Natalie Simpson's List: Gr. 9 Civics - Model Parliament Situation

• This riding contains Barrie,

  a resort and service-oriented

  city on the western shores of Lake Simcoe in central Ontario.
• Population: 128,430 (2006 census; an increase of 23.8% since 2001)

• we have evolved
• embrace new, more fitting paths to our
   future.
• The obvious next step is to phase out the role that the British royal family plays in the governance of Canada
• The head of state of Canada has to be not just of British descent
• by accident of birth, not for any other reason, happens to be King or Queen of Great Britain
• must also be a member of the Church of England. No Catholics, atheists, Confucians, Muslims, Jews, or Canadians need apply
• head of state is really the governor-general
• the Crown’s historic role in our constitution as a bulwark of strength and stability

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• The Conservative Party will be guided in its constitutional framework and its policy basis by the following principles
• A belief in

  our constitutional monarchy, the institutions of Parliament and the democratic process

• The monarchy is considered irrelevant or of little interest to the largest number of Canadians.
• They can count among them Prime Minister Stephen Harper, an unabashed public monarchist. He’s a bit of a supporter of what’s called the “anglosphere,” that collection of English-speaking countries within which the monarchy plays a symbolic role.
• There has never been a sustained, serious debate in Canada about the monarchy, as in Australia. No political party has ever demanded one; no political leader has ever encouraged one.
• At some point, the Australians will have another go at the monarchy question, because polls Down Under consistently show strong support for change. Change to what and how to get there remain the challenge

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• No one talks about the Canadian monarchy and you never hear it, you don't see it. But the Crown's all over the place, on all sorts of things, so that seemed to me appropriate.
• We have a constitutional system that seems to work quite well. It doesn't weigh heavily on our shoulders
• it's that she got deeply involved in the beginning of her reign in the rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada and was constantly asking questions of her leading ministers about what was going on.
• On the one hand, the monarchy will die if the government doesn't support it.
• On the other hand, if anyone thinks the heir to the throne's politics is the same as Mr. Harper's, they're living in cloud cuckooland.

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• Tom Freda, co-founder and director of Citizens for a Canadian Republic
• Canadians don't think the monarchy is appropriate for the 21st century.
• "It pleases people who are strong loyalists or monarchists or with a great attachment to the United Kingdom, but it doesn't please people who see themselves as Canadians with a separate country," said Newfoundland NDP MP Jack Harris.
• An online poll of 1,016 Canadians conducted by Ipsos-Reid between June 20 and 27 suggested that 67 per cent of Quebecers want to get rid of the monarchy while only 42 per cent of Canadians outside the province support such a move.

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