Canadian Confederation took place on July 1, 1867 under the rule of Britain and remained so until 1931. At that time, the Statute of Westminister gave each British dominion, including Canada, the opportunity for almost complete independence from the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This meant that Canada had become independent of Britain.
Why then, I ask, did we pay 2.6 million dollars last month for Prince Charles and Camilla to visit Canada, partly because she wanted to visit Dundurn Castle where one of her relatives, Lord Dundurn lived? Why are we going to pay 3.64 million for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to visit Canada next year? If we are independent of British rule, why must we pay the wages of the Royal Family and their security when they visit our country?
The last time Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited, the citizens of Canada had to pay an atrocious price to buy her a new gold-plated toilet seat because the one she brought with her broke. Can the Royal Hinny not sit on anything but a gold-plated toilet seat? And why wasn't she and her entourage responsible for that themselves. Why were the people of Canada made to foot the bill?
Yes, she is our figurehead and her likeness is on our currency, but I for one, would prefer we put some historical Canadian figure on our currency and use the money we pay for the Queen to visit to feed the 1.5 million people in Canada who are going hungry.
Now don't get me wrong, I do respect the Royal Family, but if they want to come to Canada, let them come as tourists instead of our government spending millions of dollars on their visits. This money could go to help those who are disabled or in need of food or clothing through no fault of their own. These people are living far below the poverty level and their own country spends money on gold-plated toilet seats for visiting dignitaries while they struggle. It just doesn't seem right to me. Our government certainly has its priorities wrong. And that is my beef for today.
I'm with you! And those kind of things happen here too. Maybe not with the Queen, but our government officials certainly get their priorities wrong sometimes!
ReplyDeleteGovernment! Who the heck understands what they do and why at times. I'm inclined to agree with your assessment though. Why spend money to pay for her visit to your country? Let her take it out of her "Vacation Savings" the way everyone else does. Yeah right. Can't you just picture that -the queen saying to Prince Philip, "I think we should go to Canada this year and save our Vacation Savings for another place, one that won't reimburse our expenses." And a gold-plated toilet seat too? They have to be joking that she can't sit on a plain white one. Gives new light to that saying "She thinks her a$$ is gold" huh? (That may not be exactly the words but you get my drift. Mind not thinking all that clearly right now.)
ReplyDeleteOh my Mary.I couldn't agree with you more here!Blessings~Sharon
ReplyDeleteThe voice of dissent...Canada paying for the monarchy is like us going to Starbucks for a coffee..it's a piddly drop in the bucket...now Camilla and Charles are a poor draw but when Diana came with Charles much more was made in revenue by businesses in any city they visited than was paid out to bring them. I was in St. John's among the thousands that came from all over the province to see them...they rented hotel rooms, bought food...it was huge for the city back then...I was still in highschool and we did an analysis of this very same question.
ReplyDeleteI think if we could skip Chuck and have the young fellow take over the tours would be a huge draw once again.
But it's a relatively small amount of money in the grand scheme of the billions spent by the country every year for other things...and then there is the diplomatic hassle as well.
For me, I could personally take 'em or leave 'em but financially...it's a tiny amount relatively speaking.
Not having the monarchy will not financially advance Canada in any way..it's just a negligible amount.
Breeze
beats me Mary, my beefs are exactly the same as yours - grrr
ReplyDeleteMary, I agree with you... money could be spent so much better than in Government hands... Our President had a huge party this week too... and I think in the grand scheme of things.. this will matter on judgement day...
ReplyDeleteOh the government protocols astounds me too Mary....and I had to laugh about "Why must we foot the bill"? ---my first thought while reading THAT was "I'd like to put my foot where the sun don't shine---" Well, you get the gist.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Mary. Governments are so wasteful. They expect us to tighten our belts and live within a budget while they go in debt head over heals. They don't set a very good example.
ReplyDeleteI would not have dreamed this took place. It sounds screwy to me too. Politicians and national leaders take care of themselves first and possibly there will be left overs for regular citizens.
ReplyDeleteI guess as long as we are a constitutional monarchy, there will be a periodic price to be paid. Whether we should have monarchs or not is a good question. However, whatever the cost for the present, I can assure you the spent money wouldn't have gone to otherwise worthy projects.
ReplyDeleteUgh - ridiculous!! And maddening to the max.
ReplyDeleteI shake my head in wonder it these people have any ideal what reality is.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall which bank company it was here but they had a $1,200 garbage can.
That was the cheapest item. Come on haven't they heard of one for under twenty bucks.
Coffee is on.
You said "Just to let you know about my Royalty post. Did you know that someone on disability gets $920 a month to live on if they are single? A married couple gets $1278? And the news the other night told that Canadians pay the $138,000 hotel bill that Charles and Camilla ran up. This money should be put toward helping those less fortunate. The Queen can afford to pay her own way. I have a friend that has to chose between eating and paying her rent, yet we can afford to pay this ridiculous price for Royalty to visit. Just doesn't seem right to me."
ReplyDeleteand I say Mary, that while it isn't right, it's too small of an amount to make a difference. If the federal governement came forward and said "we are going to spend ten million dollars more on the poor this year" they'd be laughed out of parliament...divide the amount of money spent on the monarchy between the needy and it would be laughable.. They are two different issues. WE should be taking better care of the less fortunate. This bill for the royalty isn't going make one extra iota of difference and even if we don't spend another penny on the royal family it will make no difference to the poor in this country. It's not a matter of should...it's a matter of it's not enough. It's a red herring...we don't want to pay the extra taxes required to make a TRUE difference to the needy so we say cut the monarchy when the fact is, doing that wouldn't put a dent in the issue. Why not pull out of Afganistan? There are billions there, not the mere couple millions the monarchy costs. If they cut the monarchy there would be no change to the quality of lives for the poor in this country...it's simply not enough money.
To us, regular folks a few millions looks like a lot of money and yeah, if they were gonna take that $135, 000 and hand it to your friend it would be a life altering amount...divide it amongst the needy..its negligible...
I have no warm fuzzies towards the monarchy...but it's really something that flies below my radar as a solution to the poverty issues in this country.
Carolyn
The things that all of our governments do are completely ridiculous and frivilous. I just watched a show about the Christmas tree's that go to the white house every year. The big tree is carefully chosen from all the perfect tree's around the country, then there are countless other tree's for every room of the white house. Whichever tree farms perfect trees are chosen just gets the honor of donating those trees to the White House. They are not paid for like the rest of the world does. Interesting to say the least...
ReplyDeleteNow that is just crazy!
ReplyDeleteThere are really wasteful things done by the powers that be all over this world.
Our jobless rate rises day after day and yet the big news here.....the grand dinner thrown at the White House.
There are really some changes that need to be made....but I don't see that happening that any time soon.
Gold plated toilet seat....wonder what they have in the White House. :)
hmmmm, not up on Canadian government...I thought Canada WAS independent.
ReplyDeletethanks for the insight into your country.