Difference between revisions of "Constitution of Canada"

Latest revision as of 17:09, 12 October 2019

Whereas the sovereign people of Canada seek to remain united under the principles of Peace, Order and Good Government, and govern themselves accordingly, the following terms shall govern the lawmaking powers of the Government, the formal political process and the rights of Citizens within Canada. All articles contained herein are to take precedence over any past, present or future laws within Canada, and Erepublik, and any subsidiary therein.

Section 1

Canada

Canada is used to describe all territories under the jurisdiction of the Government of Canada. The term Canada and eCanada shall be deemed interchangeable within this document.

President

The President is the head of Government within Canada. The term President and Prime Minister shall be deemed interchangeable within this document.

Congress

Congress is the elected regional representative body within Canada.

Admin

Admin is the controlling body within the game eRepublik. The term Admin and Administrator shall be deemed interchangeable within this document.

Canadian

A citizen of Canada as defined in Section IV

Forum

The Forum shall be the official eCanada forum. This forum, at time of writing, is located at http://ecanada.forumotion.co.uk/forum.htm. This location may be changed without affecting the validity of the forum.

1) Freedom of Association – All Canadians are free to join any Political Party, Organization, eRepublik clan, or international group they see fit without fear of discrimination by the Government subject to the definition of citizenship (Section IV).

2) Right to Vote – All Canadians are free to vote in Party, Congressional, and Presidential elections within Canada so long as they are Canadian citizens (Section IV), and meet the criteria as set out by the eRepublik Administrators.

3) Right to Mobility -- Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada. Every citizen of Canada has the right to move to and take up residence in any province without interference by the Government.

4) Rights of the Accused – Any Canadian charged with an offense shall have the right to reasonable notification and a speedy trial. Further, once a judgement is rendered on a case, the accused shall not be retried for the same offense, barring a retrial due to an error or omission by the Court.

5) Rights of the Witness -- A witness who testifies in any proceedings has the right not to have any incriminating evidence so given used to incriminate that witness in any other proceedings, except in a prosecution for perjury or for the giving of contradictory evidence.

6) Right to Appeal – Any Canadian whose rights or freedoms, as guaranteed by this Charter, have been infringed or denied may apply to Supreme Court of Canada, or the Admins to obtain such remedy as the Court or Admins deem appropriate and just in the circumstances.

7) Right to Security of Government Assets – All Canadians have the right to Security of Government Assets. No person, persons or Organizations shall remove or liquidate any Government asset, including, but not limited to, National Treasury and National Industries, without the express consent of a two-thirds (2/3) majority of Congress.

8) Other Rights not mentioned – The guarantee of rights contained within the Bill of Rights shall not be construed as denying the existence of any other rights or freedoms that exist in Canada.

All of these rights are subject to the realities of eRepublik rules. In the absence of an expressed or implied eRepublik rule, these rights shall be inalienable.

The Government of Canada shall consist of three (3) branches: Judicial, Legislative, and Executive. While these branches are interrelated, each shall have separate duties, rights and obligations.

Part I, The Judicial Branch

The judicial branch of the Canadian Government shall be represented by the Supreme Court of Canada. The Court shall be the sole decision making body in cases relating to laws passed by Congress, actions of the Executive Branch, and disputes between citizens of Canada. These decisions shall be based on their interpretation of this document and any legally passed laws applicable to Canada. The Supreme Court shall not have jurisdiction over International Disputes; these disputes must be handled by the Admins.

The Selection and Make-up of the Supreme Court

1.1 The Supreme Court shall consist of not less than three members and not more than five members.

1.2 Candidates for the Supreme Court shall be selected by the President.

1.3 Candidates submitted by the President shall be confirmed by a two-thirds majority of voting members of Congress.

1.4 A candidate for the Supreme Court shall not be a Congressman, the President, a Party President, nor a member of Cabinet.

1.4.1 Should a sitting Supreme Court Justice be elected or appointed to one of the aforementioned positions, they are immediately deemed to have resigned from the Court.

1.5 The Supreme Court must be balanced. As such, no more than two members of any given political party may serve on the Court at the same time.

1.6 The members of the Supreme Court shall be appointed for a term of two Congressional sessions (approximately two months). At the end of that term, the Justice in question is eligible for reappointment to the Court. (see addendum 1)

1.7 There shall be no limit as to the number of terms that a Justice is eligible to sit on the Court.

1.8 One member of the Court shall be named as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice shall be nominated and appointed under the same rules as other Justices. However, in the absence of a Chief Justice, the duly appointed Justices shall have the power to temporarily appoint a Chief Justice.

The Chief Justice

2.1 The Chief Justice shall be the moderator of all discussions within the Supreme Court.

2.2 The Chief Justice shall be the sole decision maker in determining the relevance and admissibility of evidence.

2.3 The Chief Justice shall be the sole decision maker in determining the calling of witnesses in a case and the relevance said witness’s testimony.

2.4 The Chief Justice shall have the right to vote on any decision of the Court; however, the Chief Justice’s vote shall not bear any more weight than that of the other Justices.

The Operation of the Court

3.1 When a case is presented to the Court the Justices will have four options:

3.1.1 To hear the case

3.1.2 To decline the case

3.1.3 To delay decision pending more information

3.1.4 To escalate the case to the Admins

3.2 Should the Court decide to hear a case, the Chief Justice shall notify the appellant, the respondent and the Justices of the date and time that the hearing will begin.

3.2.1 The hearing will take place over a period of not less than three days.

3.2.2 The order of speaking in the case:

'3.2.2.1' Call to Order by the Chief Justice

'3.2.2.2' Opening remarks from the appellant

'3.2.2.3' Opening remarks from the respondent

'3.2.2.4' Presentation of the case by the appellant, this may include the calling of witnesses and the introduction of evidence

'3.2.2.5' Presentation of the case by the respondent, this may include the calling of witnesses and the introduction of evidence

'3.2.2.6' Questions by the justices

'3.2.2.7' Closing remarks by the appellant

'3.2.2.8' Closing remarks by the respondent

'3.2.2.9' Deliberation of the Justices

'3.2.2.10' Return of the Justices’ decision

3.2.3 The Chief Justice shall have the power to moderate all of the proceedings including the summary deletion of comments by unrelated observers

3.2.4 Once a decision is reached, the Chief Justice will post the decision to the forum including a count of the vote (i.e. Decision 5-0 in favor of the appellant, or Decision 3-2 in favor of the respondent)

3.2.5 Once the verdict is rendered and the results posted to the forum the case will be considered closed.

3.3 Should the Court decline to hear a case the Chief Justice shall post the decision to the forum and include a count of the vote (i.e. The Court declines to hear the case 4-1)

3.4 Should the Court delay the decision regarding a hearing the Chief Justice shall post the request for further information to the forum, identifying the person required to provide the additional information.

3.4.1 Should the request for further information not be met within 72-hours the case shall automatically be declined.

3.4.2 The Chief Justice shall post to the forum that the case was declined for lack of evidence.

3.5 Should the Court determine that a case should be escalated to the Admins, the Chief Justice shall post this position to the forum. Responsibility for escalating the case to the Admins shall be the sole responsibility of the appellant and/or respondent.

Payment of Supreme Court Justices

At the end of a complete term, payment of 10 CAD shall be made from the National Treasury to the Justice in questions. In the case of the Chief Justice, the payment from the National Treasury shall be $15 CAD. Should a Justice, or the Chief Justice resign before the completion of their term they shall receive no payment. Should a Justice be appointed Temporary Chief Justice, they shall receive an additional payment of $0.25 per day in the temporary role (subject to the completion of a full term on the Court).

The Legislative branch of the government shall be represented by the Congress of Canada. The Congress will be elected by popular vote on the 25th day of each month. The number of Congressmen shall be determined by the table found on the eRepublik Wiki.

Powers of Congress

4.1 By virtue of the in-game rules, the Congress shall have the following basic powers:

· Set and Change the New Citizen Fee

· Donate funds from the National Treasury

· Issue Currency

· Set and Change Tax Rates for all industries

· Set and Change the Minimum Wage

· Impeach the President

4.2 In addition to these powers, the Congress shall have the power to override a Presidential veto. The Presidential veto can only be overturned on an affirmative vote of 65% or more of votes cast.

4.3 The Congress, or individual Congressman shall have the right to demand, and receive, within a reasonable frame of time, information on current or past governmental and ministerial activities, with the exception of those activities regarding the Ministry of National Defence and CSIS, which may be released at the discretion of the current President.

Debate and Voting

5.1 All rules of order and procedure on debating and voting in Congress can be found in the Congressional Rules of Order with the following exception:

5.1.1 If the motion is one of the basic powers, at the end of the debate period, the Speaker of Congress or their designate will create an official in-game vote in the Country Administration section of eRepublik. Any in-game votes not authorized by the Speaker shall be voted down, though this does not preclude reintroduction of the motion at a later date.

5.2 Any motion that is not listed under Congress’s basic powers (Section 4.1) shall be subject to a Presidential Veto (Section 9).

5.2.1 In the event of a Presidential Veto, the Speaker shall immediately open a thread in the Congress Voting Hall to determine if the veto is overturned.

5.2.2 The thread will remain open for 48 hours.

5.2.3 At the close of the thread, an affirmative vote of at least 65% shall overturn the Veto. The motion shall be deemed to have passed.

5.2.4 If the affirmative vote is less than 65% the Veto shall stand. The motion is defeated, and cannot be re-introduced within the same Congressional session.

Speaker of Congress

The Speaker of Congress shall act as the arbiter, referee, and adjudicator of all activity within the Congress section of the eCanada forum.

6.1 The Speaker shall be elected by the members of Congress.

6.2 The Speaker nominee shall not be a Cabinet Minister, a Party President, or a Party President candidate.

6.3 Nominations for the Speaker will begin on the 26th day of the month, and close on the 28th day of the month.

6.3.1 Each Member of Congress is limited to one nomination and/or vote of confidence.

6.3.2 Each nominee must receive a vote of confidence from at least one other member of congress before they can be declared a valid candidate.

6.4 The voting for Speaker will take place on the eCanada forum. The voting period shall begin on the 29th day end at the end of the 30th day.

6.4.1 Following the February election, the dates may be temporarily changed. In all cases, there shall be two days voting for the Speaker position.

6.4.2 In the event of a tie in the voting for the Speaker election, the President of Canada shall cast the deciding vote.

6.4.3 In the event that no nominations are received by the end of the 28th day of the month, the leader of the Party with the majority of Congressional seats will name a Speaker (subject to the restrictions in section 2.2). No subsequent voting on the Speaker position will take place.

Duties of the Speaker

7.1 The Speaker of the House of Commons is responsible for moderation of debates within Congress, the creation of voting Polls within the Congress Voting Hall, the counting and reporting of votes within Congress and to the Canadian citizens.

7.2 The Speaker has the power to edit and delete postings within the Congress boards on the eCanada forum.

7.3 The Speaker has the power to declare the President absent subject to the following restriction:

The absence must be unscheduled. Advance notification of absence provided via forum PM to the Speaker and/or the Vice President shall constitute adequate notification. The absence must be greater than 72-hours. The 72-hour time shall be calculated based on the Presidents forum profile under the STATISTICS/Last visit time.

7.4 In the event the Speaker declares the President absent they shall have the discretionary power to institute an Impeachment vote in the Country Administration section of eRepublik either personally, or their designate.

7.5 The Speaker is Responsible for choosing a deputy speaker who will take the speakers place should the elected speaker become incapable of continuing her/his duties.

7.6 The Deputy Speaker shall not be a Cabinet Minister, a Party President, or a Party President candidate

7.7 The deputy speaker may perform speaker duties only if given permission by the elected speaker

The office of President shall be recognized as both the legal Head of State and Head of Government within Canada and all its subsidiary holdings. Any residual powers not mentioned within this document are to be deemed under the jurisdiction of the President. The President of Canada is to be elected on the fifth of each month as per the current system in place within Erepublik, and shall take his or her mandate directly from the people.

Powers of the President

8.1 By virtue of the in-game rules, the President shall have the power to introduce the following (all are subject to Congressional Approval):

· Create and/or edit the New Citizen Message

· Purchase a Hospital or Defense System

· Sign a Mutual Protection Pact

· Declare War

· Propose Peace

· Impose a Trade Embargo

8.2 In addition to these powers, the President shall have the following additional rights:

· Create and remove Cabinet Ministries subject to the limitations under the Cabinet Section

· The power to appoint Canadian citizens to Cabinet posts

· The power to enact policy decisions by means of Executive Order. Any such policy must be formally ratified by Congress within five days. Should the Order fail to be ratified by Congress it must be withdrawn immediately.

· The power to draft and propose the distribution of Government funds to Cabinet Ministries and Government owned companies, Organizations and SO’s, subject to the approval of Congress.

· The power to access and control any Governmental assets

· The power to veto Congressional motions subject to the rules in Section 9

Presidential Veto

9.1 Any motion passed by Congress, falling outside the basic posers of that body (Section 4.1) shall be eligible for a Presidential Veto

9.2 Following the passage of any such motion by Congress, the President can notify the Speaker of Congress in writing of his intention to Veto the motion.

9.3 In the event that the overturning procedure (Section 5.6.3) is unsuccessful, the Veto shall stand and the original motion will be deemed to have failed.

9.4 At no time shall the President have the power to Veto a motion which falls under the basic powers of the Congress.

Cabinet

The Government of Canada must be made up of an Executive of supporting ministers to form, enact, and articulate government policies based upon the approval or order of the President. These Cabinet Ministers shall act as the President’s personal advisors and bureaucratic heads of their ministries. Any Government of Canada must contain the following ministers:

· Vice President – charged with leading the government with all the powers of the President, although subordinate to the President. The Vice-President shall be given supervisory access to all Governmental S.O.s including the Ministry of Finance, Canadian National Defence, National Healthcare System, and National Bank of Canada. The Vice President may not actively interfere with the administration of these accounts except if publicly ordered to by the President, or he/she is appointed as the Minister in question of any of these Ministries. In addition, the Vice President shall have the full power and authority to act as the President during periods of planned or short-term Presidential absence (see section 7.3 for definitions of unplanned and long term absence).

· Minister of Finance-- Charged with the administration of all governmental monetary assets, and Finance assets including but not limited to the National Bank of Canada S.O. and the Ministry of Finance S.O. as well as the creation of formal budgets with the approval of, or upon the order of, the President.

· Minister of Defence --Charged with the organization and administration of the Canadian Armed Forces and all of its subsidiary acquisitions and assets including but not limited to the Canadian National Defense S.O.

· Minister of Industries—Charged with the organization and administration of all Government owned Companies, including, but not limited to, hiring and firing of employees, purchasing raw materials for the production of goods, and the sale of said good on the Domestic and International Marketplace.

Other Ministries may be created at the discretion of the President.

10.1 To be eligible for appointment as a Cabinet Minister, the player must be a resident of Canada for a minimum of two weeks prior to their appointment

10.2 The Minister must remain a resident of Canada for the duration of their term as Cabinet Minister. Should the Minister leave Canada without written permission from the President, they will be deemed to have resigned from their Cabinet position.

10.3 In all cases, should a Cabinet Minister stand for election or take a position in the Government of a foreign country they will be deemed to have resigned from their Cabinet position

11.1 Citizenship in Canada is defined within the rules of eRepublik. Citizens will have the right to participate in Canadian elections in eRepublik.

11.2 Non-Canadians may apply for citizenship in Canada. Approval of citizenship applications will be done by members of Congress, as specified by the citizenship process of eRepublik and also in accordance with the laws of Canada.

11.3 Other privileges and features of citizenship, such as forum access, will be defined by Canadian law. The government may restrict or remove these privileges in accordance with the laws of Canada.

This Constitution shall be considered a living, breathing document. It shall be the guideline for both the Government and the People of Canada. It is assumed and accepted that from time to time there shall be a need or desire to modify this document.

Ratification of the Constitution

12.1 This Constitution shall be considered ratified when the following conditions are met:

· An affirmative vote of 65% of the Congress of Canada and,

· An affirmative vote by the President of three of the top five parties, as listed under Info\Rankings\Parties\Canada on the date of submission of the document or,

· An affirmative vote by the President of sixty (60) percent of all political parties in Canada on the date of submission of the document, and

· An affirmative vote by the Administrators of eRepublik or,

· In the absence of a negative vote by the Administrator, an affirmative vote shall be assumed five days after the publication of the document on the eRepublik forums Contracts section.

Modification and Amendment of the Constitution

13.1 Accepting that changes in the rules of eRepublik, and/or the realities of the nation of Canada may occur, this document may require amendment and modification.

13.2 Amendments and modifications to the Constitution of Canada may be proposed by the Congress, the President, or a Citizen of Canada.

13.3 Amendments and modifications to the Constitution shall be posted to the eCanada forum under the Erepublik Discussion board for a period of not less than three days.

13.3.1 At the end of this discussion period if, in the opinion of the Speaker of Congress and the President of Canada, the public opinion accepts the modification it shall be posted as a vote (poll) in the eCanada forum under the Congress Voting board for a period of at least two days.

'13.3.1.1' Should the Speaker and the President fail to agree, a poll shall be opened in the Erepublik Discussion board for a period of two days.

'13.3.1.2' If the vote in this poll is greater than 50% affirmative then acceptance by the Speaker and the President shall be mandatory and the rules under 13.3.1 shall be followed.

13.3.2 In the event of an affirmative vote (65%) in the Congress Voting board, the Speaker of Congress shall post the amendment under the eRepublik forum in the Contract section. Further, the Speaker of Congress shall notify the Party Presidents of all Canadian political parties, by in-game PM, of the posting.

13.3.3 The Party Presidents, and the eRepublik Administrators shall have a period of five days to cast their vote on the amendment.

13.3.4 Should the required number of Party Presidents vote in the affirmative in the time period the amendment shall become the Law of Canada. Failing the required votes, the amendment shall be defeated.

Severability

Every provision of this Constitution is independent of all other provisions, if any provision of this Constitution is declared invalid for any reason by a Court of competent jurisdiction, or by the eRepublik Administrators, all other provisions of this Constitution shall remain valid and enforceable.

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