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Old Posted Jun 30, 2011, 9:39 PM
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Dado Dado is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Ottawa, Canada
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamaican-Phoenix View Post
It would be easier to do than becoming a republic and would likely have the support of most Canadians. As for why it hasn't happened yet, no idea. It was still funny to read about the Monarchist Association of Canada's response to Harry being a possible contender "absurd".
I think the Monarchist League have really shot themselves in the foot with that one. They've just disposed of a really useful middle option in the future. The Crowns are already distinct legal constructs (effectively the Crowns are held in a personal union, though this was not always the case) so it's only a small step to make their bearers separate people. The easy way to do that is to transfer the succession of the 'Maple Crown' to another of Queen Elizabeth's descendants (my preference is Peter Phillips, either in his own right or as regent for his Canadian daughter Savannah).

Quote:
True nationhood. I mean come on, look at our history; went from a bunch of separate colonies to a self-governing Dominion in 1867. Acquired further domestic powers via the Statute of Westminster in 1931. Created our own flag in 1965. Repatriation of the Constitution in 1982. The last step to true nationhood is to sever the last legal threads tying us with Britain with either our own separate monarchy or by becoming a republic.

And this is one of my biggest problems with the monarchy; as you've just clearly illustrated, she's like an outsider looking in. Those things should be a part of her "culture" as our Head of State (who should be born and raised here) instead of what it currently is; some interest in a former colony.
A useful thing about the idea of separating the monarchy is that it breaks one of the main republican arguments as used in Canada: that the monarchy is "foreign". Strictly speaking it's not true, but that's the perception and it requires a heavy degree of pedantism to argue otherwise. With the option of a separate monarchy on the table, republicans would have to engage in a "clean" monarchy-vs-republic argument, rather than being able to win points on the basis of its current "foreigness".
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