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Teen tossed by GG for treasonous chatter
Posted by Michael Klassen on February 17, 2005 in Soapbox
There are a few things about my country that truly fry my Canadian bacon, and one of them is the pomp and circumstance about the nation's highest political appointment: The Governer General. The breathtaking swiftness in which a 15-year old lad was removed from the GG's residence on a tour for asking aloud, "Is that the woman that spends the money on the Queen when she comes?" could be the catalyst for finally, and rightly, closing down this pointless institution.
It's small gestures that sometimes yield enormous outcomes. Rosa Parks refusing to sit at the back of the bus is a famous example of an individual triumphing over injustice. Fifteen year-old Jeremy Patfield had the cheek to question why Canada has a Queen. Why do we tolerate having an appointed person with the Windsor Castle red phone in her rolodex as our de facto head of state?
The answer is because the establishment wishes it to be so. But a younger generation is coming up in Canada that is less beholden to tradition, and more so to Gameboy Advance. Once their batteries run down, maybe they'll take to the streets.
Ah, who am I kidding. The GG will be around for our children's children's children's testtube kid to fret about.
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Having a lineage-based head of state isn't necessarily a bad thing. The only other options are to appoint or elect the head of state, and both of those carry the regular problems of patronage and pandering to the lowest common denominator. I'm hardly a monarchist, but sometimes blending elements of different governing models can solve problems created by adhering too rigidly to any one model or its underlying philosophy.