Quote:
Originally Posted by PoscStudent
I think we could easily manage to have 11 heads of state for less the $50 million a year. Elections could be held during general elections so the cost would be virtually nothing extra and there is no reason for them to live the lifestyles they do now. We'd need to spend roughly $5 million a year for each head of state to equal the cost of what we pay for the monarchy. They also don't need to be elected.
Personally I don't care if we keep the monarchy or not but we could find cost savings in doing so.
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Most of the costs for the Governor General and Lieutenant Governors is in their offices, which have a staff of dozens of people and perform a variety of functions. Even if we elected governors during general elections, we'd still have that staff, and so the cost wouldn't be much different. If we didn't elect them, then who would appoint them? At least the Monarch has some legitimacy when she appoints someone.
Viceregals currently don't live lifestyles that are any more lavish than American heads of state. The governor of Texas works about 5 days a year and lives in a mansion. The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario's official residence is practically a yurt by comparison to it.
We can't find cost savings in abolishing the monarchy. Procedures would have to be changed, laws would have to be updated, a system for appointing or electing heads of state would have to be developed, money would have to be redesigned, coats of arms might have to be changed, a lot of things with "royal" in their name might have to be re-branded, the constitution would have to be amended unilaterally meaning over 1,000 people in 11 legislatures would all have to vote the same way. The sheer number of alterations suggests that the cost would easily reach into the billions if we were to abolish the monarchy and become a republic, and it would likely take years to accomplish.
Canada simply can't afford republicanism right now. There are far more important things to debate and spend our money on.