GG Too Powerful, says Group

A new survey is stirring debate about Canada’s relationship with the Queen’s representatives.
GG Too Powerful, says Group
Governor General David Johnston inspects the troops on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, June 3, 2011. A newly formed charity is calling for laws that would limit the powers of the governor general and provincial lieutenant governors. (Matthew Little/The Epoch Times)
Matthew Little
6/27/2012
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img class="size-full wp-image-1785591" title="Gg" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/Gg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="562"/></a>

A recently formed charity is stirring debate about the role of the governor general and Canada’s relationship with the Crown.

A survey conducted for Your Canada, Your Constitution (YCYC) found that 65 percent of Canadians want clear rules to regulate key decision-making powers of the governor general and provincial lieutenant governors.

The survey of some 2,000 Canadians also found that 67 percent of respondents want a new, elected position to replace that of the governor general and lieutenant governors.

According to YCYC’s interpretation of the results, most respondents want a curb on the powers of the Queen’s representatives in Canada, including what it describes as their authority to approve or reject laws passed by elected politicians; to determine when elections are held; to choose Canada’s prime minister and the premier of each province after an election; and to determine when Parliament and provincial legislatures are opened and closed.

But at least one critic of the findings has challenged that interpretation, based on the nature of questions used to elicit the responses.

“Canada’s ailing parliamentary democracy has just suffered another blow in the form of this appalling survey,” said Helen Forsey, daughter of the late constitutional expert Senator Eugene Forsey.

Forsey said the survey’s questions were preceded by information that misrepresent the current powers of the Queen’s representatives in Canada.

“It stated, falsely, that our present Constitution gives four far-reaching and outrageously dictatorial ‘decision-making powers’ to the ’British monarch,' the governor general, and the provincial lieutenant governors. Then it asked 2,000 Canadians whether or not they liked this imaginary tyranny,” notes a statement released by Forsey.

“Anyone who knows anything at all about our parliamentary system knows that the powers of the Crown are miniscule,” said Forsey, whose recent book, “Eugene Forsey, Canada’s Maverick Sage,” delves into these questions.

She said there are a few extremely exceptional circumstances in which the reserve powers of the governor general and the lieutenant governors can be important, but even those are restricted by the will of elected representatives.

“This kind of pernicious misinformation plays straight into the hands of those in power who would love to keep us barking up non-existent trees.”

YCYC says Canada’s current laws are not up to par compared with other commonwealth countries like Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, where newly written rules clearly define the powers of the prime minister and monarchy representative in specific situations.

The group says those changes have made governments in those countries more accountable and transparent.

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