I don’t normally like the idea of celebrity politicians, but I’m down with this:
In Canada, the Governor General sweepstakes continue, and momentum is gaining for one long-shot pick: William Shatner.
The decision as to who becomes to the next Governor General, the country’s de facto head of state and representative of the Crown, is made by the Prime Minister, but popular opinion is steaming behind a term for Shatner. More than 45,000 people have joined a Facebook campaign to support the concept.
Catsy
The jokes practically write themselves.
Ed Drone
“Ideclare …. thisbridge … open!”
Ed
Fern
Please no!
*hides in shame*
Jim in Chicago
Since his reading of Sarah Palin’s quitting speech as beatnick poetry, I’ve gained new respect for the man.
dmsilev
KAAAAAAAHHHHHNNNNN!
And would this mean that the Canadian government would make all travel arrangements via last-minute negotiations with airlines and hotels?
dms
pablo
Channeling Denny Crane?
Rosalita
@Jim in Chicago:
I gained respect for him after seeing him on Boston Legal…aka Danny Crane
Roger Moore
As a Californian, I must refrain from commenting on how silly the Canadians would be to have a second-rate, typecast actor with no political experience leading their government. At least Governor General is a primarily ceremonial position.
The Moar You Know
@Roger Moore: Twice. We’ve done it fucking twice.
I won’t even talk about Sonny Bono, it makes me die a little inside every time I think about it.
Bruce Webb
Look I know it is a quote and so not Doug’s fault but Christ people who don’t understand latinisms shouldn’t use them.
The Governor General of Canada is the ‘de jure’ Head of State, and not ‘de facto’. These concepts are diametrically opposed and not synonymous. And probably most people would be advised to avoid using words like ‘diametric’ and ‘synonymous’ to start with.
bemused
Shatner is going to star in a sitcom based on the twitter, Shit my dad says.
Morbo
I would disapprove as well, but seeing as how it’s a position representing the Queen he’s qualified.
bartkid
Meh.
I’d rather it be Michael J. Fox.
toujoursdan
The current governor general (who is generally well respected) was a TV personality too.
IndieTarheel
I’d prefer him to anyone the NeoConfederates are floating these days.
__
I know he’s from Canuckistan and all, but still…
Gunner Billy K
But Shatner is an American!
(Shut up – he is!)
Brien Jackson
@Roger Moore:
To be really nit-picky, the head of state is not the head of government. This position isn’t even officially the Canadian head of state, IIRC. It’s basically just a ceremonial perch.
Steve Finlay
No way. The hints of domestic violence around this guy make me very worried.
RyanG
@Bruce Webb: No, the use of de facto was correct. The Queen is ostensibly the head of state but is never here, the GG performs all the duties in her place.
Brachiator
I’m not sure that Shatner would accept the cut in pay.
some other guy
@Rosalita:
As a Trekkie, I have never lacked respect for Captain Kirk, but I gained an appreciation for Shatner more generally after seeing “Free Enterprise.”
Mark
Everybody’s forgetting what a prick Shatner is. When McGill students renamed the student center after him in 1993, he refused to come to the opening. And at that point, he was just a washed-up, overweight D-list actor, not the man you see today who’s well-known for Priceline commercials and for reading off twitter.
pking
McGill students call the McGill University Centre the “Shatner Building”. The name was chosen in a referendum but was not accepted by the University Administration.
Brien Jackson
@Bruce Webb:
You know what else is funny; when people get self-righteously pretentious and are massively wrong on the point.
John S
@Brien Jackson:
So you’re saying the Governor General is actually the one running Canada?
Cris
Any chance Stephen Harper is a trekkie?
Brien Jackson
@John S:
Um, no, that would be the Prime Minister, the head of government. The head of state, in a system that, unlike ours, seperates the two roles, is just a figure head. My point was that he made an ass out of himself because the Governor General is not, in fact, the de jure head of the state in Canada, the English monarch is. Of course, the Queen doesn’t really fill that role in practice, so the Governor General is, in fact, the de facto head of state.
Clear enough?
smith
@Mark:
Yeah I have heard the “Shatner-Is-A-Prick” stories too. But I do remember one time where Stephen Baldwin (the conservative, bankrupt, born-again Baldwin brother) complained that Shatner was rude to him and wouldn’t even say hello to him. For that alone, Shatner deserves praise.
Kyle
“Spock! Are you out of your Vulcan mind?”
Jason In the Peg
@Cris: Well he comes across as a fucking alien.
Nylund
@Roger Moore:
The Governor General doesn’t really do anything. Technically Canada is ruled by the Queen, but the Queen isn’t ever there, so someone else sits around in a big fancy house instead. Technically they have to sign off on some of what the government does and 99.9% of the time they just say, “do whatever you guys want.” I think it was sometime in the 1920’s when a Governor General last actually did something notable (refused to grant an election or something).
Point is, its a position that doesn’t require you do to anything other than live in a fancy house and sign your name here and there every so often. Its probably the cushiest, easiest, and most pointless job in all of Canada.
licensed to kill time
Canada! Canada! The dilithium crystals, she can’t take anymore!
Nylund
Random fact: The Queen of Canada is an entirely separate crown from the Queen of England. There is technically nothing that requires them to be the same person. It just so happens that it is presently. Queen Elizabeth actually has something like 16 different and distinct “crowns”. Should she choose to do so, she could make someone else the king or queen of Canada and this would have no bearing whatsoever on her remaining the Queen of England since they are legally separate monarchies.
sparky
what i would like to know is what particular flavor of imbecile cites Facebook as a source of anything other than ephemera?
yeah yeah it’s tongue in cheek but still. next week mistah brooks will be citing Facebook as evidence in support of the notion that all the country needs is a new sneeze guard at Applebees.*
*yes, exactly.
Anne Laurie
@Nylund:
So, are you saying Elizabeth II could legally declare Shatner ‘Queen of Canada’?
SRW1
@Nylund:
Why doesn’t Lisbeth then have Charles gain a bit of practice?
His apprenticeship has been awfully long already!
artem1s
@Anne Laurie:
Please, please, make it so. This alone might make it worth being able to say I was alive during this decade which has sucked mightily.
rumpole
Two words: Denny Crane.
Douglas
I’ll take this as a tongue-in-cheek endorsement as I refuse to believe that anyone could’ve failed to realize that that was a joke…
Garrigus Carraig
@Nylund: Are you sure? I don’t think the monarch has the power to dispense the crown as she sees fit. I suppose she could abdicate the Canadian crown, & it would pass to the Prince of Wales. But in order to change the succession, an Act of Parliament would, I think, be required.
The monarch doesn’t really get to do what she wants, except quit, & dissolve parliament, & marry one non-Catholic at a time.
Viva BrisVegas
@Garrigus Carraig:
The Crown in all Commonwealth countries who actually have a Crown is defined by the 1701 Act of Settlement.
The job is not dispensible by the monarch.
The GG job is a serious position. Time tends to blur the very real power of the GG, but while Parliament governs the GG determines who in Parliament does the governing.
Generally the GG will go with the flow, but occasionally the claws will come out and governments fall.
Yutsano
@Viva BrisVegas: Not sure if I’ve entirely forgiven Michelle Jean for proroguing Parliament just because Steffie Boy had a hissy fit over the Afghan issue and the Olympics were in town. But her reaction to the Haiti disaster (she’s originally Haitian) made up some of that.
BTW Shatner has flat-out said he’ll decline the honor.
limniade
As much as I like the Shat, the guy’s nearly 80 years old. That’s a little long in the tooth to be starting your political career.
nutellaontoast
This is funny, but crap am I sick of this ‘x number of people on facebook’ crap.
PEOPLE ON FB WILL BECOME A FAN OF ANYTHING.
Worms in my stool have 45,000 facebook fans.
I’m going to start a group called “If this page gets 2674562725625 fans, the media will stop using FB as a barometer for popular sentiment.”
Paul in KY
@smith: Bill Shatner lives part of the year on a farm outside Versailles, KY. A few stories I’ve heard about him indicate he’s a nice guy (so long as you don’t bother him by doing lame Star Trek impersonations).
Catsy
Honestly, if I had to put up with Star Trek fans, I’d probably become kind of an asshole too. The slashficcers alone would probably drive me to homicide.
(I say this as a Star Trek fan and a former slashficcer.)
bartkid
>Any chance Stephen Harper is a trekkie?
He’s more of a Klingon.
I’ve had second thoughts.
I would rather it be Alex Trebek.