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Do we need a Governor General?
11 March 2005
Do we need a Governor General? Adrienne Clarkson has proven a high-living, high-spending representative ($19 million annual budget, up from $11 million in a few short years, staff increased by >45% to 180, additional costs for security, etc.). She has brought the role of the GG into focus: do we need one? Can we afford one like her?
Aside from figurehead, what role does she actually play outside of draining taxpayers' money for her personal little empire, her expensive world jaunts and her bloated staff? Do we need to finance the luxurious living quarters and lifestyle she enjoys? What do we get in return aside from the annoyance?
Can her official duties be better performed by less expensive and less self-aggrandizing representatives? Do we need this lingering tie to Imperialism? For all the good she's done. we would be better off to erect a statue of the Queen and leave it at that.
And do we need an imperious representative who shows no concern for the costs she incurs, living in the stratosphere of spending when so many Canadians live at or barely above the poverty line? Her responses to media questions about her spending show an unbridled arrogance towards responsibility, accountability and her employers - Canadian taxpayers.
Would she take on the role if she were foced to account for her spending, forced to live within a budget, and even take on the job at a token $1 a year? Not likely. The GG seems determined to live in the royal style, favouring the extravangances and indulgences of the Bourbons over the humility and credibility of a Gandhi.
Clarkson's office spent $41 million last year. And for what? Imagine if that money had been used in education, research, health care, environmental clean up - rather than in paying her way on government jets to vacation at her Muskoka cottage.
Frankly, thanks to Clarkson's performance, I believe - as apparently do many Canadians if one believes the letters in the newspapers - the GG's office should be abolished, the current GG's spending and abuses be a subject for a Parliamentary committee, and Canadian taxpayers freed of the yoke of paying for these patronage appointments.
I say let's dump the GG and save ourselves a whole lot on money that could better be put to use than giving someone a high time on the backs of hard-working taxpayers. Let's free ourselves of the shackles of "Queen Adrienne" and her Marie Antoinette lifestyle!
But what about dropping the Queen as head of state entirely? The tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu is considering it. It's been a political argument in Australia for many years. Why can't we give is serious and open debate?
There is a movement to make Canada a republic (see Monarchy-Free Canada and Citizens for a Canadian Republic
And are they even the legitmate Royal Family. Maybe not - see Not the Real Royals.
Aside from figurehead, what role does she actually play outside of draining taxpayers' money for her personal little empire, her expensive world jaunts and her bloated staff? Do we need to finance the luxurious living quarters and lifestyle she enjoys? What do we get in return aside from the annoyance?
Can her official duties be better performed by less expensive and less self-aggrandizing representatives? Do we need this lingering tie to Imperialism? For all the good she's done. we would be better off to erect a statue of the Queen and leave it at that.
And do we need an imperious representative who shows no concern for the costs she incurs, living in the stratosphere of spending when so many Canadians live at or barely above the poverty line? Her responses to media questions about her spending show an unbridled arrogance towards responsibility, accountability and her employers - Canadian taxpayers.
Would she take on the role if she were foced to account for her spending, forced to live within a budget, and even take on the job at a token $1 a year? Not likely. The GG seems determined to live in the royal style, favouring the extravangances and indulgences of the Bourbons over the humility and credibility of a Gandhi.
Clarkson's office spent $41 million last year. And for what? Imagine if that money had been used in education, research, health care, environmental clean up - rather than in paying her way on government jets to vacation at her Muskoka cottage.
Frankly, thanks to Clarkson's performance, I believe - as apparently do many Canadians if one believes the letters in the newspapers - the GG's office should be abolished, the current GG's spending and abuses be a subject for a Parliamentary committee, and Canadian taxpayers freed of the yoke of paying for these patronage appointments.
I say let's dump the GG and save ourselves a whole lot on money that could better be put to use than giving someone a high time on the backs of hard-working taxpayers. Let's free ourselves of the shackles of "Queen Adrienne" and her Marie Antoinette lifestyle!
But what about dropping the Queen as head of state entirely? The tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu is considering it. It's been a political argument in Australia for many years. Why can't we give is serious and open debate?
There is a movement to make Canada a republic (see Monarchy-Free Canada and Citizens for a Canadian Republic
And are they even the legitmate Royal Family. Maybe not - see Not the Real Royals.
