If there’s one thing monarchists and republicans can agree on, it’s the threat of public ignorance. Most Canadians have no idea what role the monarchy plays in Canada, or don’t care. One 2008 poll reported that only 24 percent of Canadians could correctly name their head of state.

“When there's no longer a significant understanding of the monarchy, then down the road it's easy to say, ‘why do we bother even having this thing, if we're not doing anything with it anyway?’" said Robert Finch, Dominion Chairman of the Monarchy League of Canada.

Part of the reason for our royal blind spot is we rarely catch a glimpse of the reserve powers of the Queen. Through her representatives — the governor general and 10 lieutenant governors — the Queen is meant to act as a constitutional referee, stepping in during those rare situations when an apolitical voice is needed to settle constitutional matters. Should a government be defeated in a confidence vote, she decides whether to dissolve parliament and trigger a new election or give the opposition a chance to form a government.

Take the December 2008 prorogation of parliament, when, in an effort to avoid a non-confidence vote, then-prime minister Stephen Harper visited Governor General Michaëlle Jean and asked her to end the parliamentary session early. Cutting a trip to Europe short, Jean hurried back to Ottawa as political pundits clamoured to predict the fate of the government.

“I can't imagine how much newsprint was wasted on, ‘What's the governor general going to do? Is she going to exert her will as the constitutional referee or is she going to simply base her opinion on precedent or convention?’" said Tom Freda, national director of Citizens for a Canadian Republic. “I didn't have any doubt about which way it would go: there would be no rocking of the constitutional boat — precedent and convention would be applied, and the prime minister would get his way.”

A few days later, amid the financial crisis, Stephen Harper walked onto the governor general’s sprawling 79-acre urban estate, and, according to convention, sought a private audience with the Queen’s representative. Jean agreed to prorogue parliament, giving the Harper government enough time to regroup and lead one of the most pro-monarchist cabinets in decades.

For critics of the Crown, this lack of transparency around how the governor general makes decisions is not only emblematic of an era of institutionalized elitism, it’s anti-democratic. “It shouldn't be an issue of debate,” said Freda. “It should be a constitutionally codified rule that when a certain situation arises, then this is what the head of state should do.”

Instead of balancing a democratically elected government with an institution based on inherited wealth and power, his organization proposes ejecting the monarchy as the Canadian head of state and swapping the governor general and lieutenant governors for elected officials. It’s the same path parliamentary republics like Malta and Ireland have taken. In these island nations, Freda pointed out, the governor general has been replaced with a president who has codified responsibilities in the event of a parliamentary deadlock or when a government tries to exercise powers beyond its reach.

“We could continue to call our head of state the governor general or the Grand Poo-Bah. It doesn't matter,” he told OpenCanada. “What matters is that our official head of state is a Canadian person who we select.”

But several constitutional experts say the secrecy that shrouds conversations with the governor general shields her from direct criticism in the same way we don’t hear the deliberations of Supreme Court judges. Without those off-the-record deliberations, supporters argue, both the Queen’s representatives and Supreme Court judges would be hesitant to speak frankly.

“It's a mirroring of British practice. The Queen is no more transparent in the UK than the governor general here,” said Westminster expert Philippe Lagassé. “The idea being that you wouldn't have a candid governor general if they knew that what they said would come out.”

Part of what stabilizes the relationship between the Queen and the government, say proponents of the current system, can be traced to the fact that the Queen’s representatives are reluctant to use their powers. If the governor general suddenly gets her own electoral mandate that’s even more direct than the prime minister’s, that creates a very odd situation: she would likely expect to be consulted more, exercise more power, and, formally, she would be able to use it.

Some monarchists also worry that an elected head of state would lose the widespread appeal enjoyed by the Queen’s representatives. “They have this aura, this light that shines behind them through this refracted glare of the Crown,” said Canadian royal commentator Richard Berthelsen. “If you think that people like Adrienne Clarkson and Michaëlle Jean are going to run for election, I wish you luck on that.”

At a practical level, monarchists argue that there’s no appetite among Canadians to re-open the constitution, and that even if a government could bring the removal of the monarch to a vote, it would require approval from all 10 provinces.

“Opening up the constitution has always been the monarchists' kryptonite against us,” said Freda. “[They] say that the Crown is at the core of the Canadian state, and you just can't tamper with it. Well, it's been done. It's been done in Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, and many other countries within the Commonwealth.”

In fact, of the 16 Commonwealth countries which have dropped their royal head of state, about two-thirds have opted for a presidential-style republic similar to the American system. The other third has reshaped their governments into parliamentary republics — picture the fully-elected Westminster system envisioned by Freda and his organization.

As the largest republican lobby group in Canada, members from Citizens for a Canadian Republic regularly interact with MPs and party organizers. Now, said Freda, as Payette takes over as governor general, the conversation around a post-Queen Elizabeth II era has already begun behind closed doors.

“When the Queen shows signs that her reign is coming to an end, I believe that all of those discussions will become public,” he said. “It's the Queen's death that will pivot this into a crisis mode.”