Mr Hepburn (and Bliss),
I'm sure it will stimulate dinner table conversations around and about the country.
May I advance a thought or two on the not-so-simple aspects of the easy "replacement" ideas advanced:
a) re: Prof Bliss' First, Ottawa should hold a national referendum on a Yes-or-No question: “Should Canada sever ties with the British monarchy?” A simple majority would be sufficient to proceed further.
While I fundamentally object to 50%+1 as the standard for ANY decision ....what about the "amending formula"?
41. An amendment to the Constitution of Canada in relation to the following matters may be made by proclamation issued by the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada only where authorized by resolutions of the Senate and House of Commons and of the legislative assembly of each province:
(a) the office of the Queen, the Governor General and the Lieutenant Governor of a province;
(b) the right of a province to a number of members in the House of Commons not less than the number of Senators by which the province is entitled to be represented at the time this Part comes into force;
(c) subject to section 43, the use of the English or the French language;
(d) the composition of the Supreme Court of Canada; and
(e) an amendment to this Part.
b) re: Prof Bliss' Second, if the answer is yes, (Bliss #2 PART I) a federal commission (please don’t call it a “royal commission”) should examine how we could select a head of state. (Bliss#2 PART II)The commission, with a one-year mandate, could be appointed jointly by the prime minister and provincial premiers. (Bliss#2 PART III) The commission could look at various models for choosing a head of state, such as direct election or appointment by the federal Parliament.
Let's leave the Head of State selection process (#2 PART I & III) and leave the selection of that "federal Commission" (#2 PART II) for a paragraph or two and consider first the foundation upon which the "new" Canadian power-hierarchy will stand
Given that the Monarch is Canada's Head of State and the GovGen(and Lt Gov's) are the "local" representatives of that sovereignty (i.e. the source of all lawful executive and legislative authority) and given that the system of governance in Canada is a Constitutionally-limited Monarchy;
If your objective is to remove the UK/Commonwealth/Canadian Monarchy as sovereign in Canada, what governance system are you proposing to substitute?
--a republic? (no king, but many possible sources of sovereignty e.g. North Korea is a republic);
--a true democracy or true representative democracy? aka 'popular sovereignty' (the citizenry is the source of authority - everything is owned, operated & decided of/for/by the great unwashed);
--an oligarchy? (actually similar to the anti-de jure PMO/PCO cabal 'top-downing' everything since 1940 - with vote-by-colour, phony-promises elections periodically);
--a military-industrial complex-ocracy as in the USA?;
--a theocracy (likely you have in mind a Secular-Humanist-ocracy)
etc etc
If you remove the House of Windsor (Hanover wed to Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha) from Head of State ... what becomes of the ownership of the Crown Lands, the Crown's interest in all fee simple (non-allodial) land grants, the Crown Attorneys, the Queens Bench, existing loyalty Oaths and pledges of allegiance, Royal Proclamations (1763 was the root of all we have now), Royal Assents to all Bills since then .etc etc ...we've been working under the "similar in principle to the U.K." idea for a long time. Be careful what you wish for ... you might get something else!
Returning to (Bliss#2 PART II)The commission, with a one-year mandate, could be appointed jointly by the prime minister and provincial premiers. Let's remember that the source-power, aka sovereignty, of the Canadian Crown will be "transferred" to "somewhere" in the event that the Monarchy is replaced - the last people I want picking the members of the federal commission on re-shaping that sovereignty are the officers most wanting to grab-it-all for themselves.
Returning to (Bliss #2 PART I) ... a federal commission ... should examine how we could select a head of state ...+ ... (Bliss#2 PART III) The commission could look at various models for choosing a head of state, such as direct election or appointment by the federal Parliament. IMHO, only once the replacement "form or type" of sovereignty is decided could we endeavour to decide the selection process. If we chose a democracy/popular sovereignty then surely the citizenry would have to directly elect the Head of State
c) re: Prof Bliss' Third, a second referendum would be held on the commission’s top two recommended methods of choosing the next head of state.
Notwithstanding my objection to 50+1 as sufficient support for even minor decisions regarding governance - if a less-than-bias-free commission proposes two less than perfect choices to a pan-Canadian plebiscite ... how can the small minority that 'have a better idea" vote for "None of the Above"? in the scenario proposed by the Professor?
di) Instead of sorting out all these problems, thus requiring a re-opening of the BNA/Constitution 1867-1982 for piecemeal butchering and horse-trading by our vested (and wannabe) stakeholders (to obtain their consent to the Monarchy replacement), why not just redefine the de facto meaning-in-use of the terms "Crown" & "Monarch/Queen/King" in Canada?
Change the meaning of "Crown" to "the resident-taxpaying-citizens" of Canada (ie 3 part-qualification, no substitutes, zero-tolerance)
This would have to be a Tacit Revolution/Revelation/Resolution because any Legislation or resolution to the same effect would require 100% Amending Formula Consent PLUS the Monarch/Queen/King-of-the-Day would have to agree not exercise Their still extant and valid Disallowance Power anytime during the 2 yrs after that resolution/Bill's passage (BNA1867 s.56)
ii) Instead of seeking a new Head of State ... just make the Governor General the Head of State on behalf of the "New Crown". Simply keep everything as it already is according to the as-written constitutional texts - except the allegiance of all officeholders and civil servants (including the GG) now would be to the "resident-taxpaying-citizens of Canada" rather than to a non-resident, hereditary OfficeHolder who (I'll wager) no ordinary Canadian feels has a mandate to make Executive decisions about our country.
iii) Instead of hoping for a fool-proof and fair Head of State selection process via Bliss' federal commission idea, simply have the Prime Minister's recommendation of a New Governor General be decided by an at-large vote simultaneous with every-other General Election (single-transferable balloting, one term only, starting 365 days after the return of the Writs)
Oh yes, yes, and tut, tut -indeed the Queen/King/Monarch will still be included the Constitution .... but that hasn't bothered us or hindered our political "evolution" since 1982 or since 1947 or since 1931.
The key elements are:
- no re-opening Constitution can-of-worms;
- only requires a "deemed disposition" of Crown Assets/treasury;
- causes a return to the as-written provision of our Fundamental Laws;
and most importantly
- the power-sharing agreement we call a Constitution, composed of Confederal Executive/Legislative + Provincial Executive/Legislative will for the first time include/enfranchise/empower the resident/taxpaying/citizenry at The Top of the Totem.
rce
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