Matthew at Living in a Society reminds us that Queen Elizabeth will be in Canada on the very day that Dithers puts his budget bill in front of the House of Commons for a vote. Matthew wonders if, under the circumstances, Her Royal Highness would actually take over her representative's responsibilities in the event the government falls.
However, does anyone know what the constitutional responsibilities of the Governor General are while the Queen is in the country? Do they remain the same, or does the Queen take over? If Martin loses another confidence vote on the 19th is he required to go out to Alberta, meet the Queen and ask that she dissolve Parliament?
And if that's the case, will Stephen Harper stomp his little feet and wail "I wanna go toooooo!"?
(In case it's not obvious, I have no use for either Dithers or Harper these days.)
I believe that the Governor-General is still the person to go to.
There's an Australian on Matthew's site who agrees with Kevin, or who says, at least, that there is such an arrangement in Australia.
It's an interesting constitutional pickle, though, isn't it. (I had thought that HM was only going to be in Sask/Alta on the 17th and 18th. Staying until the 25th -- that was news to me, but then so much is.)
Yep, doublechecked. The Governor-General retains all her powers when the Queen is in the country.
I for one would pay good money to see it, though. She's on the money, so why not? On the other hand, like that poor woman needs to be bothered with this. yeesh.
Though I suppose if the GG is incapacitated, QE2 can step in...
If anything happens to the GG, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court takes over the responsibilities of the office until a replacement is appointed.
Aha! Good to know. I see the Globe has a piece on it too...