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Tags Canada issues , Canada politics , monarchy

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Old 11th December 2018, 03:16 PM   #441
theprestige
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
Are any parts of the Constitution NOT meaningless? Which ones?
All the parts which are granted meaning by its citizens, and/or enforced by its government.

Why is this so hard for you to understand? Words on paper carry no weight by themselves. If you're looking for real authority, you'll have to look in the domain of real uses of power.
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Old 11th December 2018, 03:19 PM   #442
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
...
I see how it all operates. A family that has had great wealth and power, who's ancestors raped and pillaged the world to create the British Empire, just give it all up because...well, whatever. Somebody asked them to, I suppose.
I think having your head cut off makes more of an impression then being asked nicely.
Have you never bothered to learn any history?
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Old 11th December 2018, 03:41 PM   #443
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
The idea they would cloak their power by exercising it behind the scenes is just too preposterous to consider.

True. Congratulations. You got there in the end, even though you made something up out of whole cloth, have admitted as much, and have not got the slightest idea how to even speculate that you might be right except "It's something I thought of".

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Old 11th December 2018, 06:09 PM   #444
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
[quote=psion10 I might add that as I understand it, Victoria was the last active monarch in the British Empire. Since the beginning of the 20th century, monarchs have been content to have a largely ceremonial role and leave the business of government to parliament.[/QUOTE]

Yes, we all know that human nature is such that, immensely powerful people suddenly decide to just chill and let their power wane.
You just don't understand "old money".

The fact remains that if the Queen was directing government policy then her policies magically change every time there is a change of government.

Although this clip is about British civil servants, the same conclusion would apply to the Queen if she agreed totally with every bill she signed.
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I AGREE
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Old 11th December 2018, 08:11 PM   #445
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
How many times do I have to repeat I never made a claim about her use of power. Only speculation. How can I give an real world example of something that's speculative?

I see how it all operates. A family that has had great wealth and power, who's ancestors raped and pillaged the world to create the British Empire, just give it all up because...well, whatever. Somebody asked them to, I suppose.

The idea they would cloak their power by exercising it behind the scenes is just too preposterous to consider.
If you knew history you'd know that the vast majority of the Empire was conquered AFTER Parliamentary Supremacy was enshrined in the practice of government for Great Britain.

The power exercised by the Georges, William, Victoria, etc has all been exercised at the pleasure of Parliament.

The Empire, and later the Commonwealth existed because of Parliament, not because of the monarch.
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Old 11th December 2018, 08:22 PM   #446
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Originally Posted by Border Reiver View Post
If you knew history you'd know that the vast majority of the Empire was conquered AFTER Parliamentary Supremacy was enshrined in the practice of government for Great Britain.

The power exercised by the Georges, William, Victoria, etc has all been exercised at the pleasure of Parliament.

The Empire, and later the Commonwealth existed because of Parliament, not because of the monarch.
The highlife is the real issue here. If our pruritic lad would take the time to learn how the British monarchy has actually operated for the past 150+ years, and take the time to learn the political history of his own country (a mere 151 years in total), he would not need to indulge in ignorant speculation.
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Old 11th December 2018, 08:32 PM   #447
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
I see how it all operates. A family that has had great wealth and power, who's ancestors raped and pillaged the world to create the British Empire, just give it all up because...well, whatever. Somebody asked them to, I suppose.

Well, there's your problem.


They didn't "just give it all up". It was taken from them at sword point.


No, seriously. Actually read some of the things others have posted about the evolution of the Monarchy. Go read some extra stuff on your own. Start with the Magna Carta, maybe. You'll see that, over the course of centuries, the powers of the crown have been gradually curtailed, and the powers of Parliament gradually expanded.

Sometimes those changes required actual wars and executions.

And the members of the royal family remember that.

They know what happens to them if they try too hard to push back on what us ******* peasants want to do. So when push comes to shove, they yield.

Because losing that next little bit of power is better than losing their heads.
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Old 11th December 2018, 08:40 PM   #448
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We should probably also mention that we're kind of seeing an evolution of this sort in the USA today.

No one would seriously dispute that, under the US Constitution, the US congress has the power to impeach and remove the President. But what we're seeing is a Congress that is allowing that power to go unused, and allowing a President to do whatever the hell he wants, up to and including conspiring with traditional foreign enemies. The longer it goes before Congress tries to act, the harder it will be for them to act.

Let this go on long enough, and it may become a de facto law that impeachment is no longer within the Congress's power, even if the letter of the law still stands. That's how such offices evolve.
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Old 12th December 2018, 12:47 AM   #449
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Originally Posted by theprestige View Post
All the parts which are granted meaning by its citizens, and/or enforced by its government.

Why is this so hard for you to understand? Words on paper carry no weight by themselves. If you're looking for real authority, you'll have to look in the domain of real uses of power.
Laws are ultimately backed up by guns. That's the Real Authority, isn't it? And who, by law, is the top gun?

Article #15
"The Command-in-Chief of the Land and Naval Militia, and of all Naval and Military Forces, of and in Canada, is hereby declared to continue and be vested in the Queen.
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Old 12th December 2018, 01:03 AM   #450
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Originally Posted by Horatius View Post

Sometimes those changes required actual wars and executions.

And the members of the royal family remember that.

They know what happens to them if they try too hard to push back on what us ******* peasants want to do. So when push comes to shove, they yield.

Because losing that next little bit of power is better than losing their heads.
I agree completely, except instead of truly yielding, they stepped behind the curtain of the Constitutional Conventions while making sure the written, defining and enforceable part unambiguously maintains their supremacy over the the gov't in every legal sense.
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Old 12th December 2018, 01:41 AM   #451
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A 'figurehead' is defined as:
"a nominal leader without real power."

Whether she uses it or not, if the Queen has real power, she doesn't meet the definition of 'figurehead'. The Constitution says she has real power.

Just sayin'.
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Old 12th December 2018, 01:52 AM   #452
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
Laws are ultimately backed up by guns. That's the Real Authority, isn't it? And who, by law, is the top gun?

...
Or more accurately at the edge of an Axe. Which in this case was Parliament cutting off Charles I's head in 1649.
Which is the more direct way of permanently limiting the powers of the monarch.
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Old 12th December 2018, 01:55 AM   #453
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
Whether she uses it or not, if the Queen has real power, she doesn't meet the definition of 'figurehead'. The Constitution says she has real power.
So what?
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Old 12th December 2018, 03:39 AM   #454
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
A 'figurehead' is defined as:
"a nominal leader without real power."

Whether she uses it or not, if the Queen has real power, she doesn't meet the definition of 'figurehead'. The Constitution says she has real power.
What part of "she doesn't use it because she doesn't actually have it" do you have a hard time understanding?

Quote:
Just sayin'.
No, just repeating, despite been proven wrong. That is the only thing you are saying, in fact, over and over and over. You simply are unable to understand that your one argument is, in fact, irrelevant.
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Old 12th December 2018, 05:42 AM   #455
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
A 'figurehead' is defined as:
"a nominal leader without real power."

Whether she uses it or not, if the Queen has real power, she doesn't meet the definition of 'figurehead'. The Constitution says she has real power.

Just sayin'.
Power unused is not power.

The Doctrine of Parliamentary Supremacy requires the sovereign to exercise what power the sovereign has in accordance with the advice of Parliament. The sovereign has the power to do exactly what Parliament says to do.

The last sovereign to defy Parliament was forced to abdicate. The one before that was deposed, replaced by his daughter and husband, and exiled to live overseas dependant on the charity of others. The first one to defy Parliament first lost a war, then his life.

And if you want go back a bit further, King John was compelled to sign the Magna Carta by his barons at sword-point into giving up a portion of absolute royal power. (Not calling the cabal of barons "Parliament", but the analogy is close).

The nation states that use Elizabeth Windsor as their head of state do so for a number of reasons, one of which is to have a Head of State that holds power at the sufferance of the people, who exercises said authority in the best interests of the people and who is not beholden to petty political concerns such as "How do I get elected again?" Given the examples of what happens to royals who lose the confidence of their people to lead (her husband's grandfather was violently deposed, one of her grandfather's cousins was forced to abdicate and live in exile and the other was executed along with his entire family), plus those of her uncle and the Stuarts, I think we can be reasonably certain that the incumbent isn't going to test the limits of her "power".
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Old 12th December 2018, 05:47 AM   #456
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Originally Posted by Border Reiver View Post
Given the examples of what happens to royals who lose the confidence of their people to lead (her husband's grandfather was violently deposed, one of her grandfather's cousins was forced to abdicate and live in exile and the other was executed along with his entire family), plus those of her uncle and the Stuarts, I think we can be reasonably certain that the incumbent isn't going to test the limits of her "power".
Which is why Itchy Boy has to dream up a conspiracy where she secretly uses that power, because he knows that the above is true and that there's no evidence to support his claim. The problem, of course, is that an argument from ignorance is no argument at all.
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Old 12th December 2018, 06:16 AM   #457
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
Laws are ultimately backed up by guns. That's the Real Authority, isn't it? And who, by law, is the top gun?

Article #15
"The Command-in-Chief of the Land and Naval Militia, and of all Naval and Military Forces, of and in Canada, is hereby declared to continue and be vested in the Queen.
Yet you've never shown any moment of the army of Canada in any way actually ever obeying the queen rather than the Canadian government.
Nor have you shown any evidence that there is any chance of that actually happening.

In fact, all you have as 'evidence' is your 'common sense', which as it turns out is not all that sensible. After all, in your vision of the world an 90+ year old woman is doing insane amounts of work to get something she would also get by doing nothing at all. And to you that is the more sensible answer.
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Old 12th December 2018, 06:32 AM   #458
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
I agree completely, except instead of truly yielding, they stepped behind the curtain of the Constitutional Conventions while making sure the written, defining and enforceable part unambiguously maintains their supremacy over the the gov't in every legal sense.


Okay, so what's the point of your point?

Let's just admit we're not going to convince each other. So, just for fun, what exactly did you expect us to do if you had convinced us?

Are you really a Monarchist, who wants to go back to the days of the Queen openly saying, "Off with their heads!"?

Are you a republican, who wants us all to rise up and throw off the Secret Shackles of our oppression?

Are you looking to game the system, by trying to blackmail the Queen, forcing her to put you into office, under threat of exposure if she doesn't?

What's your end-game, here? Why did you bother signing up to start this topic?
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Old 12th December 2018, 07:06 AM   #459
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
I agree completely, except instead of truly yielding, they stepped behind the curtain of the Constitutional Conventions while making sure the written, defining and enforceable part unambiguously maintains their supremacy over the the gov't in every legal sense.
To what end, since she can't use said power?

You crafted your own no-win scenario, and you don't even have an apple.
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Old 12th December 2018, 11:38 AM   #460
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Originally Posted by psionl0 View Post
So what?
It's trivial, I know. That's essentially what "Just Sayin'"means.
I thought it was an interesting factoid, that's all.
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Old 12th December 2018, 11:58 AM   #461
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Originally Posted by Horatius View Post
So, just for fun, what exactly did you expect us to do if you had convinced us?
Nothing. But hypothetically, if The Crown really was a power over and above elected officials, wouldn't you want to know, regardless of whether or not anything could be done about it?
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Old 12th December 2018, 11:59 AM   #462
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
It's trivial, I know. That's essentially what "Just Sayin'"means.
I thought it was an interesting factoid, that's all.
At this point it is just semantics. Whether the Queen's powers are real (which they are) or just ceremonial, she doesn't exercise them independently so whether that makes her a figurehead or not depends on which dictionary you look up.
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Old 12th December 2018, 12:00 PM   #463
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
Nothing. But hypothetically, if The Crown really was a power over and above elected officials, wouldn't you want to know, regardless of whether or not anything could be done about it?
Let's stick with reality, shall we?
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Old 12th December 2018, 12:18 PM   #464
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Seems to me, Itch old boy

After Charlie #1 abruptly lost stature and Charlie #2 made himself scarce, the only king in England was Noll "I say you are no parliament!" Crummel -- in fact, the last honest-to-jesus king England has ever had. Charlie #2 only came back after Parliament reestablished the monarchy and invited him in.

And then there was that odd business in 1688, when Parliament unmade one king and made another.

And Eddie #8 in 1936? He didn't act very kingly and monarchy and powerful.

To these old American eyes, it looks a helluva lot like Monarch 0, Parliament 21 and game.
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Old 12th December 2018, 12:36 PM   #465
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
Nothing. But hypothetically, if The Crown really was a power over and above elected officials, wouldn't you want to know, regardless of whether or not anything could be done about it?

It is not the sort of thing that keeps me awake at nights.

Hypothetically we also might be living in the Matrix and be just brains in jars or noughts and ones inside a computer program. Don't you want to know this regardless of whether or not anything could be done about it?

Spending time researching a subject such as you have that you think might be possible, with the need for huge stretches of the imagination and a complete lack of evidence, just strikes me as a complete waste of resources, as there is no end/if at the finish of the game. In fact there is no finish to the game



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Old 12th December 2018, 12:58 PM   #466
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Originally Posted by fromdownunder View Post
Hypothetically we also might be living in the Matrix and be just brains in jars or noughts and ones inside a computer program. Don't you want to know this regardless of whether or not anything could be done about it?
Norm
Yes, absolutely I would want to know that.
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Old 12th December 2018, 01:02 PM   #467
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
Nothing. But hypothetically, if The Crown really was a power over and above elected officials, wouldn't you want to know, regardless of whether or not anything could be done about it?


Hypothetically, if The Crown really was a power over and above elected officials, I would want to know, because there's lots of things we could do about it.

In case you hadn't noticed, at least a few of us in this thread are some of the people who have sworn oaths to the Queen. At a minimum, we could repudiate those oaths which were entered into under fraudulent circumstances. Let the Queen come dispute it if she doesn't like me being more loyal to the Canadian public than to her.

More involved, we could actually advertise that the entire basis of our government is a sham, and start working towards developing the votes needed to repeal the current constitution and replace it with a new version more to our liking.

At a maximum, I could hoist the Jolly Roger and start slitting throats.



This is the thing that bothers me most about Conspiracy Theorists: how ******* passive they are in the face of (what they believe to be) the Evil Powers that rule the world. If you really believe this crap, have the courage of your convictions, and stand up for yourself! If I believed even half of what the typical CTist here spews, I'd make bin Laden look like a piker.
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Old 12th December 2018, 01:19 PM   #468
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
Yes, absolutely I would want to know that.
Here endeth the thread.
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Old 12th December 2018, 01:31 PM   #469
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Originally Posted by Horatius View Post
Hypothetically, if The Crown really was a power over and above elected officials, I would want to know, because there's lots of things we could do about it.

At a minimum, we could repudiate those oaths which were entered into under fraudulent circumstances.
How were the circumstances fraudulent? The Queen's power is clearly spelled out in the Constitution.

The oath must be taken by MPs, MPPs, regardless of party, judges, intelligence service employees, border officials and many others.

Regardless of whether the oath takers are sincere or not, what the oath really signifies is that everybody is on the same team.

Sure, there's some infighting. That makes the whole thing look more real and gives people something to wag their tongues about.
Although watching 'debates' in the House is, to me, about as surreal as it gets.

But my point is, the relationship between the Queen and the gov't is not as adversarial as some perceive it to be.
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Old 12th December 2018, 01:31 PM   #470
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
Nothing. But hypothetically, if The Crown really was a power over and above elected officials, wouldn't you want to know, regardless of whether or not anything could be done about it?
Yes, because if she acted contrary to the interests of Canadians then action must be taken. We take the oath to the Queen as a focus to reinforce the idea of service to the nation above self and to work for the benefit of all Canadians. If the person who is head of state isn't working for the best interests of Canadians then those of us who care about such things need to step up and either remind her that she serves us and to hold to her oath - or remind her what happens when a monarch ignores the rule of Parliamentary Supremacy.

That is not disloyalty, that is true loyalty in holding them accountable to the oath that was made, just as the rest of us are held accountable for our own oaths.
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Old 12th December 2018, 01:37 PM   #471
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
But my point is, the relationship between the Queen and the gov't is not as adversarial as some perceive it to be.
Of course it isn't. The Queen (or her rep the GG) doesn't get difficult when given a bill to sign into law and she doesn't try to boss people in parliament around.

That is why nobody sees the sections you mention in the constitution as a threat.
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Old 12th December 2018, 02:19 PM   #472
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
But my point is, the relationship between the Queen and the gov't is not as adversarial as some perceive it to be.

Who has said it is adversarial, apart from you? Since the Queen does not do anything, there is nothing to be adversarial about. It would become so, as it has in the past, if she actually tried to do something other than automatically accept the advice she is given.



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Old 12th December 2018, 02:37 PM   #473
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
How were the circumstances fraudulent? The Queen's power is clearly spelled out in the Constitution.

Because the Constitution doesn't exist in a historical vacuum. We were taught the history as has been described upthread, and our understanding of the Constitution is tempered by that learning. Finding out now that everything I was ever taught in school about the nature of our government was a deliberately crafted lie would be a serious betrayal, and thus any oaths taken under the deliberately created misapprehensions I was subject to would be invalid. The entire process would be a fraud perpetrated upon me by the people I trusted to teach me the truth.


Originally Posted by Border Reiver View Post
Yes, because if she acted contrary to the interests of Canadians then action must be taken. We take the oath to the Queen as a focus to reinforce the idea of service to the nation above self and to work for the benefit of all Canadians.

This. It also emphasizes that we are not working for the purely political interests of the current Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is the head of government, and we owe them non-partisan service to allow the current government to implement plans in accordance with the wishes of the electorate who voted for them. But we owe a greater allegiance to the State, in the form of the Queen, to not do things that are purely for the benefit of whoever happens to win the most recent election. This is a big part of why Canada isn't a kleptocracy like Russia. Any government that tried to pass a law saying that all tax revenue becomes the private property of the PM would quite quickly find itself subject to criminal and civil prosecution by several different public service bodies.



Originally Posted by fromdownunder View Post
Who has said it is adversarial, apart from you? Since the Queen does not do anything, there is nothing to be adversarial about. It would become so, as it has in the past, if she actually tried to do something other than automatically accept the advice she is given.


Yes. You could almost say she's learned her place, were one not speaking of the Queen, of course
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Old 12th December 2018, 02:42 PM   #474
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For us to determine what power the Queen possesses, we have to go by the evidence available to us. That's all we've got.

The written Constitution is visible, confirmable evidence and has the distinction of being the supreme law. The Conventions, under which the Queen is said to rubber stamp everything, is invisible, not confirmable, and not enforceable.

Running a country by unwritten rules and ignoring the written ones is diametrically opposed to the definition of a civil society, and extremely haphazard. Yet that is what you all want me to believe is the reality. There are good reasons why laws are written down.

What, exactly are those unwritten rules? How many are there? What, exactly do they say? If officials disagree on an unwritten rule how is it determined who's right? How are unwritten rules enforced, if that's even possible? How can it be determined if a rule was broken or just bent a little? How do you change an unwritten rule, or drop it from the list? How is everyone informed of any changes to these unwritten rules?

I also find it odd that, since the Conventions are the 'Wild West' of the Constitution, we never hear of any debate or conflict or changes regarding the Conventions.
Since the rules are unwritten, there's a lot of room for interpretation and therefore argument. But this doesn't generally happen - because everybody's on the same team.

The Conventions provide the perfect cover for The Crown to exercise power discreetly. Technically, there's no fraud being committed because the information about the real power is codified and publicly available.
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Old 12th December 2018, 02:56 PM   #475
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
For us to determine what power the Queen possesses, we have to go by the evidence available to us. That's all we've got.
OK, so let's look at the evidence. What powers over Canada does the Queen actually exercise? Pretty close to none.

So the Queen isn't acting like she has the powers you claim. Which suggests rather strongly that she doesn't believe she has the powers you think she has.

Who has a better handle on the Queen's actual powers, you or the Queen herself?
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Old 12th December 2018, 03:19 PM   #476
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Originally Posted by Itchy Boy View Post
For us to determine what power the Queen possesses, we have to go by the evidence available to us. That's all we've got.


And part of that evidence is the lived experiences of the people who, according to you, should have seen some of these back room shenanigans. And we haven't seen any. I've worked for the Canadian government for over two decades. My dad worked for them for 3 decades prior to that. Growing up in Ottawa, most of my friends had parents who worked for the government in one way or another. Lots of people I know outside of my own work also work for the government in other departments.

I've never had anyone tell me, "Oh, sorry, the Queen wants it done this way". None of the people I know have ever told me they've been told that. Proposed laws don't get mysteriously re-written from the shadows. Proposed changes to the regulations are publicly available, and publicly debated.

What you imagine just never seems to happen.
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Old 12th December 2018, 03:55 PM   #477
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Of course she is also so busy using her Super Sekret Power Rangers to stop Canada increase taxes on keeping unspayed cats that her resources are now insufficient to stop the very Country that she primarily "rules" from going to hell in a handbasket.


Or does she think that controlling Canada is far more important than controlling Great Britain?



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Old 12th December 2018, 05:49 PM   #478
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Originally Posted by Horatius View Post
And part of that evidence is the lived experiences of the people who, according to you, should have seen some of these back room shenanigans. And we haven't seen any. I've worked for the Canadian government for over two decades. My dad worked for them for 3 decades prior to that. Growing up in Ottawa, most of my friends had parents who worked for the government in one way or another. Lots of people I know outside of my own work also work for the government in other departments.

I've never had anyone tell me, "Oh, sorry, the Queen wants it done this way". None of the people I know have ever told me they've been told that. Proposed laws don't get mysteriously re-written from the shadows. Proposed changes to the regulations are publicly available, and publicly debated.

What you imagine just never seems to happen.
"Oh, sorry, the Queen wants it done this way." is not how I imagine it would work. I don't think the Queen gets mired in details. My guess is The Crown would propose broad objectives from time to time that the gov't or successive gov'ts would implement as they see fit. They're all on the same team. And yes, it's a guess because as we've covered, there's no evidence to prove The Crowns' use of it's power.

That's the whole point of the Conventions. It allows The Crown to wield the power written in the Con, invisibly. The Con does not grant them power. It enumerates the powers that The Crown has always had and is retaining for itself.


So, we can boil the thread down to this:

1. My read of human nature is that immensely powerful people, families organizations like The Crown would never relinquish their power either formally on paper, or informally by verbal or tacit agreement or disuse.

Everyone here disagrees.

2. I believe Canada is administered and society is organized based on written law, not the unwritten Law of the Jungle that is the Conventions.

Everyone here disagrees.

Does that sum it up?
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Old 12th December 2018, 05:55 PM   #479
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Originally Posted by Horatius View Post
Proposed laws don't get mysteriously re-written from the shadows. Proposed changes to the regulations are publicly available, and publicly debated.

What you imagine just never seems to happen.
The Conventions are not law. Since they're not written in the first place, they are not re-written. They are a smokescreen.

ETA: What you're talking about is normal, written, enforceable laws that form the legal structure of society, not the fairy dust of the Conventions.
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Old 12th December 2018, 06:18 PM   #480
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The written Constitution does two things and only two things.

1. It specifies the retention of supreme authority by The Crown.

2. It lays out the laws that the Government must obey.

OK, three things if you include the Charter, but the charter does not affect #1 and #2, so for our purposes, can be ignored.

ETA: But no, people here think 1 and 2 are out the window and unwritten, unenforceable rules are what we are governed by.
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