Thursday, December 04, 2008
Royalism arises!
As an American, I am naturally anti-royalist. After all, we were the first really successful anti-royalist revolutionaries in the West. However, I also like quirky constitutional stuff, and this is definitely that:
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper won a rare suspension of Parliament on Thursday, managing to avoid being ousted by opposition parties angry over the minority Conservative government's economic plans and an attempt to cut off party financing.
Governor General Michaelle Jean -- the representative of Queen Elizabeth, Canada's head of state -- agreed to Harper's request to shut down Parliament until Jan 26. Parliament was reconvened just weeks ago after the October 14 election.
Seriously? The Queen of England signed off on the suspension of Canada's parliament? That is so freaky and cool I can barely stand it.
Next thing you know, the Congress will be issuing letters of marque to mercenaries who propose to hunt down Somali pirates. Well, in my dreams...
9 Comments:
By 
, at
Thu Dec 04, 10:40:00 PM:
I'm an engineering major and knew the Queen can close the Canadian Parliament. It is after all, part of the Commonwealth. Didn't they cover that part in History at Princeton?
As for letters of marque, Congress doesn't need to issue those because they have provided for a blue water Navy. But, the Navy's sails are furled by international agreement. You can't drag pirates back to the Potomac, try them, and hang them. A letter of marque would be under the same restrictions.
I'm sure that there are Naval Aviators that would just love to pickle a Paveway on it's way to one of the pirate mother ships.
By 
Dawnfire82, at
Thu Dec 04, 10:44:00 PM:
"But, the Navy's sails are furled by international agreement. You can't drag pirates back to the Potomac, try them, and hang them."
Why not? It was an international agreement that decided that was exactly what you should do to pirates.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Thu Dec 04, 10:48:00 PM:
The Danish Navy just rescued seven suspected Somali pirates.
From Katy Byron at CNN: "Seven Somali men in possession of rocket grenades and AK-47 guns were rescued by a Danish Navy ship in the pirate-plagued Gulf of Aden Wednesday, the Danish Navy told CNN."
The Danes had received a distress signal from the suspected pirates.
Link:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/12/04/yemen.pirates/
By , at
Fri Dec 05, 01:36:00 AM:
Just when I think the Danes have retained their sanity they go and do something incredibly stupid.
By Ed in Kanata, at
Fri Dec 05, 10:59:00 AM:
The alternative was a coalition of leftists and separatists would become the government led by a liberal who got 26% of the vote at the recent election who had agreed to step down in April 2009 after a leadership convention. A poll showed that 72% of Canadians were very concerned, even scared with the thought of this coalition. Bye the way the Governor General is a Canadian Citizen - appointed by the previous Canadian Prime Minister - and acts as Head of State with no interference from London. Reference the Queen who recently gave Royal Assent to the Lisbon Agreement that gave away most of the UK's sovereignty to the EU leaving her position in question.
By Cargosquid, at
Fri Dec 05, 12:37:00 PM:
The Danes did sink their ship. And then took the pirates, oh, sorry, suspected pirates, um, innocent rpg armed fishermen, to the custody of Yemen authorities. Yep, got'em a free trip home.
By radical royalist, at
Fri Dec 05, 05:22:00 PM:
"I am naturally anti-royalist."
What is natural in that? Some North American colonists revolted against the Crown, but on the side of the British troops there were many other colonists who did not want the rebels to win. They remained loyal to their Monarch and many of them left the 13 colonies to re-settle in what is now Canada. That's why the loyalist element is still very strong in Canada.
Anti-royalist revolutionaries acted before the North American colonists started their upheaval. Think of Cromwell and think of the Swiss peasants against the Habsburg rulers, to mention just two examples.
But besides these points I agree with you that the Governor General was ill advised to suspend the parliament. Mr. Harper has to go and prolonging his rule until the end of January is only prolonging the agony. I hope the newly formed coalition will succeed in sending him onto the opposition benches.
By Dawnfire82, at
Fri Dec 05, 07:12:00 PM:
"Mr. Harper has to go and prolonging his rule until the end of January is only prolonging the agony."
There is a recent poll/article that contradicts this assertion.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/12/05/opposition-coup-attempt-drives-canadians-to-conservatives/
By , at
Fri Dec 05, 11:58:00 PM:
Something similar happened to the Whitlam Govt of Australia in 1975. During a constitutional crisis the GG Sir John Kerr sacked the Govt and appointed the Liberal Opposition under Malcolm Fraser.
It's never happened in NZ because any GG would cheerfully point out that both sides of the House were useless and the problem could be solved by a committee reporting in, say, 2030.
Appointing privateers wouldn't help us either. Our only heavy artillery is frozen mutton.
JC
