Ottawa’s been buzzing about Adrienne Clarkson’s replacement lately. In case you didn’t know, Adrienne Clarkson’s our current Governor-General and her term’s about to lapse. Since it has already been extended once before, it’s unlikely she’ll retain her post this time.
This morning the CBC called for the “vox populi” on who should be our next G-G. I, always annoyed at Canada’s vestigial connections with the British monarchy, dashed off the following while typing up my yearbook quote and blurb:
Hi,
Regarding who should be the next Governor General…
I’d say “no one”. The Governor General’s post is an anachronism in modern Canada. I’m surprised that we still maintain ties (however ceremonial) to the British monarchy – and I think it’s high time we gave thought to disassociating ourselves of this association.
We are our own country with a bright future and we should be proud to “go it alone”.
Thanks,
Allen GeorgeWaterloo, Ontario
It was read on CBC Newsworld just before lunch today.
Woohoo!
I know, I know. Not a spectacular work by any means. Come on – “disassociating…association” – that’s the result of a monumental brain freeze. But I watch CBC enough and I’m glad that my opinion was voiced on air. Yeah…they need the naysayers to offset the tired “Wayne Gretzsky”, “Bob Rae”, “Romeo Dallaire” et. al. And sure, my voice is one of the token few saying “Scrap the monarchy!”. But I spoke up and…
Give me my moment of conceit ;~P
I disagree with the tie to the monarchy. In all honesty, I like our ties, mainly because, yeah, sure, we have these ties to a country, but in reality, we ARE an independant country. I like the ties because it shows that we never had to FIGHT for this independance. But that’s just my opinion.
Congrats on the tv reading!
Thanks. I’ve had my 10 seconds of fame…
If we are an independent country I see no reason why we need a ‘representative of the Crown’ to rubber-stamp the bills we – the people – decide to pass. There’s the hint of subservience to a higher authority there.
As to not having to fight to achieve our independence – that point is moot. Just because we separated peacefully do we always have to portray our ties to the “mother country”?
As the queen, as we recognize her, is the queen of Canada the only actual tie is that she is also the queen of the UK, Autralia, and other Commonwealth nations. Sinc e the constitution was brought over in 1982, Canada is a fully independent country (no ties to the mother country, other than it gave birth to us). I think the monarchy is a symbol of our past more than anything now, and if we throw away national symbols we start to dissolve the little self-identity that Canada really has. Sure it might be a bit expensive to keep the symbology, but what symbols are actually free?