Even the Queen is taking a pay cut these days

Awww... da poor Queenie is down to 54M per year. OMG... next thing ya know, they'll put her up in a rundown retirement home. All the while, Canadian taxpayers have to pay thru the nose for da newlyweds to come over for a visit. Nice way to travel the world on someone elses back. Maybe da wife and I can go visit da Royals in Britland and get our expenses covered by the blue bloods. C'mon Liz, we're waiting for the call and the tickets !! Cheap bitch !!

I agree with Chip in terms of valuable dollars that are wasted supporting the British Monarchy. The Monarchy is an outdated, medieval institution that has no place in the 21st century. The concept that these Royals are somehow better than us "Commoners" is degrading and socially unjust.
I have heard that Canada spends about 55 million a year supporting the British Monarchy in Canada via the GG in Ottawa and all the LG's in the provinces. Let's spend this money on Canadians!
These Royals are no different than the Gaga's and the Sheens..celebrity publicity seekers..I wish the CBC would not make such a big deal out of their visits. We should do what our friends in India did many years ago and give these welfare cases the BOOT!!

Damn, I would gladly take a pay cut down to a paltry $54 million! LOL! It would be tough, but I think I could squeak by on that income. Maybe have to start eating Kraft macaroni every day, but hey, times are tough!

The Finance Minister just announced that Canadian Arts groups should not "expect" federal contributions as a guaranteed supplment to their organizations... that times are tough and the feds must tighten their purse strings to reduce the deficit. Just imagine the amount of taxpayers money that could be saved if the Canadian government would put a stop to all these frilly (and costly) get togethers such as Royal visits, G-8, G-20 conferences for let's say 5-10 years. Might be able to get our country out of debt, or at least put the money into something useful... maybe the homeless, senior citizens pensions, health care, etc. IMO, the quoted 1.5M for the Will and Kate show could have fed quite a few starving Canadian babies.

Sorry Chip your first post was neither funny or interesting. You've been banned from the internet.

Hey, I'll do her job for only $40 million per year!

Gee I wonder how much the Queen needs at 100? I personally don't even know what she does these days excetp for a few "political" visits.
Wonder what her bank accounts are sitting at at the moment, or investments for that matter- probably tax free too!

Chips post was not only interesting and funny, it is exactly to the point and what many more of us should say. Btw he can't be banned from the internet! Maybe your site but that's about all! Go chip go!!

These people make me laugh - if you read and comprehend the story, she only receives 15% of what HER estates and belongings earn, which means that the British Gov't receives 85% of it. Do YOU pay 85 % of your income to the Canadian Gov't? If you all who are voicing such displeasure had to pay 85% to our gov't Im sure we would be hearing the same whining , only against OUR gov't.
BTW, for you math-deficient out there, it means the British gov't is MAKING $306million every year off her ownings, and they are HER ownings. You want to get rid of the monarchy and all? She would still have her lands, jewels, etc but lose the title. You want to "steal" all her belongings? I'd rather go after pigs like Conrad Black and "steal" back all the assets he has "stolen" from us Canadian workers over the years. And when you hear of peeps like Britney and Paris getting six-figure "appearance fees" (incredibly disgusting) for what they contribute to society, I can live with a titled family that really does not cost the taxpayer nor abuse them, which our gov'ts and pigs like Black do on a daily basis.

Not sure that these assets could really be considered hers out richt as these holdings were seized by the Monarchy in days gone by at great cost to the peasants and working class. British hitory was blood to say the least.

my god why do they need any pay who gives them there pay who needs them have you ever seen one of them get laid off or get fired what is wrong with them how did they get these jobs with all the people over there out of work no jobs to get . the world we live in and the world they live in are far apart and the people pay for both worlds to me you get paid for making the place where you work money if you don,t you are fired or the place goes under but not them they just keep on getting paid and we keep getting to pay them so my god lets just keep paying them and just say thankyou for the mess we are all in because we all made it happen and as for the royle stuff its just the way it is

And what would you like done with all these castles and estates that have been part of the royal family for over 1000 years? They are a huge part of their herritage and culture. If they converted them into museums, it would still cost tens of millions to upkeep and staff. The Queen is not much more than a figurehead of the government that people can look up to. Lady Di was the real queen of England, raising the spirits of the sick at the hospitals and working to get help to those that needed it the most.

Chip: Classy. :P Although, I do agree that our priorities are a little screwed up when we're cutting funding for our own culture to pay for a visit from the monarchy. Last time I went on a family vacation I had to pay my own bill; the royals should be able to afford their own if I can.

True Canadian: You're bang on. :)

Worried Canadian: Ownership by right of conquest is historically legitimate. While it's not condoned by modern standards (these days the world gets pretty cranky when a country or wannabe ruler simply lays claim to stuff), the fact is it happened and the property is now owned and managed by the Royal Estate. I suppose you could force her to give it all back to the long dead and/or moved on... we could give Canada back to the natives and retreat back to Europe or wherever our lineage's were from, just reset everything to where we all were before time. I'm not sure that makes sense though, so might as well accept the past and think about the way we work in the present to shape the future.

redman: Betcha the Queen at least knows how to use a period.

God Save the Queen
And talking about vacations and PR they are not the same as being rushed to events surrounded by crowds and everyone wanting to shake your hands I say give me a sunny beach and a pair of sun glasses and a cold beer.

Spot on Chip, and enough with all the "royal" propaganda in the MSM. How obvious, and yes what a load of yawn.

Let all the jello heads cry, and moan over their infantile celebrity fetish.....really...how absolutely pathetic it's all become. Outside of guzzling soft drinks, and greedily shoveling sugar coated fat into their triple chin faces during American Idol they are useless at producing intellectual thought. Let them do what they do best. Moan, and whine, get fatter, and suck money from the health care system through their own acute stupidity.

Take her OFF from our Canadian money.............put a First Nations leader.
They SH** and P** just like all of us.

The official reported annual cost to the British Public of keeping the Royal Family was £41.5M for the 2008-09 period. This figure is disputed as the real cost since it does not include the cost of security provided by the Police and the Army and other expenses. The total cost of the monarchy is estimated by the group Republic to be between £134 and 184 million per year. Other sources estimate it to be around £118 million.[

In comparison the Spanish Royal Household costs 8.9M Euro or around £7.4M. Forbes magazine estimated the Queen's net worth at around US$450 million in 2009. Yet, with all this "personal" wealth, she's still gets 41.5M per year from the British public trough for her "civic duties". The Royal Family has faced criticism for the lack of transparency surrounding Royal finances. The National Audit Office is NOT entitled to audit the Royal Household. I dunno... sounds like a scam to me !!

I have nothing against the Royals as people. However, i strongly believe that whatever her country decides to pay her, right or wrong, i don't agree that we as canadians should support
their life style in any way shape or form. They have sufficient funding that if they want to visit a country it should come out of their funds and not the country they visit. If they are not willing to do that they can stay home. Lrts face it they are not poor I think its time that Canada open the debate on this subject and decide once and for all if we want to keepthe Roiyals as part of our Canadian family

First of all as Canadians we contribute nothing to the Royal Family unless they are invited to be our guests on an official visit. At that time, since we invited them, it is only common sense that we cover the various costs.

Second, Royal visits, which are rare, tend to actually generate money for the Canadian economy through tourism (yes, even people from the US take vacations here to tie into these visits). So the effect of these visits on the Canadian taxpayer are minimal. Oh, and when they visit on an actual holiday they generally pay their own way unless they are invited to a specific function during their visit.

Third, under law the Queen and the Royal Family do have title to the estates which themselves generate money for the British Government to spend. In theory if the "Republicans" have their way then these estates would either have to be purchased by the government or returned to the Royal Family. Their claims to the land are just as good as probably all of the others posting on here and just as legal.

Fourth, although yes, we do cover the costs of the Governor General and various Lieutenant Governors in Canada they do work for their money by representing us at various events both in and out of the Province or in the case of the GG, Canada. Looking at the US with their political system it is just as expensive, if not significantly more so, than ours so why should we spend more when ours works just as well if not better. Oh, and Joe, the GG and various LG's are Canadian so we are spending money on them. In addition, if they were not performing these tasks others would have to so about the only thing we would save, maybe, is their salaries and perhaps those of their staff (who are also Canadians).

Note to "Chip", and a couple of others, try politness, it generally means that the person using it is intelligent, postings like yours are funny to people with similar points of view but your ending leaves a lot of intelligence to be desired.