This is getting OT, but just to clear a few things up...
The Crown is the state, the state is the Crown. Ministers (the word means "servant") act in the name of the Crown. For their work, they are paid a salary out of Crown funds. All of the revenue belongs to the Crown. Once upon a time, in Robin Hood days of yore, this meant every gold farthing ended up in the proverbial castle keep. However, for the last 300+ years, this has meant that the Crown is merely a figurative custodian for the stability of government and state, and the money does not actually "belong" to the monarch.
Think of it as the world‘s best janitor‘s job.
The Queen personally only receives money from the Duchy of Lancaster, and income from private investments. Of the royal palaces, she owns only one: Balmoral. It was inherited. Although she is entitled to receive a significant portion of Crown revenue, she agreed long ago to turn this over to the government in exchange for a "Civil List" payment, which is a fraction of her income. The Civil List payment goes to support those members of the Royal Family who do not receive income from the government, and have no comparable private wealth. In addition, The Queen pays taxes, something she is not compelled to do legally.
This unique system, which has evolved over the years, is a curious and somewhat efficient result of the decades of struggle between the royalists and parliamentarians of years gone by, and in my opinion, includes the best elements of both sides.
This system attempts to give an air of legitimacy to the operation of government. We do not elect judges, for example, because they should administer the laws impartially, not based on their desire for re-election. We pay our taxes to the "Receiver General of Canada" not by name, but by office, because the person who holds the title won‘t get any richer by us paying taxes. This same official pays out public service salaries, again to maintain impartiality.
And (bringing it back on topic), when I said CADPAT belongs to the Crown, this is both in a legal sense and in a figurative sense. As members of the armed forces, we swear allegiance to The Queen, her lawful heirs and successors. We took "the Queen‘s shilling" as the saying goes. Although the government manages everything, and we must support the decisions of our lawfully and democratically elected representatives, we act in the Queen‘s name. So, the CADPAT belongs to the Crown, which is the Queen, which is the government acting in her name. The CADPAT, like everything else we are issued, does not belong to us individually, and we are only temporary caretakers of it, much in the same way that Ministers of state are temporary caretakers for their dept. We are not entitled to make any personal gain from anything the Crown has given us, except our wages.
When I say "legal sense" I mean selling military stores is a criminal offence:
"s. 420(1) Military stores - Every one who buys, receives or detains from a member of the Canadian Forces or a deserter or an absentee without leave therefrom any military stores that are owned by Her Majesty or for which the member, deserter, or absentee is accountable to Her Majesty is guilty of [an offence]"
Agree or disagree, it‘s what we signed up for.
