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So how does your government work?
menace:
I realize that a majority of members here are US or commonwealth but I though it might be interesting to explain how your particular democratic process works (no flaming others--there are enough other threads for that). For instance Canada:
leader (official) : prime minister
leader (unofficial): queen of england and her liason the governor general
we vote for particualr parties via representative members. these members then vote for their leader of the party who becomes the defacto head of state should that party reach a majority of seats in the house of commons. The sitting party then nominates others (buddies, cronies etc.) to sit in the senate.. These leaches...er.. people then have life tenure in the senate rubber stamping all sorts of official government twaddle.
On a provincial level we have basically the same structure. (there are 10 provinces and 3 territories) territories have a small population and no provincial government.
simplified history:
http://www.kidzone.ws/geography/constitution.htm
danny_galaga:
oz is much the same, except that WE'VE had a leader sacked by our governor general (and hence by the queen)!!
menace:
so is the queen your figurehead as well? having no real power but is on all your money? Canada passed a constitution in 1982 declaring all laws and regulations to be the mandate of the government of canada and not that of england (i'm still shocked it took that long but i guess england wasn't really all that demanding :P)
Dexter:
Ireland:
We have a political leader (Taoiseach) and a figurehead President for state functions. The Taoiseach is whoever is the leader of the controlling political party following a general (national) election. Our president can sit a maximum of two terms of seven years each. Our voting areas are divided into constituencies with candidates able to pass their votes over to other candidates if they lose.
Pretty standard stuff, but parties can form coalitions with each other to outnumber seats held by others following an election, effectively ensuring a majority and overall win. We've had 'rainbow coalitions' i.e. different parties with differing policies coming together and running the country. These were VERY interesting times as you can imagine.
GGKoul:
--- Quote from: danny_galaga on February 22, 2005, 09:09:15 am ---oz is much the same, except that WE'VE had a leader sacked by our governor general (and hence by the queen)!!
--- End quote ---
When I was in OZ in May 04 & Dec 03, I remember reading how there is a big movement to remove the Union Jack from the Australian flag. How is that coming along?
Menace, I would say Australia is more connected to England then Canada is to England. If I remember correctly, Prince William or Andrew is or were in Australia doing some work for a couple of months. And the Royal family has some vacation property in Australia. Also, the Australian coinage has a picture of a queen on one side. Similar to Canada. But the Canadian coins now feature a more mature picture of the Queen on the back.
Click here to see a picture of the various coins in Australia. ---> http://www.ramint.gov.au/making_coins/default.cfm?DefaultPage=coin_designs.cfm