<P> Though it has been argued that the term head of state is a republican one inapplicable in a constitutional monarchy such as Canada, where the monarch is the embodiment of the state and thus cannot be head of it, the sovereign is regarded by official government sources, judges, constitutional scholars, and pollsters as the head of state, while the governor general and lieutenant governors are all only representatives of, and thus equally subordinate to, that figure . Some governors general, their staff, government publications, and constitutional scholars like Edward McWhinney and C.E.S. Franks have, however, referred to the position of governor general as that of Canada's head of state, though sometimes qualifying the assertion with de facto or effective; Franks has hence recommended that the governor general be named officially as the head of state . Still others view the role of head of state as being shared by both the sovereign and her viceroys . Since 1927, governors general have been received on state visits abroad as though they were heads of state . </P> <P> Officials at Rideau Hall have attempted to use the Letters Patent of 1947 as justification for describing the governor general as head of state . However, the document makes no such distinction, nor does it effect an abdication of the sovereign's powers in favour of the viceroy, as it only allows the governor general to "act on The Queen's behalf". Michael D. Jackson, former protocol officer for Saskatchewan, argued that Rideau Hall had been attempting to "recast" the governor general as head of state since the 1970s and doing so preempted both the Queen and all of the lieutenant governors . This caused not only "precedence wars" at provincial events (where the governor general usurped the lieutenant governor's proper spot as most senior official in attendance) and Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to accord herself precedence before the Queen at a national occasion, but also constitutional issues by "unbalancing...the federalist symmetry". This has been regarded as both a natural evolution and as a dishonest effort to alter the constitution without public scrutiny . </P> <P> In a poll conducted by Ipsos - Reid following the first prorogation of the 40th parliament on 4 December 2008, it was found that 42% of the sample group thought the prime minister was head of state, while 33% felt it was the governor general . Only 24% named the Queen as head of state, a number up from 2002, when the results of an EKOS Research Associates survey showed only 5% of those polled knew the Queen was head of state (69% answered that it was the prime minister). </P> <P> Canada's constitution is based on the Westminster parliamentary model, wherein the role of the Queen is both legal and practical, but not political . The sovereign is vested with all the powers of state, collectively known as the Royal Prerogative, leading the populace to be considered subjects of the Crown . However, as the sovereign's power stems from the people and the monarch is a constitutional one, he or she does not rule alone, as in an absolute monarchy . Instead, the Crown is regarded as a corporation sole, with the monarch being the centre of a construct in which the power of the whole is shared by multiple institutions of government--the executive, legislative, and judicial--acting under the sovereign's authority, which is entrusted for exercise by the politicians (the elected and appointed parliamentarians and the ministers of the Crown generally drawn from among them) and the judges and justices of the peace . The monarchy has thus been described as the underlying principle of Canada's institutional unity and the monarch as a "guardian of constitutional freedoms" whose "job is to ensure that the political process remains intact and is allowed to function ." </P>

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