Posted by Ian McKechnie on September 25, 2009, 4:34 pm
98.124.25.31
Section Two of the infamous 1947 Letters Patent reads as follows:
"And We do hereby authorize and empower Our Governor General, with the advice of Our Privy Council for Canada or of any members thereof or individually, as the case requires, to exercise all powers and authorities lawfully belonging to Us in respect of Canada, and for greater certainty but not so as to restrict the generality of the foregoing to do and execute, in the manner aforesaid, all things that may belong to his office and to the trust We have reposed in him according to the several powers and authorities granted or appointed him by virtue of the Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1940 and the powers and authorities hereinafter conferred in these Letters Patent and in such Commission as may be issued to him under Our Great Seal of Canada and under such laws as are or may hereinafter be in force in Canada."
What does "...and for greater certainty but not so as to restrict the generality of the foregoing to do and execute..." mean?
Here in Canada, the Governor General seems to be commenting daily on the Afghanistan affair, etc. The Monarch's opinion, however, is so sharply controlled by politicians it makes a joke out of the monarchy. Being a constitutional monarchy doesn't mean the Queen and the Viceroys are puppets, with the PM acting as the ventriloquist.
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