Geez, look at this: (taken from wikipedia):
As per the
Constitution Act, 1867, Canada is a
constitutional monarchy, wherein the role of the reigning sovereign is both legal and practical, but not political.[SUP]
[13][/SUP] The Crown is regarded as a
corporation, with the monarch, vested as she is with all powers of state,[SUP]
[14][/SUP] at the centre of a construct in which the power of the whole is shared by multiple institutions of government acting under the sovereign's authority;[SUP]
[15][/SUP][SUP]
[16][/SUP][SUP]
[17][/SUP] the Crown has thus been described as the underlying principle of Canada's institutional unity,[SUP]
[18][/SUP] with the executive formally called the
Queen-in-Council, the legislature the
Queen-in-Parliament, and the courts as the
Queen on the Bench.[SUP]
[7][/SUP]
Royal Assent and the
royal sign-manual are required to enact laws,
letters patent, and
orders in council, though the authority for these acts stems from the Canadian populace and,[SUP]
[19][/SUP][SUP]
[20][/SUP] within the
conventional stipulations of constitutional monarchy, the sovereign's direct participation in any of these areas of governance is limited.[SUP]
[21][/SUP][SUP]
[22][/SUP] While
Elizabeth II is Queen of Canada, as an individual she is also the head of state of
15 other countries in the
Commonwealth of Nations. It should be noted however that as Canada's Sovereign, the
Queen of Canada is "truly Canadian", and is "totally independent from that of the
Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms".[SUP]
[23][/SUP][SUP]
[24][/SUP] As Queen of Canada, Her Majesty appoints a viceregal representative (the
Governor-General) who is currently
David Lloyd Johnston. The
Governor-General acts in Her Majesty's stead while she is not in Canada. Since 1947, the
Governor General of Canada has been permitted to exercise almost all of the sovereign's
Royal Prerogative, though some powers do remain the Queen's alone. Further, the monarch and governor general typically follow the near-binding
advice of their
ministers of the Crown in
cabinet, who rule "in trust" for the monarch.[SUP]
[25][/SUP] It is important to note, however, that the Royal Prerogative belongs to the Crown and not to any of the ministers,[SUP]
[17][/SUP][SUP]
[26][/SUP] and the royal and viceroyal figures may unilaterally use these powers in exceptional
constitutional crisis situations.[SUP]
[n 1][/SUP][SUP]
[17][/SUP][SUP]
[27][/SUP][SUP]
[28][/SUP][SUP]
[29][/SUP][SUP]
[30][/SUP][SUP]
[31][/SUP] Politicians can sometimes try to use to their favour the complexity of the relationship between the monarch, viceroy, ministers, and parliament, and the public's general unfamiliarity with it.[SUP]
[n 2][/SUP]
The Canadian monarchy is a
federal one in which the Crown is unitary throughout all jurisdictions in the country, with the
headship of state being a part of all equally.[SUP]
[32][/SUP] As such, the sovereignty of the federal and provincial regions is passed on not by the governor general or federal parliament, but through the overreaching Crown itself. Though singular, the Crown is thus "divided" into eleven legal jurisdictions, or eleven "crowns" — one federal and ten provincial.[SUP]
[15][/SUP][SUP]
[33][/SUP] A
lieutenant governor serves as the Queen's representative in each province, carrying out all the monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties of state on her behalf.
It seems that this excerpt tries to say one thing, being that the queen has no real Power in Canada and then suggests that she does have the real power. She is the Crown. She APPOINTS the Governor General. The ministers have "near binding" power , but "near" is only good in horseshoes. In actuality, the way I read it, that means that they DON'T have binding power.
It seems like , in my opinion, the Prime Minister is the bagman in this political process. He takes the blame and the credit for things that happen under his watch. But he is not the real power, just my opinion.
And sad to say, we have a similar state of affairs in America, our politicians are the fronts for corporations, again my opinion.
