It has been a busy few weeks out here on the Wet coast of North America. November seems to be zooming along at a great pace. Our future King made an appearance in Vancouver, sparking all sorts of debate about the role of the monarchy in this Dominion and whether it will end with the demise of our Queen. The final phase of Olympics tickets went on sale in Vancouver. I didn't get any tickets. And it has been raining like crazy here. Apparently about 220mm worth of it. I also went and met up with some people whose story is quite a good one.
Let's start with our Prince. As many of you hopefully know, Canada is a Constitutional Monarchy. In rough terms, that means that we are part of a Kingdom or realm... in this case, one headed by the House of Windsor. We have a monarch. We like to call it the Canadian Monarchy. The Canadian Crown. This is rather important. For example, when speaking of the Queen in the context of Canada, she is Queen Elizabeth II of Canada (and then Great Britain and her other dominions). She's also Elizabeth II, la Reine du Canada. She is the Head of State. When she is in Canada, her Royal Standard is flown and takes precedence over any other flag. She is the head of the Canadian Royal family. I make the painful distinction to point out how much she is a part of _our_ country. She is Canadian. Pretty much everything you see in this country is connected to her. Our money has her face plastered all over it. Our Parliamentarians are Her Majesty's parliamentarians. This is Her Majesty's government. There is Her Majesty's loyal opposition. All land owned by the government is called Crown land. That is, it is owned by the Crown. She is Commander in Chief of the armed forces of Canada. The Law Courts are courts of the Crown. Our laws are not laws until they get Royal Ascent (which means the Queen signs it into law). When you break them or take the government to court, it is in her name that you will be prosecuted. That is, it is you vs Regina.
This country would not function without the Crown. So far so good right? Well, now come the kinks. Enter HRH Prince Charles, heir apparent to the Canadian throne. And his wife who will one day become Queen of Canada. Sure, they say she will never use the title, but legally, the wife of the King will be Queen. It doesn't work the other way. That is to say, the husband of my Queen regnant will only be Prince Consort and never King. Thank god for that. A lot of people seem to think Canada needs to move away from the monarchy and become a Republic. Sure, it sounds sexy. Others have done it, why not us? What is the relevance of a monarchy in the 21st century? Who needs a Queen or a King, especially ones that live far away in Great Britain? What are we, second class citizens that we have to be dictated to by a bunch of people in a stuffy palace somewhere in England?
Those are some of the sentiments I have heard. There are some merits to these questions. Why shouldn't we become a Republic? Well, because it makes little sense to change the form of government we have. What sort of Republic would we want to be? An American style Republic where the head of government and the head of state are the same? A Westminster style Republic like many of our brothers in the Commonwealth where a ceremonial President is head of State while the power to govern is in the hands of a Prime Minister? Or should we just elect our own King or Queen? Or Governor General? I'll get to the whole Governor General and head of state in a second. But what are our choices? I don't like any of the alternatives. For one, they cost too much. If we elect a head of State like a President or Governor General wannabe, we will surely go down the road to hell. If there is anything I have learned as a resident (and citizen) of Canada, it is that our politicians, while they mean well, can't make big decisions. If I may borrow a line from the fantastic fabrication that is Braveheart, it is to say that our politicians cannot agree on the colour o' shite if their lives depended on it. We will spend the rest of our days in Constitutional limbo trying to figure out if the head of state should be a francophone or a visible minority or a francophone woman from a minority. And then of course, he or she would be political... they will be Liberal or Conservative or have Socialist leanings and what not. The office of whatever you want to call it will forever be plagued with complaints about bias. That is surely not better than what we have today.
My main argument for keeping the system as it is, is as follows. The Queen is a fairly benign entity to Canada. She's our head of State and lives elsewhere. She is above politics. She doesn't cost us that much (aside from whatever expenses we incur when she or her family come to visit and whatever Rideau Hall ends up spending on flowers). The Crown has worked well (and quite well at that) for over 400 years. Changing the system will cost far too much. Would you really want to reprint all of our money? Change every symbol related to government that is out there? Remember that pretty much anything out here has a Royal something attached to it. You can't walk away from that and keep the relics of the monarchy. What will we be left with? Nothing. Will we have the Canadian Coldstream guards? The Canadian Blackwatch? The Royal Canadian Mint? The Royal Regiment of Canada? Royal Warrants? The Gray Cup? Lord Stanley's cup? Do you really want it to be called Don Cherry's tacky cup and have it dressed in some god awful fabric (don't get me wrong, I like the guy, but really..)? No. We will lose all that.
Do not forget that we are British North America. We are _still_ part of the British empire, whatever stage it is in. We are different from others on our Continent. We have a heritage and tradition that is free from the fires of Revolution. We are Canadians. I don't get why we have such an issue with our heritage. We are the ones who collectively went to war for others freedom an ocean away. And not once at that. Being a Constitutional monarchy does not diminish who we are as Canadians. She is _our_ Queen. Remember that. And after her time, he will be _our_ King. My King. I don't care who the 'he' is, but I have tremendous respect for what it represents. It has given our country 400 years of stability and god forbid the day we ruin it. The last argument I will make about this is as it relates to our francophone population. Yes, the English won on the plains of Abraham. Yes the French lost. But we are Canadians. We are not English and French. We are British Columbians and Quebecers. We are the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. We are not the French from France or the English from England. We are Canadians. This is our heritage. I am very proud of the fact that Canada is a bilingual country. One of my hopes is that one day we all embrace it to the point where we can understand and converse as easily in one language as we can in the other. Anyway, long story short, God save the Queen and leave my head of State and government alone. Worry about why Canadian teams haven't won the Stanley cup in over 16 years.
So actually, this isn't the last about my bit on the government. Let me clarify. When the Queen is not in town, she appoints a representative. This person is nominated by the government (more correctly, by the Prime Minister) to represent Her Majesty when she's not in town. That person is called the Governor General. In every province (since we are a federalist government), there is a Lieutenant Governor who is HM's representative in the province. The Governor General is the representative of the Crown in Canada when the head of State is NOT in Canada. The moment she sets foot in Canada, she assumes the title of Queen of Canada and the Governor General retires to a nice place somewhere in Rideau Hall perhaps. I have heard (and read) more than once that the Governor General is the Head of State of Canada. That's just horse shit. The Governor General is the representative of the Crown. Canada's head of State is Her Majesty in the Right of Canada, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada. Please get that right. There are no ifs and or buts about that.
Onto the Olympics. One reason why HRH Prince Charles came here was to inspect our progress in getting ready for the games. I tried very unsuccessfully to get tickets to see anything at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler. I can't tell you how disappointed and angry I am that I couldn't even get into the damn site to get tickets. I mean, what the heck? I sure as hell hope that whoever ended up buying all those tickets does not get to sell them back to the public for a profit. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and not one where the grubby greedy hands of cretans should be allowed to spoil my chance at cheering my national team to victory. All that was left when all was said and done were tickets to some crappy hockey games (Belarus vs Sweden, really? $140 for that? I could have watched the Canadians play the Americans for that) and the victory ceremony. What a rip-off.
It has been pouring cats and dogs out here. I can't believe how much rain has fallen. We actually have puddles. We have a pretty decent drainage system here because of all the rain we do get, but with the fall leaves covering drains, we are seeing flooding in places. Apparently, over 200mm of rain has fallen in the last 2 days. Crazy! I got drenched today going to and coming back from work. Its not all that good when its slightly above freezing with crazy winds out there. I love the rain. But getting this much of it in such a short period really makes me wish for summer to be here now. Someone told me today that the monsoons have arrived. And they are right. Except for the lack of warmth and the thunder. Its outright soggy and mushy out there... eek. And apparently, the temperature is rising and so all that snow from the last couple of weeks is melting. Not good for all those who live by creeks and on hills. Let's hope we get through without too much damage.
And finally, onto a good story. This story does not have a good beginning if you ask me. It starts with a war. In an area called Indo-China. Where various people were fighting Communists and Capitalists and working hard to kill one another. A family of 4 escaped that mess. They somehow got on a boat from there and somehow ended up in Canada. The father was 40 at the time. The mother 40 as well. The children, just wee little ones. They had nothing. They didn't have a grasp of the language. The weather was alien to them. Years went by. They worked hard. Very hard. They prospered. Twenty-five years later, at 65, the father was celebrating his birthday with his friends and his first grand child. He speaks with grateful tears of what he has accomplished. Of what this country gave him. A chance to live the dream. He has a lovely house, plenty of food and most importantly, health, hope, faith and love. This man is the father of one of my good friends. And that wee boy has, like me, moved back from America back to Vancouver :).
Stories like Viet's are why I am so proud to be Canadian. It shows that these countries take in people in need and give them a fighting chance. To succeed and become productive citizens. As Emma Lazarus wrote,
Though he may have a limited command of the English language, that old man expresses his thanks for living here in as many words as he can. The sentiment is quite clear. His joy is also very clear. And his instructions to me are also very clear. Get married soon. He's apparently expecting 10 grand children. And we get to contribute :). Oh and in case you thought he was too busy celebrating his birthday, he did find time to ask me what my religion was and to tell me the neighbour across the street is also Hindu and that he has a daughter about the right age for marriage. Happy 65th Birthday Mr. and Mrs. Le (who is 5 days younger!). I hope to celebrate many, many more with you guys. And I assure you, the day I find the right woman, I'll let you know. If you find her before me, send her my way.
I learned a lot this week. I love my countries. I love my life. I am very lucky. Even if I am still somewhat drenched :). God save the Queen and Jai Hind.
Let's start with our Prince. As many of you hopefully know, Canada is a Constitutional Monarchy. In rough terms, that means that we are part of a Kingdom or realm... in this case, one headed by the House of Windsor. We have a monarch. We like to call it the Canadian Monarchy. The Canadian Crown. This is rather important. For example, when speaking of the Queen in the context of Canada, she is Queen Elizabeth II of Canada (and then Great Britain and her other dominions). She's also Elizabeth II, la Reine du Canada. She is the Head of State. When she is in Canada, her Royal Standard is flown and takes precedence over any other flag. She is the head of the Canadian Royal family. I make the painful distinction to point out how much she is a part of _our_ country. She is Canadian. Pretty much everything you see in this country is connected to her. Our money has her face plastered all over it. Our Parliamentarians are Her Majesty's parliamentarians. This is Her Majesty's government. There is Her Majesty's loyal opposition. All land owned by the government is called Crown land. That is, it is owned by the Crown. She is Commander in Chief of the armed forces of Canada. The Law Courts are courts of the Crown. Our laws are not laws until they get Royal Ascent (which means the Queen signs it into law). When you break them or take the government to court, it is in her name that you will be prosecuted. That is, it is you vs Regina.
This country would not function without the Crown. So far so good right? Well, now come the kinks. Enter HRH Prince Charles, heir apparent to the Canadian throne. And his wife who will one day become Queen of Canada. Sure, they say she will never use the title, but legally, the wife of the King will be Queen. It doesn't work the other way. That is to say, the husband of my Queen regnant will only be Prince Consort and never King. Thank god for that. A lot of people seem to think Canada needs to move away from the monarchy and become a Republic. Sure, it sounds sexy. Others have done it, why not us? What is the relevance of a monarchy in the 21st century? Who needs a Queen or a King, especially ones that live far away in Great Britain? What are we, second class citizens that we have to be dictated to by a bunch of people in a stuffy palace somewhere in England?
Those are some of the sentiments I have heard. There are some merits to these questions. Why shouldn't we become a Republic? Well, because it makes little sense to change the form of government we have. What sort of Republic would we want to be? An American style Republic where the head of government and the head of state are the same? A Westminster style Republic like many of our brothers in the Commonwealth where a ceremonial President is head of State while the power to govern is in the hands of a Prime Minister? Or should we just elect our own King or Queen? Or Governor General? I'll get to the whole Governor General and head of state in a second. But what are our choices? I don't like any of the alternatives. For one, they cost too much. If we elect a head of State like a President or Governor General wannabe, we will surely go down the road to hell. If there is anything I have learned as a resident (and citizen) of Canada, it is that our politicians, while they mean well, can't make big decisions. If I may borrow a line from the fantastic fabrication that is Braveheart, it is to say that our politicians cannot agree on the colour o' shite if their lives depended on it. We will spend the rest of our days in Constitutional limbo trying to figure out if the head of state should be a francophone or a visible minority or a francophone woman from a minority. And then of course, he or she would be political... they will be Liberal or Conservative or have Socialist leanings and what not. The office of whatever you want to call it will forever be plagued with complaints about bias. That is surely not better than what we have today.
My main argument for keeping the system as it is, is as follows. The Queen is a fairly benign entity to Canada. She's our head of State and lives elsewhere. She is above politics. She doesn't cost us that much (aside from whatever expenses we incur when she or her family come to visit and whatever Rideau Hall ends up spending on flowers). The Crown has worked well (and quite well at that) for over 400 years. Changing the system will cost far too much. Would you really want to reprint all of our money? Change every symbol related to government that is out there? Remember that pretty much anything out here has a Royal something attached to it. You can't walk away from that and keep the relics of the monarchy. What will we be left with? Nothing. Will we have the Canadian Coldstream guards? The Canadian Blackwatch? The Royal Canadian Mint? The Royal Regiment of Canada? Royal Warrants? The Gray Cup? Lord Stanley's cup? Do you really want it to be called Don Cherry's tacky cup and have it dressed in some god awful fabric (don't get me wrong, I like the guy, but really..)? No. We will lose all that.
Do not forget that we are British North America. We are _still_ part of the British empire, whatever stage it is in. We are different from others on our Continent. We have a heritage and tradition that is free from the fires of Revolution. We are Canadians. I don't get why we have such an issue with our heritage. We are the ones who collectively went to war for others freedom an ocean away. And not once at that. Being a Constitutional monarchy does not diminish who we are as Canadians. She is _our_ Queen. Remember that. And after her time, he will be _our_ King. My King. I don't care who the 'he' is, but I have tremendous respect for what it represents. It has given our country 400 years of stability and god forbid the day we ruin it. The last argument I will make about this is as it relates to our francophone population. Yes, the English won on the plains of Abraham. Yes the French lost. But we are Canadians. We are not English and French. We are British Columbians and Quebecers. We are the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. We are not the French from France or the English from England. We are Canadians. This is our heritage. I am very proud of the fact that Canada is a bilingual country. One of my hopes is that one day we all embrace it to the point where we can understand and converse as easily in one language as we can in the other. Anyway, long story short, God save the Queen and leave my head of State and government alone. Worry about why Canadian teams haven't won the Stanley cup in over 16 years.
So actually, this isn't the last about my bit on the government. Let me clarify. When the Queen is not in town, she appoints a representative. This person is nominated by the government (more correctly, by the Prime Minister) to represent Her Majesty when she's not in town. That person is called the Governor General. In every province (since we are a federalist government), there is a Lieutenant Governor who is HM's representative in the province. The Governor General is the representative of the Crown in Canada when the head of State is NOT in Canada. The moment she sets foot in Canada, she assumes the title of Queen of Canada and the Governor General retires to a nice place somewhere in Rideau Hall perhaps. I have heard (and read) more than once that the Governor General is the Head of State of Canada. That's just horse shit. The Governor General is the representative of the Crown. Canada's head of State is Her Majesty in the Right of Canada, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada. Please get that right. There are no ifs and or buts about that.
Onto the Olympics. One reason why HRH Prince Charles came here was to inspect our progress in getting ready for the games. I tried very unsuccessfully to get tickets to see anything at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler. I can't tell you how disappointed and angry I am that I couldn't even get into the damn site to get tickets. I mean, what the heck? I sure as hell hope that whoever ended up buying all those tickets does not get to sell them back to the public for a profit. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and not one where the grubby greedy hands of cretans should be allowed to spoil my chance at cheering my national team to victory. All that was left when all was said and done were tickets to some crappy hockey games (Belarus vs Sweden, really? $140 for that? I could have watched the Canadians play the Americans for that) and the victory ceremony. What a rip-off.
It has been pouring cats and dogs out here. I can't believe how much rain has fallen. We actually have puddles. We have a pretty decent drainage system here because of all the rain we do get, but with the fall leaves covering drains, we are seeing flooding in places. Apparently, over 200mm of rain has fallen in the last 2 days. Crazy! I got drenched today going to and coming back from work. Its not all that good when its slightly above freezing with crazy winds out there. I love the rain. But getting this much of it in such a short period really makes me wish for summer to be here now. Someone told me today that the monsoons have arrived. And they are right. Except for the lack of warmth and the thunder. Its outright soggy and mushy out there... eek. And apparently, the temperature is rising and so all that snow from the last couple of weeks is melting. Not good for all those who live by creeks and on hills. Let's hope we get through without too much damage.
And finally, onto a good story. This story does not have a good beginning if you ask me. It starts with a war. In an area called Indo-China. Where various people were fighting Communists and Capitalists and working hard to kill one another. A family of 4 escaped that mess. They somehow got on a boat from there and somehow ended up in Canada. The father was 40 at the time. The mother 40 as well. The children, just wee little ones. They had nothing. They didn't have a grasp of the language. The weather was alien to them. Years went by. They worked hard. Very hard. They prospered. Twenty-five years later, at 65, the father was celebrating his birthday with his friends and his first grand child. He speaks with grateful tears of what he has accomplished. Of what this country gave him. A chance to live the dream. He has a lovely house, plenty of food and most importantly, health, hope, faith and love. This man is the father of one of my good friends. And that wee boy has, like me, moved back from America back to Vancouver :).
Stories like Viet's are why I am so proud to be Canadian. It shows that these countries take in people in need and give them a fighting chance. To succeed and become productive citizens. As Emma Lazarus wrote,
"Give me your tired, your poor,Our brethren to the South espouse this and so do we. Thank god for these countries. It makes me appreciate what I had and still have. I have two homes. No one chased me away. No disaster made me leave. My parents did. But I go home. And I go home with joy knowing that I belong in both places.
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Though he may have a limited command of the English language, that old man expresses his thanks for living here in as many words as he can. The sentiment is quite clear. His joy is also very clear. And his instructions to me are also very clear. Get married soon. He's apparently expecting 10 grand children. And we get to contribute :). Oh and in case you thought he was too busy celebrating his birthday, he did find time to ask me what my religion was and to tell me the neighbour across the street is also Hindu and that he has a daughter about the right age for marriage. Happy 65th Birthday Mr. and Mrs. Le (who is 5 days younger!). I hope to celebrate many, many more with you guys. And I assure you, the day I find the right woman, I'll let you know. If you find her before me, send her my way.
I learned a lot this week. I love my countries. I love my life. I am very lucky. Even if I am still somewhat drenched :). God save the Queen and Jai Hind.
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