Governor General can boot Stephen Harper’s ass out the door
I was most pleased to see Carlito Pablo’s story about my petition to the Governor General to dismiss Stephen Harper make the Best of Vancouver list [“Best of Vancouver 2014”, September 18-25]. However, it is unfortunate that your blurb writer saw fit to ruin the honour with an insulting, condescending swipe that misrepresented the article.
Whether or not Parliament passed any legislation arrogating to itself powers held by the Governor General is not only supremely irrelevant to the matter of Harper’s removal but also unconstitutional.
The Governor General’s constitutional authority derives from the British Crown, as acknowledged in the piece, and nothing that Parliament does can change that. It is not the place of the House of Commons, the prime minister, or the cabinet to usurp the powers of the Governor General. The 1947 Letters Patent of King George VI gives our Governor General absolute authority to dismiss anyone from any office. This power is still extant and is recognized by MPs I have spoken to and by the Governor General.
David Johnston’s refusal to exercise his authority to save Canada from Harper’s totalitarianism needs to be discussed, not ignored, which is why I started the petition to pressure Johnston to put his loyalty to Canada ahead of his loyalty to Harper. People need to know that our nightmare could be over in an instant, instant, and contrary to the Straight’s ill-informed write-up, this is a rational response to an unaccountable, undemocratic regime—much more logical than watching MPs make speech after impotent speech.
> Greg Felton / Port Coquitlam
Comments
6 Comments
Boris Moris
Sep 30, 2014 at 11:06pm
Can I pass a hat or something? Is there anything the GG needs? Maybe some ggs? Does he like Girls ? Boys?
Listen...whatever it takes. Make it happen. K
MD
Oct 1, 2014 at 7:58am
Yes, making the GG a de-facto dictator with no check on his or her power other than a petition is such a better idea than what we have now.
I despise Harper, but get bloody real.
He won the last election under our current rules whether we like it or not.
Stop wasting time with this nonsense, get involved with the party or candidate of your choice, stop playing schoolyard lawyer, and do something concrete to remove him.
OMG
Oct 1, 2014 at 7:58am
"David Johnston’s refusal to exercise his authority to save Canada from Harper’s totalitarianism needs to be discussed, not ignored,..."
Thanks for the laugh. It helps numb the pain of my overseer's whip as I slave away in the concentration camps set up by the Harpo regime.
re OMG
Oct 1, 2014 at 10:23am
good one haha. Seriously though, Greg needs a reality check. Yes, life in Canada could always be better and politicians are always going to be politicians. But overall we live in an amazing country. Be thankful you are living in Canada as life is pretty darn good compared to other nations.
Boot GG
Oct 1, 2014 at 1:32pm
How about we save money for Schools, Education & Healthcare & BOOT out the Monarcy.
Change over to a Republic get rid of the foreign (German Ancestry?) Queen & her reps via Consitutional Change with some real Checks & Balances on (37% "majority") Governments.
Save $$$ on all the (useless) Governors inn each Province & the (in reality impotent) GG.
Save Millions +++ $$$ on Canadian taxpayer paid holidays for the Queens progengy including big ears Charlie in Canada!
Anonymus
Feb 18, 2015 at 4:36am
You realize its all about winning chairs but we have had people demoted in the past because how much damage they were doing to our country. I find the issue is we never have any activist on this ever. How often do you ever see a protest on Parliament Hill. Much easier to do a petition online. That kind of seems easy to dismiss. Throw down every reason to protest stand at Parliament Hill gain a crowd and petition there. The end result you'd probably get more noticed then the riot a couple years back in Halifax where people were kind of acting stupid. It was less of a riot and excuse for hippies to parade. A lot of them didn't have any reason being there or at least a reasonable one. I think human rights would be a starter then how about the missing indigenous women and Bill-C51. I think social freedom is necessary or we shouldn't be using the internet. People have the right to have a voice but our government considers even the minimal an act of terrorism. We are the States and we hated Bush for pulling that on people as well. Here's a veto to Stephen Harper. he's toxic and everyone wants him out. He has made good on his deal why can't we pull the plug on him as people of this nation. My old roommate told me how much the chefs are making at parliament right now because their friend is one their chefs. It's ridiculous how much money a Prime minister has they should be leaders not millionaires and they shouldn't be wasting Canadian taxes on lunch.