Anybody have any big plans? I got invited to a friend's lakeside house but sadly, I'll be working every night this weekend. I can party with my time-and-a-half paycheque later at any rate, I guess. Hope everyone else has a lovely day off!
Posts: 624 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I could google this, but what better way than to maybe get actual canadians to answer my question.
In History we have been going over the US revolution and 1700-1800's. My questions are: Is Canada still a British territory? Did you guys ever leave from the 'motherland' so to speak?
Being that my class is American history, and not world history at that time we didn't cover it. And instead of being an unanswered question I've decided to find out. Just asking here first, I will now commence searching about.
Posts: 189 | Registered: Jun 2005
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yay, it's finally past midnight here! Happy Canada Day everyone!
In regards to your questions CS, I'm not entirely sure, but here's my stab at it:
I know that we're still a part of the British Commonwealth and that the Queen is still our Head of State. On the same note, I believe that under Pierre Trudeau we got our own constitution. So in some ways we've left the motherland, but in others we are still connected to it.
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2004
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It was a gradual process. Shortly before the second world war we gained the right to declare war for ourselves (presented to me as the major reason Canada entered the war a couple days after Britain did - a political statement). think it was after that we gained our own supreme court, and the Privy Council no longer made the final decisions. In the 1980s, as Rei said, we "patriated" our constitution.
Right now, aside from the Queen's face on the money and the figurehead presence of the Governor General, I don't know how connected Canada still is. I know that by the exact letter of the law, Adrienne Clarkson could dissolve Parliament, seize power, and rule in the name of the Queen at any moment, but strong Constitutional conventions make that a virtual impossibility.
Answer: I don't know, exactly.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Britain has virtually no power over Canada. The few residual bits of interferance are to do with the Governer General and Lieutenant Governers, who are the representative of the Queen at the national and provincial levels respectively. However, as has been said before, the Queen/Governer General is basically a figurehead (although she technically has powers, using them without being advised by the Prime Minister would probably cause Canadians to have a referendum and vote to get rid of the Queen).
There are a lot of holdovers that hark back to British rule along the lines of the queen and such, but Canada is essentially a sovereign country that just happens to be part of the British Commonwealth, as is Australia, for example.
Historically in a nutshell:
In 1867, Canada became its own country, as it were- no longer just a colony. We set up a government in Ottawa and drew up a Canadian Constitution. At the time, there were only four provinces; Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and we were a "Confederation". As other provinces and territories joined, the nation grew. However, up until 1982, Canada's constitution could not be changed except with permission of the U.K. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1982, "brought the constitution home" (as it's called) and so now Canada can do everything itself.
EDIT: And Happy Canada Day, Canadians!
EDIT #2: (Canada Day is the day we became a country- July 1, 1867)
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:presented to me as the major reason Canada entered the war a couple days after Britain did - a political statement
I had heard that it was because the US was bound by the Neutrality Act to not sell supplies to nations involved in the war. So we put off declaring to buy a bunch of supplies for the allies as a "neutral" country.
There was also apparently a clause that the US couldn't fly planes onto foreign territory, so they built airstrips right over the border, landed them on the American side and dragged them into Canada where they could take off again.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Feb 2000
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