The queen is still the Head of State — not the Prime Minister. Her role as Queen of Canada is entirely separate to her role as Queen of the United Kingdom.
The Governor General is her representative in Canada, because she can’t be in Canada all the time.
You may recall that it was the queen that Brian Mulroney went to, back when he wanted to bring in the GST. He had been defeated in the Senate, and it wasn’t going to happen. (This is as it should be: the Senate said “no” for perfectly good Constitutional reasons). So what did Mulroney do?
On his knees he went to the queen to seek “special powers” to appoint extra Senators under emergency measures. The Queen, not knowing any better, said “yes”. To a Nation’s disgust.
Thanks DieHard.
I knew I could count on you.
:-)