A question for our Canadian friends. Crown land?

[cutterboy]

Hi all. Why is government owned land in Canada called "crown land"? I don't see anybody in Canada wearing a crown and I'm quite sure the land isn't owned by the queen of England. Is the term a holdover from the time when Canada was ruled by England? I have wondered about this a long time.     Thanks, Cutter

[isawlogs]

 It is a layerover term, as it is owned by the goverment, wich at the time was the crown of England. Many goverment inteties have kept this term.. why ... I don't realy know. Crown assets for one... They are fading away with time, but not fast enough for my liking.  :-\

[Ianab]

Actually if you check the fine print, Canada is a Constitutional Monarchy and Elizabeth II is technically Queen of Canada. Also Australia and New Zealand, Jamaica and Papua New Guinea

Busy lady  :D

In practice it's only a figurehead, but the government is only formed with the approval of the Queens representative, and they actually have the power to dissolve the Government and call a new election. This actually happened in Australia in 1975 when the Parliament go so tied up that things were paralysed. Governor General stepped in and basically fired them.

Ian

[cutterboy]

Ian, I didn't know that. I mean, I knew there was a connection with the English Monarchy and Canada and Australia and New Zealand, but I didn't know the queen's rep could dissolve the government. WOW! That's amazing.

[isawlogs]

 amazing and dam scary at the same time......  We really need to get our act together and make this place our own, there is no need to have a queen in this day and time... none. >:(

[Paul_H]

It's not scary at all but let's not move this to the restricted board.  ;)

[sawguy21]

The G/G cannot arbitrarily 'fire' the government, the Prime Minister can ask him/her to dissolve parliament so an election can be called. It is a formality carried over from colonial days, the British monarch no longer has any authority over our country.
Back to the original question, Marcel has it right in his first post. I won't get into the second which is another discussion altogether.