View Single Post
  #15  
Old 05-12-2007, 07:04 PM
Sa'ar Chasm's Avatar
Sa'ar Chasm Sa'ar Chasm is offline
Our last, best hope for peace
Staff
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Sitting (in Ottawa)
Posts: 3,425
Default

Officially, the UK and the Commonwealth Realms (such as Canada) are in personal union - this means they are separate countries that just happen to share the same head of state.

In Canada, the Queen is represented by the Governor-General (a Canadian citizen selected by the PM since about 1953, and a female ethnic minority for the past ten years or so, but that's got nothing to do with anything). Officially, the GG summons and dissolves Parliament, gives royal assent to all pieces of legislation passed, and does all the ceremonial useless stuff that the PM doesn't have time to waste on. In practice, the GG is the PM's lapdog and does what s/he's told. After the King-Byng affair, the Supreme Court of Canada decided...uhhh...something. I don't recall the details, but the gist of it was for the GG to sit down, shut up and let the PM get on with the business of governing. The GG is largely a figurehead nowadays, despite being head of state and having a fancier house than the head of government (the PM).

One of the weirdest things for both Americans and Commonwealth citizens to wrap their minds around is that there are many, many, *many* countries with both a President and a PM. We're used to one or the other.
__________________
The first run through of any experimental procedure is to identify any potential errors by making them.
Reply With Quote