Dear friends,
There has been a little discussion lately on the forum about whether Elizabeth
II is Queen of Canada.
I would like to contribute to the discussion by drawing your attention to anarticle in the Winnipeg Sun.
It seems that pledging allegiance to our country has become controversialin Canada according to columnist Tom Brodbeck.
A private member's bill is going to be tabled in parliament, possibly thisweek, that will require all Members of Parliament to pledge their loyalty to
Canada when they are sworn into office. The reason for this is because at
this time Members of Parliament are only required to pledge their allegiance to
the Queen, and not to Canada.
Now, would you say that Elizabeth II is Queen of Canada?
The Canadian Justice Minister, Vic Toews said that the Queen and Canada are not
separate, as some seem to think they are. He said "They are not -- the Queen isthe constitutional head of the Government of Canada. When I pledged allegianceto the Queen it was in her capacity as the Queen and head of the Canadian government."
A Tory Member said that the bill that will be tabled is "flawed" and "misleading" because it implies that Members of Parliament aren't alreadyswearing their allegiance to Canada. She said "When we pledge allegiance to theQueen in her capacity as the head of the Canadian government we're pledging allegiance to Canada."
This is rather controversial. "Separatists can justify pledging allegiance to
the Queen because it doesn't necessarily mean they have to be loyal to Canada.
Canada can be broken up into two or more countries and still have thed Queen as
head of state for the severed jurisdictions", writes columnist Brodbeck. "She
is, after all, the head of many Commonwealth countries."
The pledge of allegiance to the monarchy is required under the Canadian Constitution. The new bill to be tabled would simply add a second, specific pledge --
"just in case there any doubts about the meaning of the oath for those who would like to break up the country -- that people must pledge their loyalty to Canada if they want to sit in the House of Commons as Members of Parliament.
This is an interesting controversy because it would put the Bloc Quebecoisparty members in Parliament in a difficult position. At present it is the
Bloc that is helping to keep the present Conservative government strong
enough to act, because their majority was not very large over the Liberalparty which previously formed the majority government and lost a lot of
their clout during the last election, so that they didn't form the governmentat this time, but are in opposition, together with the New Democratic Party.
Canada very nearly broke up a number of years ago when a referendum was
held in Quebec as to whether they should stay a Province of Canada, or becomea country on their own. It was narrowly defeated and the country stayed
together. The Bloc Quebecois party has as its aim, to remove Quebec from
Canada, and are waiting for an opportune moment to post the question again to the people of Quebec.
You can see why I think that this is a political move to weaken the Conservatives, and put the Bloc on the spot. The article doesn't voice this point of view,
but it certainly would be difficult for the Bloc to voice their loyalty to the country they wish to leave.
The desire of many Quebecois to become a country is due to the history of
Britain and France in Canada. That's too long a story to go into now. If youwant to look it up you can probably read about it under the history of the
battle of the Plains of Abraham, between the Generals Wolfe of the British, and
Moncalm of the French.
Warm good wishes, Mary
