The Sun Never Sets On The CBC

Canadian Content Alert: American readers, feel free to check out the links if you'd like to learn a bit about our own madness up here.

On Tuesday, Michaëlle Jean will officially be installed as the 27th Governor General of Canada. As I wrote about in a previous post, I have my doubts about this woman being our de facto head of state. Among other things, I mentioned my discomfort with the thought of the commander-in-chief of the Canadian Forces being a dual citizen of France. I am happy to report that Jean has renounced her French citizenship, which was the right thing to do. I have no reason to doubt that the decision to take French citizenship in the first place was for family reasons, and it happened just last year. I only wish this had been addressed before she was designated as the next GG. My biggest concern about her remains the question surrounding her and (especially) her husband's ties to Quebec sovereignists and known FLQ terrorists. But I already had my rant about that.

I think Canadians have to seriously think about the role of the Governor General, and the future of the monarchy in Canada. The position of GG is largely ceremonial, although it holds real powers. One would think that the GG should be somebody with a background in politics, or diplomacy, or at least a background that would befit a statesman. And yet, our last two GG's have now been CBC broadcasters. Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against the broadcasting profession. I admired Adrienne Clarkson's media work, and have great respect for Jean's life story and career. But I don't recall Parliament ever approving a viceregal training program at the CBC. Somebody was joking the other day about the ongoing lockout at the CBC, and how nobody should throw eggs at the picket line because they might hit a future Governor General. Since there's a tradition of alternating Anglophone and Francophone GG's, by my calculation it should be Rex Murphy's turn next. I just hope, after Clarkson's spendthrift ways, that the Governor General's office will have to adhere to as strict a budget as the CBC.

In all seriousness, what are we doing in the 21st century still adhering to the British Monarchy? Seeing that Britons themselves are questioning the usefulness of the monarchy in greater numbers, it might be time for Canadians to consider alternatives. There are plenty of traditionalists around, so this isn't something that will happen any time soon. But it's still surprising that there isn't a larger republican (small r!) movement in Canada. We could still have ties to the Commonwealth - after all, it was our own Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent that proposed the formula that allowed India to remain in the Commonwealth upon independence. Maybe the new republican constitutional deliberations would even offer another chance to iron out some issues with Quebec and the West. And there's no reason why Rex Murphy couldn't be our next head of state, but he'd have to be elected. Ahhh, to dream. A republic, and Turks & Caicos, if you can keep it.