paulh
On Mon, 1 Apr 2002 17:53:49 +0100, "David Flood" <NOSPAMmaoltuile@utvinternet.ie>wrote:

David Flood
"paulh" <aa@microsoft.com>wrote in message news:puhdauot0l664g651kafll5iend6s7clp4@4ax.com...

paulh
On Sun, 31 Mar 2002 05:18:20 GMT, spam@nospam.com (AC) wrote:

possibly others..

AC
I am Canadian, and I can assure you that the head of state is Queen Elizabeth II. The republican movement in Canada is relatively weak and is made up of some infrequently vocal malcontents.

paulh
Ah... I didnt realise. Down here the Republicans are quite a bit bigger...but suffered a major defeat during a referendum a year or so ago....

David Flood
I understand that this was because the republican vote 'split' - the electorate was rightly suspicious of the idea of the parliamentarians electing the President, rather than the electorate (which is the norm elsewhere)

paulh
Its hard to know exactly what people were thinking. But I certainly believe that an inability to see what sort of republic we would have was a major cause of the failure. Republicans certainly thought so... in this they were outmanouvered And of course no one trusts the parlimentarians. And I don't trust the Public... or we'd end up with Paul Hogan or Kylie Minogue as our first President. Still not sure why we need a President at all...