• Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    Ummm…so, what does Prince Andrew have to do with Canadian government? What official role exactly, does he play in Canadian politics? Oh. None? Ok.

    So, who the fuck cares, then? This loser has all but been completely disowned by the Royal family, anyway.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      What official role exactly, does he play in Canadian politics?

      In explicitly politics? Not much. But as a royal dignitary, he’s entitled to a host of benefits reserved for the Monarch and their representatives.

      While Canada might not pay money directly to the monarchy, the country’s ties to the House of Windsor could cost taxpayers more than $58.7 million annually.

      The $58.7 million would not cover more recent costs to taxpayers, like then-Prince Charles’ three-day visit to Canada in May 2022, which totalled at least $1.4 million or more.

      In 2022, the Canadian government also spent nearly $400,000 on hotel rooms during the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II; a figure that included a luxurious $6,000-a-night river-view suite for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife.

      Governor General Mary Simon, who is the monarch’s representative in Canada, racked up an over $80,000 catering bill with her entourage during a March 2022 trip to the Middle East that reportedly cost more than $1.3 million, according to the National Post. The newspaper also reported that Simon’s first official overseas trip to a German book fair in Oct. 2021 fair cost taxpayers over $700,000.

      Other recent monarchy-related costs have still not been released, or are not yet available, like those associated with the RCMP giving a horse to King Charles as a gift in March, as well as costs tied to sending a Canadian delegation to the King’s upcoming May 6 coronation ceremony. In 2022, Canadian taxpayers also bankrolled Platinum Jubilee celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne, which included a $187,500 grant to the Monarchist League of Canada to distribute 70,000 educational booklets. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society has received $257,000 in similar educational funding to celebrate King Charles’ coronation.

      As brother to King Charlies, whose personal incomes were estimated at around £20 million/year as of 2023, its safe to assume he’s influential purely based on his enormous personal fortune. How much of a role a second-son to a British Billionaire actually plays is always up for debate. Andrew’s a notorious fuck-up and moron, so you’d like to think he doesn’t play a significant role in UK-Canadian relations. But Canada’s got its own crop of idiots and assholes - several also tied up in the Epstein scandal. So who is to say what he’s been up to behind the scenes?

      • Auli@lemmy.ca
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        1 day ago

        They don’t even list a cost they say could cost us this much. Not that it does.

        • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
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          8 hours ago

          Yeah, could is doing a fair bit of lifting. What, does he have to decide to stay here full-time? Well, sure, if he did that, I’m sure security, dignitary visits, etc. could ramp us up to those numbers, but the entire royal family usually only costs us a few million a year for their visits. Increasing that by a factor of 20 for just one individual seems a bit alarmist.

          Now, I can accept there are perfectly legitimate reasons to want to get rid of the monarchy, I just don’t see it as worth it from a pragmatic or financial standpoint. If they decide to have more impact than their quaint celebrity status and their names on a few rubber stamps, I imagine a lot of people like me would shrug and say, “Welp, end of a era, looks like we’re designing some new money.” I expect prince Andrew deciding to cost us almost $60M while having to put up with his presence would do it. And don’t think the rest of his family doesn’t know it.

    • NightOwl@lemmy.caOP
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      2 days ago

      Whenever royals visit Canada, the government pays millions in security costs, travel, lodging, etc.

      • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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        2 days ago

        We also pay millions in security costs when we host lots of foreign government people. The hosting of the g7 summit this year cost us what, $600 million?

        Keeping that connection to Europe alive (especially right now) is well worth the cost in my opinion.

      • nyan@lemmy.cafe
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        2 days ago

        And that money would just be spent on the new head-of-state instead, if we decided to get rid of the monarchy.

        (Don’t suggest making the Prime Minister the head-of-state, even as a joke. Combining the legislative and executive branches is Not A Good Idea.)

        • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
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          1 day ago

          We already have a Governer General, we wouldn’t even be changing any structures. Just removing the symbolic power and giving it to the Governer General to begin with.

          • nyan@lemmy.cafe
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            1 day ago

            Except that that opens an even larger can of worms.

            Currently, the GG is selected on the PM’s recommendation. We’ve gotten away with that so far because there’s a disinterested party staring over the PM’s shoulder in the form of the monarch (reducing the chance of really dodgy recommendations) and because no PM has yet run off the rails the way Trump is doing down south.

            In every government decision except the selection of the GG, the GG is the disinterested person staring over the PM’s shoulder. Even if they don’t normally exercise any power, I don’t want a position that could act as a check for the PM being decided on by the PM. So we then have to move to some other method of selecting the GG. The most usual method in other countries is by holding a separate election, but that immediately pisses a huge amount of money down the drain. And that’s without dragging in the constitutional amendment considerations.

            I’d rather just spend a trivial (on national budget scales) amount of money on the monarchy and keep the worms firmly enclosed in their cylindrical metal containers, thanks very much.