[CANADA]: The Great Constitutional Crisis

[Ellie]

That morning, the streets were filled with an ominous brittle silence. Bitterly cold and humid - such an enchanting combination. Every surface, every blade of grass was growing small ice crystals, creating a thin layer of early morning ice of the many lawns of Ottawa, but mainly the enormous grassy front lawn of Parliament Hill where the Senate and the House of Commons were summoned. Above the Parliament, into the sky, floated thick black clouds which blocked the sun and its thunder echoed of a great storm to come. The air is sweet and the breeze cool, a perfect day in late mid autumn. There is nothing outside that should make the Canadian people fearful, yet just to step into out makes their heart thump in their chest.

There was no evidence, nothing physical to prove it, but they all knew it. It make their hair stand on edge from survival instinct. 'It's just the instincts from the civil war.' They'd say among themselves, but they all knew; something big was coming and it would change Canada forever, more than the civil war ever could.

And it would all begin here; in the House of Commons.

Everyone was present; the Prime Minister, the Canadian Brotherhood, the Conservative Party of Canada, the Quebecois, the Liberal Party of Canada, those who were independent politicians, the Speaker, and the Governor-general who represented Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. But today the House of Commons would be shortened by a few members.

The Prime Minister would stand with a large pack of papers in his hands. The large cameras within the House of Commons would focus on him as the broad coast would reach every corner of the globe.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the House of Commons," he began, "today we must discuss something that has been crippling the Canadian Federation for centuries; our constitution regarding the British monarchy. It is without a doubt that Canada’s constitution is extremely clear that our great country’s executive authority is "vested in the Queen or in the King” — but it does not specify who that King or who that Queen must be. There is nothing in the Canadian law that explicitly states that our monarch must be a descendant of Queen Victoria, or even that the monarch of the Canadian Federation has to be the same monarch as that of the current United Kingdom monarch. Most notably, it is still the written law in Canada that our country is “federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.” However we cannot be “united” under the British Crown, since that would mean we are part of the British state. While that worked for early Canadians, who were in fact British, this is no longer legally the case. Furthermore, thanks to some well-armed Dubliners, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland no longer exists. This means that our constitution regarding the British monarchy is technically void!"

"We must fix this immediately. I am not in support for having an old woman across the Atlantic Ocean being our Head of State, but some people seem to enjoy having a foreign power having control over us. Regardless, this error in our constitution must still be fix. Which brings us to three decisions; the first would be the easiest: Status Quo, Queen Elizabeth remains our Head of State and this entire conversation is forgotten. The second would be to elect a Canadian who will remain on Canadian soil to be the Head of State of Canada, this decision is what I am the most in favor of: our constitution will be edited but we will keep our monarchy. The third and final decision that I bring up the House of Commons is to completely abolish the monarchy and become a republic."

"Now you must be asking yourselves; A Canadian as monarch? Who could it be? Well, isn't it obvious?" A large smile grew on Prime Minister Jacob Henderson's face. "You're looking at him! There is no way around this vote. We choose now."

Uproar would spread through the House of Commons, but the Speaker (elected by the Canadian Brotherhood), would allow the vote. The Prime Minister would sit down as the Speaker would begin the voting ceremony, the first vote being the Status Quo.

 

[Ellie]

The Conservative Party of Canada's leader, Andrew Carter, would stand and speak his mind.

"This vote is an outrage!" He state. "This man is asking us to vote on a decision that will change Canada for the better or the worse for the coming years in no more than a few minutes. Mister Speaker, I demand that you give us far more time to debate this ridiculous notion of voting for a new monarch and changing our constitution. The Prime Minister dares to bring up the idea of voting him into office to become King of Canada, this is an abuse of power and I ask that that decision be removed from the vote and replaced with electing a Canadian monarch that we, the House of Commons and Senate choose, and not--"

"Enough!" The Speaker would cut him off. "The decision to vote for a Canadian monarch that will be chosen later on will be added to the voting ceremony, but if the Canadian Brotherhood wishes to vote for a so called 'House of Henderson' then they have the right to do so." Outrage would once again spread through the House of Commons. "Quiet! We are a democracy! We will not remove the right to vote for a specific option simply because you dislike the idea. Whatever option is chosen within the House of Commons in the following hours will be selected through majority vote and that is final!"

The Governor-General would stand from his chair. "The Queen will not stand for this childish vote, nor will Britain! I invoke my reserved constitutional powers and hereby dismiss this vote and I, David Johnston, hereby fire you, Jacob Henderson as the Prime Minister of Canada and dissolve the current parliament of the Canadian Brotherhood. Furthermore, I invoke my rights and place Suzanne Cowan as Prime Minister and place the Liberal Party of Canada back into Canadian leadership. Effective immediately."

Jacob Henderson would stand. "Your decision is hereby denied, Governor-General. We, the Canadian Brotherhood and current parliament of Canada fire you from your illegal position--"

"Laughable! You have no constitutional powers over me, Jacob Henderson, you will be arrested for trying to act above Canadian Law!"

Jacob Henderson would laugh. "I'm acting above the law? You are mistaken, sir. Our constitution is void, revealing to us that Canada has no monarch. You sir are here illegally, representing a Queen that has no power here, and you sir are the one acting above the law!" At this point, the security of the House of Commons would approach the Governor-General and handcuff him. "David Johnston, you are hereby under arrest for the crime of advocating to topple the Canadian government and instating a foreign person into power. Thus you are now placed under arrest for high treason and I believe you know what your sentence for your crime will be, Governor-General."

"Tyranny! You have no right to arrest the Governor-General!" The leader of the Liberal Party, Suzanne Cowan, would speak.

"Miss Cowan, are you admitting to having a hand in the Governor-General's attempts at toppling the Canadian government and committing high treason?"

Suzanne Cowan would remain silent as the Governor-General would be escorted out of the House of Commons.

"Very well. Without futher disturbances, the vote begins."

 

[Ellie]

The votes would take place. The first vote would be to modernize the Canadian constitution and keep the status quo of Queen Elizabeth II as the Head of State. This vote, surprisingly, did not receive a lot of votes. The Liberal Party of Canada and a few independent politicians voted for this but their votes only constituted for 10.4% of the House of Commons.

This meant that no matter what happened with the two other votes to comes: Queen Elizabeth II would no longer be the Head of State of Canada.

The second vote to come was that of electing a democratically elected Canadian monarch which would be elected by the people and not this so-called 'House of Henderson'. This vote came with the full support of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Quebecois Independence Party, their votes were almost three times the size of that of the Status Quo Vote; 29.9%.

However, none held majority yet. The final vote came: The House of Henderson. Over 200 hundred hands from the Canadian Brotherhood were raised up, giving the Canadian Brotherhood majority by at least thirty percent. And with that, the House of Henderson held majority with a vote of; 59.7%.

-

"It would appear we have a winning vote." The Speaker would point out. "With a majority of fifty-nine point seven percent of the votes in the House of Commons, a 'House of Henderson' has won. Jacob Henderson, your Majesty, I give you the floor." With that, as though it was all planned ahead, the Speaker bowed and gave the floor to King Jacob Henderson I.

But this didn't stop the Conservative and Liberal leaders to speak up. "I invoke a vote of no confidence!"

"I second that vote."

Jacob Henderson would smile. "Very well, who here believes I am no longer fit to rule, raise your hands." The people of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Liberal Party would raise their hands, along with the small amount of NDP members. The total votes to impeach Jacob Henderson were 126 and a total of 36.98% of the House of Commons. "Now, who believes this vote of no confidence to be misused and abused? Who wishes for me to remain in power, raise your hands." The Canadian Brotherhood and the Quebecois Independence Party would raise their hands, a total of 212 and a total of 63.02% of the House of Commons. "It would appear your vote of no confidence has been denied and I will, democratically, remain in power."

"My first order as King is to turn Canada into an elective monarchy. The Prime Minister of Canada will now be elected as the King of Canada and will rule for life, unless impeached by the people and the government, with the full power that a Prime Minister of Canada would have. All in favor?"

The Canadian Brotherhood would raise their hands, automatically winning majority and Henderson's reform passing.

"Next. The House of Commons and the Senate will be merged into a single entity called the House of Senators where every problem of the country and the world will be debated, with King having final word and power of veto. All in favor?"

The Canadian Brotherhood would once again win majority and the new King's reform would pass.

"All in favor of Jacob Henderson becoming King of Canada and for Canada to become the Elective Kingdom of Canada?"

The reform would pass. And with that the Elective Kingdom of Canada would be formed and Jacob Henderson would be coronated as its very first King.