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You are here: Home / O Captain My Captain

O Captain My Captain

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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.

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47Comments

  4. 4.

    Jim in Chicago

    Since his reading of Sarah Palin’s quitting speech as beatnick poetry, I’ve gained new respect for the man.

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    KAAAAAAAHHHHHNNNNN!

    And would this mean that the Canadian government would make all travel arrangements via last-minute negotiations with airlines and hotels?

    dms

  8. 8.

    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.

  9. 9.

    The Moar You Know

    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.

    @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.

  10. 10.

    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.

  12. 12.

    Morbo

    I would disapprove as well, but seeing as how it’s a position representing the Queen he’s qualified.

  15. 15.

    IndieTarheel

    I’d prefer him to anyone the NeoConfederates are floating these days.
    __
    I know he’s from Canuckistan and all, but still…

  17. 17.

    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.

  18. 18.

    Steve Finlay

    No way. The hints of domestic violence around this guy make me very worried.

  19. 19.

    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.

  20. 20.

    Brachiator

    In Canada, the Governor General sweepstakes continue, and momentum is gaining for one long-shot pick: William Shatner.

    I’m not sure that Shatner would accept the cut in pay.

    William Shatner has struck it rich, but not just by playing Captain James T Kirk in Star Trek. It’s revealed the 79-year-old actor has made a fortune from a most unlikely source as the voice and face of an online travel company. A smart bit of contract negotiation in 1997 has meant that the star is estimated to have earned $600m (£397m) from advertisements for Priceline.com.

  22. 22.

    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.

  23. 23.

    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.

  27. 27.

    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?

  28. 28.

    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.

  31. 31.

    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.

  32. 32.

    licensed to kill time

    Canada! Canada! The dilithium crystals, she can’t take anymore!

  33. 33.

    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.

  34. 34.

    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.

  35. 35.

    Anne Laurie

    @Nylund:

    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.

    So, are you saying Elizabeth II could legally declare Shatner ‘Queen of Canada’?

  36. 36.

    SRW1

    @Nylund:

    Why doesn’t Lisbeth then have Charles gain a bit of practice?

    His apprenticeship has been awfully long already!

  37. 37.

    artem1s

    @Anne Laurie:

    So, are you saying Elizabeth II could legally declare Shatner ‘Queen of Canada’?

    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.

  39. 39.

    Douglas

    Personal reasons aside, I say no to Shatner because he lacks competence. Twittering last week, he wrote that he was unsure as to what the position even implied: “I believe Governor General means you govern the generals. Does that make me part of the army?”

    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…

  40. 40.

    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.

  41. 41.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Garrigus Carraig:

    I don’t think the monarch has the power to dispense the crown as she sees fit.

    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.

  42. 42.

    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.

  43. 43.

    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.

  44. 44.

    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.”

  45. 45.

    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).

  46. 46.

    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.)

  47. 47.

    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.

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