Ok, we are doing a country report on Canada. But being the genius that I am... (Cough) I cannot, for the life of me figure one thing out.. If I were a Space alien and I ordered you to "Take me to your Leader", whom would that be? I know you have a Federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy Government with all these people...... - Monarch HM Queen Elizabeth II - Governor General Michaëlle Jean - Prime Minister Stephen Harper But which one would be "THE" leader.... Thanks in advance! My original question was: Which of your leaders is the equivalent of our George Bush.. But I had to edit to keep the flames at bay... hahahahahah! (Jakie, you can wipe the coffee off your computer screen, now) :wink:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Queen is the official Head of State but in Canada (except when the Queen is here) is represented by the Governor General who is appointed by the Prime Minister. The Head of State is mostly a ceremonial role with little power. She (our current GG is female) can shut down parliment for a short time at the request of the PM or ask the opposition to form a government if the PM has lost the confidence of the House (can't get enough votes to pass important bills) but both things RARELY EVER happens. Except this past year when Canadian politics got so exciting that we forgot all about that Obama guy for awhile. We almost had the government overturned whe the PM lost the confidence of the house but the GG choose to prorogue (cut short) parliment to give everyone a chance to cool down rather then ask the opposition to form the government. Really though, neither the Queen nor the GG are our leader in any sense. If Canada were Disney then the Prime Minister would be the CEO while the Queen and GG would be Mickey Mouse. I think sometimes Americans get a little confuddled because their leader and head of state are one in the same.
Yeah I'm glad that you posted this. Definitely learned something new. And when I go play trivia this Thursday night I am positive there will be a question somehow involving Canadian politics and I will be one of the only ones that knows the answer. It always seems to work out this way. Did anyone read the book Q and A?
Thanks Dawnins! I can't believe ya'll almost forgot about OBAMA! WOW! What bytes even more.. we NEVER hear about other countries politics, with the ad nausem exception of oil producing countries... Oh well.... Consider us just a LITTLE less confuddled... Love that word, by the way...
hey cool and ya know what? When I was in 10th grade Canadian history ... my teacher said " The priminister's job is to write a speach for the Queen, the queens job is to read it," I kid you not! That is what she taught us in Canadian History at RC Palmer JR Secondary school! HA!
I was told by a VERY certain American tourist once that the Queen was most certainly our leader because we stuck her on our money. It didn't occur to me at the time but I should have then insisted the US was lead by a mystical one-eyed pyramid. :twisted:
how funny! ya! really! I am so glad that I was able to school in both countries cause I think I got a pretty rounded education if nothing else haha!
