I voted no. Government stagnate when the same people are in power for too long. I also prefer when the government doesn't hold a majority of seats so as to be able to steamroll all the bills that they want. I prefer when the opposition parties have a say in what becomes law or not.
Queen Elizabeth II is a figurehead old school reality star. She doesn't have to make any decisions that affects anyone other than her co-stars.
They could try, but the armed forces still pledge their alliegeance to her. She even has her own guards which will die fighting protecting her. There are quite a few royalist around even in ex colonies like Canada, NZ and Australia which is why the don't remove her from being the head of state. The Canadian Armed force also still pledge alliegeance to her btw...
I am not sure Canadians really are inclined to defend themselves let alone her Majesty's sovereignty. They will be even less inclined to do so when King Charles ascends.
As the germans learned twice, never underestimate the Canadian soldiers fighting spirit, friend. We're quite polite normally, but when somebody shout "War!" the whole psych change. We've been proving our worth on the Battlefield with distinction since the Boers war, just like the ANZAC did.
As an American, I'm not familiar with her in whole, but rather in one issue. And I realize that one issue should not define a person in whole. That said, Merkel is responsible for allowing throngs of Muslim refugees into Germany. This resulted in German women, children, and men being raped, molested and murdered. Merkel's response to this was to say that it is the price of diversity. So I'm thinking, No Angela, it is not the price of diversity. It is the cost to the victims and their families because of your decision, for which you bear not a speck when you label it diversity. It is to make the people live in a minefield while you live in safety.
I think that isn't true for all of her mandate. At first, under her gov. Germany was giving temporary status to refugee from the Middle East and Afghanistan. There's even a broadcast of a young arabic girl asking her on TV if she could stay and Merkle replied that no, she had to go back. The changed on policies came later under external pressure. Also, Germany is in a hard place when it comes to refugee, since the present laws and conventions in place cames to be BECAUSE of Germany's actions in WW1 and WW2.
As someone who lives in Germany I never voted for her, never would, and I do think it's time for her to leave. There's been some kind of routine in domestic politics that I don't really like. Late Roger Willemsen put it very nicely when he said Merkel tried to lull the country into a this-is-without-any-alternative state of mind. There are numerous domestic things I don't agree with, for example a needed reform of the electoral law, which basically every party demands, has always been blocked by her CDU party. The domestic job market is another problem that's never been really solved, rising rents in bigger cities, digitalisation (something her party completely failed to get down to), partly ineffective bureaucracy and so on. However, she did steer the country through three rather huge crises, the financial crisis starting in 2008, the so-called refugee crisis in late 2015, and the current Covid pandemic. Germany has always done quite well. Btw, it is painfully simplified and extremely superficial to claim she opened the borders to let hordes of Muslims in. The refugee crisis in 2015 is much much more complicated than that and Merkel alone never had that power to make these decisions on her own. Former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz was a key figure during that time, but is hardly ever mentioned in debates. I also don't remember Merkel saying refugees murdering Germans is the price of diversity. I'm not claiming she never said that but I find it very unlikely, sounds like a typical out-of-context statement. I think she was pretty good on the international level and certainly became a political heavy weight. She found ways to deal with people like Putin, Erdogan, or Trump, and her rational approach is something more leaders could make use of. The new chancellor will have to try to follow suit and I hope the new government coalition will bring their negotiations to an end quickly and can get to work in the next couple of weeks.
The only news I remember is her dislike for Trump and the refugee chaos. I can't make a decision based on hyped headlines alone. I'd have to live and work in Germany to make an educated opinion. Very interested in seeing the German direction going forward though. It seems to have taken a more socialist turn.
It's bad for any country in my opinion. You see most damage when a country is heavily populated with resources and power. A small population weak country can get away with it.
Germany is ressources poor, hence why they wanted to conquer the east last time. Even today, they're dependent on other for fuel.