperative "just what we have here" people (our locals, not Americans) poorly stocked and maintained. TJX stores - Winners (Canada only) Marshall's HomeSense etc - not NEARLY up to the standards of their US operations.

I wish the bad chains would go home and not clutter up our malls. .... but then, they'd be empty. That would be lame. Some of the GOOD ones have already left - and we're in DEEP trouble here - and I think it's only started. Someday, probably soon, there'll be Walmart and nothing much else. Pretty bleak.

 

Not if she comes with Charles de Gaulle!

 

There are exam centers all over the world. And Canadian culture is significantly different than the US.

Canada accepts a variety of admissions qualifications like the British A Levels and often calculates GPA differently than in the US (with a passing grade of 50 rather than 60 in many places), the differences abound.

 

I don't know about that, Dustin. There's French Canada which is pretty different I guess but it seems to me that English Canada would be pretty hard to tell from Middle America were it not for the Crown insignia everywhere. Same language, same popular sports and entertainment, same clothes, same foods, similar legal and social conventions, same consumer products though perhaps under different names...cars and roadway standards pretty much the same barring kM/hr. In casual conversation I have noticed Canadians tend to use English or American measurements instead of the nasty foreign French metric system.

On a darker note it seems Canada and the U.S. share a really awful history of dealing with First Peoples (A Canadian term I really like, btw).

Same dedication to democracy, same expectations of honest government, similar tendency towards white supremacy (in places), same willingness to exploit and destroy natural resources for corporate profit...

It seems to me that Canadian differences are there due to a conscious effort by Canadians to maintain a distinct identity however inconvenient that might be. Can't say I blame you for that. The U.S. is a giant voracious beast that tends to steamroll over anyone else without even giving the matter any thought. Americans don't think about being American the way Canadians think about being Canadian.

If you want to see a society that, while being very European in language and culture, is nevertheless genuinely distinct, come visit and I will take you to lunch in CD. Juarez.