{"id":27588,"date":"2025-03-20T10:36:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T14:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=27588"},"modified":"2025-04-27T22:01:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T02:01:20","slug":"kings-of-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=27588","title":{"rendered":"North of the Border"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/47.30.carney-liberal.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-27610\" src=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/47.30.carney-liberal-300x212.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"272\" height=\"192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/47.30.carney-liberal-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/47.30.carney-liberal.jpg 660w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 272px) 100vw, 272px\" \/><\/a>Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas<\/em> \u2013 On March 14, 2025, Mark Carney was sworn in as the first new Canadian prime minister in nine years, vowing that Canada will \u201cnever become part of the United States.\u201d Pretty safe bet, I\u2019d say.<\/p>\n<p>While it\u2019s true that in 1867 during Andrew Johnson\u2019s presidency the US paid $7 million to Russia for what is now <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Tsar_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-27594\" src=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Tsar_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"149\" height=\"213\" \/><\/a>\u201cthe state of Alaska\u201d; it\u2019s also true that Russian Tsar Alexander II didn\u2019t have much use for Siberia\u2019s Siberia. Worried that Britain might take it over anyway, he was glad to get rid of that frozen space. Same story about that 1803 \u201cLouisiana Purchase\u201d pulled off during Thomas <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Napoleon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-27595\" src=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Napoleon-206x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"151\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Napoleon-206x300.jpg 206w, https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Napoleon.jpg 352w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 151px) 100vw, 151px\" \/><\/a>Jefferson\u2019s presidency &#8211; Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte\u2019s tail was in a crack. His sugar colonies in the Caribbean weren\u2019t bringing in the revenues he expected; his plans for a New World Empire were down the tube; and war with the UK was imminent. He needed money! Yes, give the guy $15 million and double the size of the United States with a pen stroke. There are a few more examples of a \u201cbuyer\u2019s market\u201d as US borders expanded and other countries ceded space on the continent.<\/p>\n<p>Not quite the case with Canada today. And frankly Mark, I don\u2019t know why you even bothered acknowledging Donald\u2019s ramblings about making Canada the \u201c51<sup>st<\/sup> US State.\u201d It\u2019s just the blustering of an \u201cI\u2019m The King\u201d wannabe.<a href=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Charles-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-27597\" src=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Charles-2-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Charles-2-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Charles-2.jpg 352w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Canada really and truly has a King, aka a \u201cruling monarch.\u201d Canada\u2019s monarch is King Charles III. Before Charles, his Mum, Queen Elizabeth II, reigned from 1952 till her death in 2022. In addition to being \u201cKing of England\u201d Charles has 14 \u201cCommonwealth Realms\u201d \u2013 nine in North America, five in Oceania, and one in Europe. Some of them are huge, like Australia, and New Zealand. And Canada. Huge.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Few Facts About Canada<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Independence from the United Kingdom to become a Confederation: July 1, 1867<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Total Area: 3,855,100 sq mi (2<sup>nd<\/sup> largest country in the world)<\/li>\n<li>Population: 2025 estimate 41,528,680 (36<sup>th<\/sup> largest population in the world)<\/li>\n<li>GDP Per capita $62,766 (30<sup>th<\/sup> highest in the world)<\/li>\n<li>Capital: Ottawa. Coordinates: 45\u00b024\u2032N 75\u00b040\u2032W<\/li>\n<li>Largest city: Toronto<\/li>\n<li>Official languages: English, French<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/47.30.map-of-canada.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-27628\" src=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/47.30.map-of-canada.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"578\" height=\"490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/47.30.map-of-canada.jpg 578w, https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/47.30.map-of-canada-300x254.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a>10 Provinces:\u00a0Alberta *\u00a0British Columbia *\u00a0Manitoba *\u00a0New Brunswick *\u00a0Newfoundland *\u00a0Nova Scotia *\u00a0Ontario *\u00a0Prince Edward Island *\u00a0Quebec *\u00a0Saskatchewan<\/p>\n<p>3 Territories: Northwest *\u00a0Nunavut *\u00a0Yukon<\/p>\n<p>Government: Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Monarch: Charles III<\/li>\n<li>Governor General: Mary Simon<\/li>\n<li>Prime Minister: Mark Carney<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>A Monarch, A Governor General, and a Prime Minister<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>None of the three above are \u201celected by the people.\u201d Fancy that!<\/p>\n<p>The monarchy of which King Charles is a part has been around since \u2013 well, centuries. And the way things were set forth since Canada became a \u201cfederal parliamentary constitutional monarchy\u201d goes like this:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/47.30.Charles-Suit.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-27607\" src=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/47.30.Charles-Suit.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"126\" height=\"169\" \/><\/a>The monarch King Charles III (b 1948) doesn\u2019t \u201crule\u201d the day-to-day business of Canada. As Head of State, his role is to present a solid, strong, and (hopefully) respected sense of unity for all that sea-to-sea diversity. Since he lives elsewhere, his on-the-ground representative is the Governor General, who he appoints with advice from the Prime Minister. King Charles has quiet power.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Simon_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-27593\" src=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Simon_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"126\" height=\"179\" \/><\/a>The current Governor General is Mary Simon\u00a0 \u00a0(b 1947). Mary was appointed Governor General in 2021 by Queen Elizabeth II, and with her Inuk heritage, is the first indigenous person to hold office. Mary\u2019s duties include representing Canada at home and abroad, fulfilling constitutional obligations, and serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Armed Forces. She appoints judges to federal courts, as well as other officials such as senators, often with the advice of the Prime Minister. She is responsible for summoning, suspending, and dissolving Parliament, and granting royal assent to legislation passed by Parliament. She appoints the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, and Lieutenant Governors of the provinces and can dismiss them, though this is usually done on the advice of the Prime Minister. Mary Simon has far-ranging power.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Carney.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-27591\" src=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Carney.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"158\" \/><\/a>The new Prime Minister, Mark Carney (b 1965), is Head of Government.\u00a0 The Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor General on behalf of the Monarch; the person selected is someone who has the support and confidence of a \u201cmajority of the directly elected members of the House of Commons.\u201d The post does not have a fixed term, and once appointed and sworn in by the Governor General, a Prime Minister will remain in office until they resign, are dismissed, or die. Mark Carney has astounding power.<\/p>\n<p>The Legislature, Canada&#8217;s Parliament, consists of the Upper House, or Senate, which has 105 seats. All members are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister, and can serve until age 75. The Lower House, known as the House of Commons, has 338 seats. Members are elected by a simple majority vote for a term of up to 4 years. Neither House has more power than the other, and all legislation must be approved by both Houses before becoming law.<\/p>\n<p>There are approximately 27,647,165 registered voters in Canada.<\/p>\n<p>Sounds like they&#8217;ve got things pretty well figured out, up there north of the border, eh?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Flag_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-27592\" src=\"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/47.30.Flag_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"154\" height=\"151\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas \u2013 On March 14, 2025, Mark Carney was sworn in as the first new Canadian prime minister in nine years, vowing that Canada will \u201cnever become part of the United States.\u201d Pretty safe bet, I\u2019d say. While it\u2019s true that in 1867 during Andrew Johnson\u2019s presidency the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4589,4031],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27588"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27588"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27638,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27588\/revisions\/27638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}