Talk:Arthur Meighen

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The entry says his name was pronounced MAY-hin. Is there any evidence for this? I heard one of his descendants pronounce the name MAY-in. HistoryBA 17:24, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I heard it pronounced MEE-yin. Earl Andrew 18:07, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I went to high school in Toronto with one of Arthur Meighen's descendents -- I believe the name is pronounced MEE-yin. David James

[edit] POV!

"This became known as the "King-Byng Affair"—a somewhat spurious attack by Mackenzie King on the Governor General's right to refuse an election where an alternative government is capable of commanding the support of the House of Commons, which right is now well-recognized."

The attack was not spurious in the slightest. It was in fact quite reasonable of King to be upset, because an unelected figurehead had refused the request of the Prime Minister of Canada to dissolve Parliament. The person who wrote the above paragraph is clearly predisposed against the King side of the argument, and that paragraph should be amended accordingly. -142.161.88.129 03:50, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I quite agree that this phrase "an attack by Mackenzie King on the Governor General's right to refuse an election request by a prime minister" is misleading. From King's perspective - and indeed from the perspective of a great many Canadians at the time - the Governor General's actions, however constitutionally correct, nonetheless constituted an unwarranted intrusion into the affairs of Parliament by an individual who, at the time, was still widely regarded as not merely a representative of the Monarch but, indeed, as a representative of the British government (the point that was expressly cleared up in the Balfour Declaration.)--Ggbroad 21:55, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

It is the prerogative of the Canadian head of state to decline the prime minister's request to dissolve Parliament when, as the original author notes, "an alternative government is capable of commanding the support of the House of Commons" (see Lascelles Principles for the grounds under which the Canadian head of state may reasonably decline his or her prime minister's request for a dissolution). King had no constitutional leg to stand on - and given a similar situation today, the Governor General would still be within her rights to refuse a request to dissolve Parliament. Conceivably, if Stephen Harper lost the support of the House, the GG could ask the Leader of the Opposition if he would be able to form a workable government. Fishhead64, 07:03, 07 February 2006 (UTC)

The Governor General was in the right the whole way through the "crisis"...really, King made all the fuss to make it an election issue to contrast with Meighen's unwavering support of Britain. Quite typically for King, he would campaign that Meighen was disregarding British tradition in Ontario, while saying that he was working against Canadian independence in Quebec. It was a beautiful wedge.Habsfannova 14:26, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

On that note, I can't believe nobody's mentioned "Ready, aye ready" yet. I'll do that now.Habsfannova 14:27, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] From Manitoba

This statement should be clarified. He was for a time an MP from a Manitoba riding, but he was born in Ontario. The first paragraph makes it sound as though he was Manitobian by birth. --Ggbroad 22:01, 9 September 2006 (UTC)