Yan Campagnolo, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
An oath to the King is not an oath to the person who wears the crown. It is an oath to an institution that symbolizes our system of government, a democratic constitutional monarchy.
Queen Elizabeth harnessed goodwill from Canadians mostly as an individual, rather than as the hereditary head of an institution. But her death will lead to debate about the relevance of the monarchy.
A new book argues no-one writing an Australian constitution today would argue for creating a head of state on the other side of the world who is hand-picked by the head of government.
The appointment of judges has hitherto been an obscure and oftentimes clandestine affair. This has produced incompetent judges and led to claims that the judiciary is beholden to the executive.
For the first time in Canadian history, the Governor General has resigned. Now is the perfect time to imagine a different kind of head of state for the country.
Power is visibly draining away from Tom Thabane. But, even at 80 years old, he remains a wily operator, and seems determined to cause maximum trouble to secure his immunity from prosecution.
King Rama X is transforming the nominal powers granted by the constitution into real powers to be exercised at his own discretion, restoring a hybrid form of monarchical rule in the Land of Smiles.