Ignatieff's Wife is Not Canadian Citizen

[ToadBrother]

It's not just a matter of the British government getting consent from the other realm governments; parallel amendments would also have to be made in all the realms, since the Act of Settlement is now a part of their constitutions; it is in Canada, at least. I believe such a change to the Canadian constitution, since it touches on the office of the Queen, would require the full agreement of all the provincial legislatures, per the Constitution Act 1982. But, I've heard argument elsewhere that it wouldn't.

I've gone back and forth on it. The document in question that requires formal agreement on a change to the succession is the Statute of Westminster, and the clauses in question have only been called upon once, when Edward VIII abdicated and George VI became King and the then Princess Elizabeth was placed into the line of succession over any potential male-line heirs of Edward VIII. Back then, there was no requirement to consult the provinces on the matter, but since then the Constitution Act, 1982 has changed the nature of amendments to the office of the Queen. I've raised the issue because, while on the face of it, the Constitution Act, 1982 does indeed seem to indicate provincial consent is required, the Statute of Westminster is not only a constitutional document, but also a very special kind of treaty between the realms, and thus it we have a conflict which cannot easily be solved simply be saying Section 41.a of the Constitution Act, 1982 takes precedence. This would, in essence, give the Provinces equal status to the Realms.

I've actually just read the Australian constitution's amending formulas, which are considerably more simplified than Canada's, but still see that amendments require the approval of the majority of electors in the majority of states, so the situation is similar. Again, if we take the alteration of the Succession itself to be a change in the Office of the Queen, then that means the Australian states gain the equivalency to the Realms as well.

My interpretation is that while altering the Act of Succession does not in and of itself alter the office of the Queen (the prerogatives and reserve powers in all the Realms and internal jurisdictions and divisions remain unaltered), so all that is required is Parliament's agreement. I'll admit it's a shaky interpretation, but the alternative means that a Canadian province or Australian state has, for the purposes of the Statute of Westminster, the identical powers to the Ralms themselves.

The PMO said in January that Harper's not opposed to the idea, but it's not a priority and he wants to wait until there's "further elaboration on the merits or drawbacks of the proposed reforms".[1]

[+]

Well, so the story goes, the only Realm that has in fact made any formal consideration is Saint Lucia, so it appears that it isn't exactly looming large on anyone's radar. Still, the UK government is taking what appears to be the tentative first steps towards invoking the Statute of Westminster to alter the Act of Settlement, 1701.

Edited April 17, 2011 by ToadBrother