Posted by Peter G
on October 22, 2009, 10:56 pm, in reply to "Essay: My TA apparently knows very little about Canada's monarchy?"
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I would start with (1) that democracy requies rule of law as a foundation, and that monarchy is the law in Canada, (2) that democracy is better for having someone other than a politician in charge of the formalities of, for example, dissolving and summoning Parliament, and (3) that elections are not the only means of legitimacy, that the "democratic process" by itself is not enough, and that the Queen is the legitimate Sovereign in part because no-one has ever (officially) cast a vote against her. (Try to imagine an elected Head of State that voters in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec are all going to accept.)
The stability argument is easy - Jean's prorogation of Parliament, regardless of the merits of the decision, ended uncertainty and spared Canada what in other countries might have been years of lawsuits and paralysis. In fairness, though, abuses by elected officials aren't kept in check as much as we might like.
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