Moonlight Graham

Simply make the GG our head of state. Replace the Queen with the GG, with the GG selection process the same as now. That would be the easiest alternative i can think of.

WMaybe "'victimized" is too harsh a word, since we kept Brit ties post-confederation because we also benefited from them (ie: military protection). But we were greatly dependent and subservient to Britain on a great many political functions following Confederation until 1982. I've mentioned some in this thread already not long ago (ie: Statute of Westminster, JCPC, constitutional amendments etc.) too lazy to repeat.

You can recognize your history without keeping an essentially British flag, with a few edits, as your own. History is great, blah blah blah, but time to move ahead. I recognize the fact that I came out of my mother's vagina, but i don't wear a patch of my mother's vagina on my jacket sleeve. Were British, now we ain't. So why not remove some of the easily removable brit legacies and replace them with uniquely identifiable ones created by Canadians, for Canadians.

very excellent point. but, we've been victims of this imperial control too, since its taken more than a century since confederation for us to remove all legislative dependence on Britain.

I agree, is it outdated and unnecessary. I don't see much of a problem with appointing a GG, and they becoming our highest official head of state. I just don't want the GG appointed by the PM, since the PM already has too much power and the GG is supposed to act as a check on the PM/government's power. How about letting the official opposition choose the appointment of the GG, and keep it non-partisan? An elected GG, or "president", causes its own problems with partisan gridlock and whatnot. The GG seems to have done a fine job in recent history. But it will still be a few decades before this will likely happen, as older Canadians still have fond attachments to the monarchy that many younger people do not.

A lot of people say Harper likes to suck up to the US because their policies can often be similar, especially in foreign affairs.. I don't think this is quite the case. I think the US gov and Harper/CPC simply have similar ideological views, which means their policies can be similar, especially compared to the left-wing parties that make up the rest of the House of Commons. Harper's opposition to Obama's stance on Israeli-Palestinian relations shows this.

hmm, but that's the link they gave me. thanks anyways.

Thanks DOP, don't know why the "media" tag wasn't working for me.

The Bible is the "word of God"? David Cross aptly points maybe not quite so much...

I see your point, however I think a lot of people don't really care because it doesn't affect them. The Queen doesn't do a whole heck of a lot for Canada. The governor general does most of Canada's head of state functions, and is much more relevant to our political system. There's no limit to gender for our governor general, but religion i don't know. We've had Catholic, Anglican, Ukrainian eastern orthodox GG's. But i Vincent Massey was raised protestant, then wiki says he switched to Anglican (no reason given), so maybe this switch was a part of his requirement to be GG. If true, this "rule" may not exist anymore, don't know.

Well, as a Dominion of Great Britain and before agreements that would give us more independence, they controlled our foreign affairs at the time of WWI and we essentially forced to declare war when Britain did. Good times! I suppose I get the Red Ensign in that context, but i would think our uniquely own flag would be superior. Call me crazy! My dad still flies the Ontario flag instead of the Canada flag because its a red ensign. On a bit of related note, the brit who lives down the street flew a Union Jack off his house for about a year, with no Canadian flag anywhere. Pisses me off, i was going to buy a Canadian flag and shove it in his mailbox to remind him what country he was in but he recently took it down.

I agree. But it shouldn't be virtually impossible. Sometimes, changes can be good.

I don't think the current situation is peaceful. You forgetting the flotilla last year? 2008/09 Gaza war? 2006 Lebanon war? Second Intifada? The region is constantly on the verge of another big incident, it just needs a spark. I shouldn't even have to defend this point. As for "being satisfied", no they won't be under the current mindset of many on both sides. That's why mindsets need to change in order for there to be peace, not changes in negotiating terms.

Some people still think it's a conspiracy. It ain't. It's very easy to see the appeal of a Euro-like NA currency. It would greatly bolster trade between the countries. I wouldn't have to get my money changed to go to the US. I could buy US merch easier online, and if i had my own Canadian small business i could tap into the huge US market so much easier. It means bigger markets, freer trade, & higher economic growth for all countries...or so the theory goes.

I don't care who owns what land in the final deal, as long as both sides are satisfied with it and there's peace.

Canada's history has been a very long and slow evolution. Many people think Canada became an independent country in 1867 and that's that. Far from it. It would be another 50+ years before Canada could even sign our own formal treaties/agreements with foreign countries without Britain's signature on it, get legislation passed without a Brit signature, declare war or not independent of Britain, have Canada's highest court be our own & not the British Privy Council, and of course have the power to amend our own constitution. It took us a century to get the Union Jack off our national flag, and until freaking 1982 to actually cut loose all legislative & constitutional dependence from Britain. We were still a subservient part of the British empire i would argue until at least the Statute of Westminster 1931. The monarchy/Crown is certainly a legacy from this era. I understand its function, and its independence from Britain, but i don't really get the sentimentality of not being your own master. My dad still prefers the Red Ensign over the Canadian flag, WTF???

The thing with changes like an elected Senate, abolishing the monarchy etc. is that few people, myself included before i studied the matters closely, realize that there comes a whole can of new problems that arise with these things. ie: elected senate means more partisanship & could lead to deadlock, it will harm the very good bipartisan committee work the senate currently does, and of course may cause Constitutional bickering where the provinces can't agree on what they want...possibly leading again to national unity problems like what happened with Quebec. The changes sound great as an idea but in reality the unforeseen challenges/risks can be high. Scholars have been studying most of these issues in huge detail for a very long time and there's no easy answers. Honestly i wish we could just explode the constitutions and all conventions blah blah and just start from scratch. I find our system very warped because it's rooted in a very old and different system from another country, with different institutions playing different roles long ago compared to now (ie: the monarchy, senate). It's similar to having a fighter plane made in the 1940's in use today, but over the years you've had to add and take away things and install new equipment & upgrades to make the plane able to function to today's standards. It works ok, but it's a damn Frankenstein plane that doesn't quite fit together 100% perfectly and it may just be easier to scrap it and buy a shiny new one.

A good point. Obviously, having a completely undemocratic system is not good. But to me, it seems there are some non-elected positions in the Canadian political system that function better based on the fact they aren't elected, and therefore free of partisan bullcrap, electoral lies, pressure from interest/lobby groups etc. I think the governor general is a good example of this, as is the auditor general. Constitutionally, the non-elected monarch/gg has many reserve powers they could greatly abuse, but in reality the Queen & GG really don't have much power because if they did pull B.S. moves beyond their conventional roles, Canadians would go ape-nuts and mobs would be tearing down their doors. It just wouldn't fly, as it didn't when the English brought in the Magna Carta and English Bill of Rights to slash the powers of the monarch. The monarch/gg knows this, and so act mostly as a rubber stamp and check on abuse of power of government. It's hard to say we're under much of a foreign occupation or undemocratic tyranny, because the true power still rests largely with the people. Canada's political system is far from perfect, not one you'd likely design from scratch, but has evolved (and continues to evolve) to what it is today over many centuries and seems to function ok. What the monarchy seems to symbolize bothers many, including me. It comes with it a history of colonialism/domination, one which i'd rather have no association with. Fixing that & becoming a republic is more complicated than it seems though.

we rag on them, they can rag on us. who cares.

So she's not a British citizen?

this will probably make Vermont healthier, so i'm happy for them. May start a bit of a domino effect ala Saskatchewan as Goodman states.

Exactly. The PLO did this during the 1993 Oslo Accord negotiations, as you posted.

Is Queen Elizabeth a Canadian citizen? I would think she is but am not sure.

The monarch isn't foreign. The Queen is OUR Queen, her title is the Queen of Canada, but she is Queen of many states.

AIPAC and the Israel lobby have elected US officials by the balls. AIPAC is highly organized and can mobilize its members to direct political donations and votes to whichever candidate/party acts on their demands the most. Add to that the fact that many very powerful private US citizens and members of the US government are (or "were") members of AIPAC and/or the Israel lobby.