She is indeed a figurehead, however, her representative in Canada (the Governor General, currently Adrienne Clarkson, who is evil) actually has duties, ceremonial as they may be.
A bill gets introduced and voted on in our House of Commons (like your Congress), then gets passed to the Senate. Assuming the Senate okays the bill, it then goes to the Governor General for approval. Technically, she can refuse to pass it, but I don't think any Governor General has refused to sign a bill into law in decades, if not a century.
Just as important, though, in order to dissolve the current sitting of Parliament (like when an election is called, which just happened here last week), the Prime Minister must GO TO THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S and ask for her to dissolve Parliament. The Governor General will also open Parliament when it reconvenes.
If the Queen is in the country, however, she's supposed to do all the ceremonial stuff. She's opened and dissolved Parliament here before, I think.
So while they have no usable power, the reigning monarch still is relevant, even if most of those duties fall to their representative, the Governor General. :) </random Canadian Government course>
Flat, eh? I bet you say "dot com" as "daht cahm", don't you? ;) Then again, I say "sore-ee" for "sorry". Ah, the two extremes. :)
no subject
A bill gets introduced and voted on in our House of Commons (like your Congress), then gets passed to the Senate. Assuming the Senate okays the bill, it then goes to the Governor General for approval. Technically, she can refuse to pass it, but I don't think any Governor General has refused to sign a bill into law in decades, if not a century.
Just as important, though, in order to dissolve the current sitting of Parliament (like when an election is called, which just happened here last week), the Prime Minister must GO TO THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S and ask for her to dissolve Parliament. The Governor General will also open Parliament when it reconvenes.
If the Queen is in the country, however, she's supposed to do all the ceremonial stuff. She's opened and dissolved Parliament here before, I think.
So while they have no usable power, the reigning monarch still is relevant, even if most of those duties fall to their representative, the Governor General. :) </random Canadian Government course>
Flat, eh? I bet you say "dot com" as "daht cahm", don't you? ;) Then again, I say "sore-ee" for "sorry". Ah, the two extremes. :)