Your editorial of Sept. 21 omits that the monarchy has a legal role in the governance of Canada, as a check that the British parliamentary system otherwise lacks.
Former governor general Michaelle Jean exercised that role when opposition parties were trying to remove Stephen Harper and the Conservative government from power in favour of themselves. (Unfortunately the current governor general foolishly later agreed to require an expensive early election, at the begging of Justin Trudeau, who wanted more power through a majority, which he failed to get.
In contrast, the U.S. system separates administration from legislation – president versus congress, both countries having a court system with power, the U.S. Congress has an elected Senate thus two effective legislative chambers that must agree to proposed legislation.
(Most real actions of the monarchy in Canada are through the governor general and provincial lieutenant governors, but the head of state of Canada is the reigning monarch of Canada. That is a separate monarch from that of Britain, traditionally the same person. There are legal processes to change that policy and the Constitution, but Canada is hobbled by the difficulty of getting agreement from all provinces.)
And you miss that British royalty has long been eco-activist, Queen Elizabeth’s consort Prince Phillip and many of his children and grandchildren – one now King of Canada. That will harm productive Canadians, thus all of us, notably farmers who feed us and energy producers who bring revenue into the Canadian economy.
Keith Sketchley
Saanich
