Monarchism in Canada
Encyclopedia
Canadian monarchism is the appreciation amongst Canadians for, and thus also advocacy for the retention of, their distinct system of constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
, countering anti-monarchical reform as being generally revisionist, idealistic, and ultimately impracticable. Generally, Canadian monarchism runs counter to anti-monarchist republicanism, but not necessarily to the classical form of republicanism
Classical republicanism
Classical republicanism is a form of republicanism developed in the Renaissance inspired by the governmental forms and writings of classical antiquity. The earliest examples of the school were classical writers such as Aristotle, Polybius, and Cicero...
itself, as most monarchists in Canada support the constitutional variety of monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
, sometimes referred to as a crowned republic
Crowned republic
A crowned republic is a form of constitutional monarchy where the monarch's role is ceremonial and all the royal prerogatives are prescribed by custom and law in such a way that the monarch has little or no discretion over governmental and constitutional issues.The term has been used to describe...
. These beliefs can be expressed either individually generally in academic circles or through what are known as loyal societies, which include monarchist leagues
Monarchist League
The Monarchist League may refer to:*The International Monarchist League founded in 1943 and based in London, England.*The Australian Monarchist League, founded in 1943, affiliated with the IML until 1993....
, legions, historical groups, ethnic organizations, and sometimes police and scout bodies. Though there may be overlap, this concept should not be confused with royalism
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
, the support of a particular monarch or dynasty; Canadian monarchists may appreciate the monarchy without thinking highly of the monarch. There have also been, from time to time, suggestions in favour of a wholly Canadian monarchy, either one headed by a descendant of the present monarch and resident in Canada or one based on a First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
royal house.
In Canada, monarchism, though it is sometimes mocked by its opponents, is driven by various factors: monarchists support the perceived practicality of popular power being ultimately placed in the hands of a non-partisan, apolitical individual, and see the Canadian monarchy as a modern link, via the Crown's shared nature, to ethnically diverse but historically similar countries around the world. It is also celebrated by monarchists as being a significant element of Canada's national identity
Canadian identity
Canadian identity refers to the set of characteristics and symbols that many Canadians regard as expressing their unique place and role in the world....
, stemming from the organization's 500 year deep roots in the country's tradition
History of Canada
The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Canada has been inhabited for millennia by distinctive groups of Aboriginal peoples, among whom evolved trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and social hierarchies...
, as well as having a pivotal role in maintaining Canada's independence from the United States. Though a majority of polled individuals agree that the monarchy has a role as a Canadian identifier, as with its political counterpart
Republicanism in Canada
Canadian republicanism is the appreciation amongst Canadians for the replacement of the Canadian system of constitutional monarchy with a republican form of government in the sense of the state headed by a president. These beliefs are expressed either individually generally in academic circles or...
, strong monarchism is not a prevalent element of contemporary Canadian society; according to surveys, the population is generally unaware of the existence of a monarch
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
as their head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
,
National identity
Colonial era
From Canada's colonial period until the end of the Second World WarWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, monarchism was prevalent amongst the region's inhabitants. Even after the transfer of New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
to the British in 1763
Treaty of Paris (1763)
The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
, a faction of the French-speaking population was loyal to the British Crown and its institutions of government, while the Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
fostered monarchism in a different form by urging its parishioners to appreciate the absolutist monarchy
Absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government in which the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government, his or her power not being limited by a constitution or by the law. An absolute monarch thus wields unrestricted political power over the...
system that existed in France. The majority could be lured to neither the republicanism that boiled south of the border, nor to the revolution and regicide
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
that took place in France in 1789.
At the same time, those who remained loyal to the British monarchy and its empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
ary War faced repercussions then and after the conflict. By seeking refuge in the Canadas and settling much of what is now Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and the Maritimes
Maritimes
The Maritime provinces, also called the Maritimes or the Canadian Maritimes, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. On the Atlantic coast, the Maritimes are a subregion of Atlantic Canada, which also includes the...
, they, who came to be known as the United Empire Loyalists, brought with them their support for the Crown and gave root to the idea that the monarchy stood for "beliefs and institutions... considered essential in the preservation of a form of life different from, and superior to, the manners, politics, and social arrangements of the United States." Republicans were seen as being generally of American origin, having thus been taught to admire republican government as the best in the world and to ridicule monarchism, "a few individuals, who unfortunately, are led by those, whose hostility to the British constitution is such, that they would sacrifice any and every thing to pull it down, in order that they might build up a Republic on its ruins."
Predominantly, Canadians retained their loyalty to Britain's constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
, a feeling that was only intensified by the American invasions of the Canadas in 1812. Further, the republican rebellions of 1837
Rebellions of 1837
The Rebellions of 1837 were a pair of Canadian armed uprisings that occurred in 1837 and 1838 in response to frustrations in political reform. A key shared goal was the allowance of responsible government, which was eventually achieved in the incident's aftermath.-Rebellions:The rebellions started...
with their significant minority of conservative followers who critiqued Canada's Westminster parliamentary
Westminster System
The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
constitutional monarchy as both too democratic and too tyrannical in comparison to their preferred American model of checks and balances failed to inspire the majority of colonists to espouse a break with the Crown. The Orange Order
Orange Order in Canada
The Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal organisation based predominantly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and has lodges in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ghana, Togo, the U.S.A, etc..-History:...
played a role in maintaining this allegiance, as, after expressed fears that the order's establishment in Upper Canada would cause conflict between Protestants
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
and Roman Catholics, in 1830 the Grand Orange Lodge of British America's first Grand Master, Ogle Robert Gowan
Ogle Robert Gowan
Ogle Robert Gowan was a farmer, Orangeman, journalist and political figure in Upper Canada and Canada West....
, moved to diminish the organization's religious exclusivity and instead have the order exist partly to foster appreciation of the King and constitution.
A confederated Dominion
Monarchist feelings were further entrenched in many English CanadianEnglish Canadian
An English Canadian is a Canadian of English ancestry; it is used primarily in contrast with French Canadian. Canada is an officially bilingual state, with English and French official language communities. Immigrant cultural groups ostensibly integrate into one or both of these communities, but...
s' minds following the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, which was seen by them as "the final stage in the discredit of [American] democracy and republicanism." Thus, by the time of Canada's formation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
in 1867, constitutional monarchy was, after their analysis of the American republic, unanimously selected by the Fathers of Confederation led by the monarchist John A. Macdonald
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...
, and including delegates from Quebec and approved of by the three elected legislatures of Canada
Province of Canada
The Province of Canada, United Province of Canada, or the United Canadas was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, and New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
. It was noted in the early 1960s by William Lewis Morton, in his attempt to clarify both the historic and continuing significance of the Canadian monarchy, that the structuring of Canada as a kingdom was not "bait for dim-witted Tory voters", but was instead a way for Canada to assert its presence in North America and thwart American expansionism into Canadian territories; the constitutional monarchy was meant as a balance between the autocracy of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and the popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty or the sovereignty of the people is the political principle that the legitimacy of the state is created and sustained by the will or consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. It is closely associated with Republicanism and the social contract...
of the United States that had just led to the Civil War. Instead of the constitution being based on a promise between the state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
and the people, it was created around a form of allegiance, wherein, as Morton put it, "there was no pressure for uniformity... Monarchy made it possible to achieve all these things, whereas republican democracy would, it seemed, have ensured the victory of local interests and race antagonisms in British North America, a victory ending in absorption into the United States. Still, republican ideals by their wider definition did have influence during the setting period of after Confederation, wherein the use of laws and the institutions formed by them was moulded by popular attitudes coexistent with monarchical preference. For instance, against the intentions of those who framed the constitution, the provinces began to regard themselves as homogeneous communities, each with a right to a certain amount of self-governance
Self-governance
Self-governance is an abstract concept that refers to several scales of organization.It may refer to personal conduct or family units but more commonly refers to larger scale activities, i.e., professions, industry bodies, religions and political units , up to and including autonomous regions and...
founded on a co-sovereign crown
Monarchy in the Canadian provinces
The monarchy of Canada forms the core of each Canadian provincial jurisdiction's Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government in each province...
, a notion that was eventually cemented in by the 1882 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
case of Maritime Bank vs. Receiver-General of New Brunswick.
Post-Quebec sovereignty movement
The "almost cult status" the monarchy enjoyed in the first half of the 20th century began to waver between the 1950s and 1970s, as the British Empire evolved into the Commonwealth of NationsCommonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
and a new Canadian identity emerged, multiculturalism was established as an official policy in Canada, and Quebec separatism
Quebec sovereignty movement
The Quebec sovereignty movement refers to both the political movement and the ideology of values, concepts and ideas that promote the secession of the province of Quebec from the rest of Canada...
began to blossom; the latter becoming the major impetus of political controversy around the Crown. Prime Ministers Louis St. Laurent
Louis St. Laurent
Louis Stephen St. Laurent, PC, CC, QC , was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada from 15 November 1948, to 21 June 1957....
and Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...
both saw the Crown as a Canadian icon making the country distinct from the US; indeed, Queen Elizabeth II's royal tour of 1959 was said by the Financial Post
Financial Post
The Financial Post was an English Canadian business newspaper, which published from 1907 to 1998. In 1998, the publication was folded into the new National Post, although the name Financial Post has been retained as the banner for that paper's business section and also lives on in the Post’s...
to be a demonstration that Canada was "not just the fifty first state
51st state
The 51st state, in United States political discourse, is a phrase that refers to areas either seriously or derisively considered candidates for addition to the 50 states already part of the United States. Before 1959, when Alaska and Hawaii joined the U.S., the term "the 49th state" was used...
of the Union," and even amongst the various letters sent to newspapers denouncing the lack of fully Canadian symbols available for use, few called for abolition of the monarchy, most Canadians seeing a need for their country to have a form of government different to that of the United States.
At the same time, and into the period of Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
's prime ministership, however, some of the royal symbols that had previously been accepted as representative of Canada because of their British heritage became the target of iconoclasm
Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...
for exactly the same reason, and the Crown was more frequently said to be at odds with multiculturalism; Canadians were, according to Arthur Bousfield and Gary Toffoli, being encouraged to "neglect, ignore, forget, reject, debase, suppress, even hate and certainly treat as foreign what their parents and grandparents, whether spiritual or blood, regarded as the basis of Canadian nationhood, autonomy and history", including the monarchy. This phenomenon was the inspiration for the founding in 1970 of the Monarchist League of Canada
Monarchist League of Canada
The Monarchist League of Canada is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization whose mission is "to promote the full expression and a better understanding of the history and real benefits of a uniquely Canadian constitutional monarchy"....
(MLC) as an organised way for citizens to voice their opposition to any downplaying of the Crown.
Still, at the height of the Quiet Revolution
Quiet Revolution
The Quiet Revolution was the 1960s period of intense change in Quebec, Canada, characterized by the rapid and effective secularization of society, the creation of a welfare state and a re-alignment of politics into federalist and separatist factions...
, in 1967, Vincent Massey
Vincent Massey
Charles Vincent Massey was a Canadian lawyer and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 18th since Canadian Confederation....
opined that "the Monarchy is so essential to us that without it as a bastion of Canadian nationality, of Canadian purpose and of Canadian independence, we could not remain a Sovereign State," and three years later, Roland Michener
Roland Michener
Daniel Roland Michener , commonly known as Roland Michener, was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 20th since Canadian Confederation....
said of the Canadian Crown and identity: "[The Monarchy] is our own by inheritance and choice, and contributes much to our distinctive Canadian identity
Canadian identity
Canadian identity refers to the set of characteristics and symbols that many Canadians regard as expressing their unique place and role in the world....
and our chances of independent survival amongst the republics of North and South America," which was echoed by John Diefenbaker
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...
, who questioned: "well, having a royal family means we're not American. And isn't that enough?" In polls from the 1970s onwards, majorities continued to believe the Crown was a Canadian foil against the cultural intrusions of the United States, leading monarchists, for their part, to maintain the notion that the Crown keeps Canada culturally and legally sovereign from its largest republican neighbour, even claiming in the early 21st century to have seen a rise in support for the monarchy amongst Canadian youth for just such a reason. Those like the University of Lethbridge
University of Lethbridge
The University of Lethbridge is a publicly-funded comprehensive academic and research university, founded in the liberal education tradition, located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, with two other urban campuses in Calgary and Edmonton. The main building sits among the coulees on the west side of...
's Professor of Native American Studies Tony Hall, George Grant
George Grant (philosopher)
George Parkin Grant, OC, FRSC was a Canadian philosopher, teacher and political commentator, whose popular appeal peaked in the late 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for his nationalism, political conservatism, and his views on technology, pacifism, Christian faith, and abortion...
, and Eugene Forsey
Eugene Forsey
Eugene Alfred Forsey, served in the Canadian Senate from 1970 to 1979. He was considered to be one of Canada's foremost constitutional experts.- Biography :...
, theorised that the greatest threat to the Canadian Crown was not its British origins, but instead the "expansionist powers of Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was the 19th century American belief that the United States was destined to expand across the continent. It was used by Democrat-Republicans in the 1840s to justify the war with Mexico; the concept was denounced by Whigs, and fell into disuse after the mid-19th century.Advocates of...
in the United States and those who wished to move Canada closer to the American sphere and its presidential style marketplace politics," where corporate personalities amongst the sovereign populace could wield significantly more power over government than in the monarchical system where sovereignty is above popular control.
Personification of Canada
Canadian monarchists support the official government position (both federal and provincial) of the monarch as the personification of the Canadian state. They consider a globally travelling, super-celebrity monarch to be apt for a post-modernPostmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
, multicultural nation like Canada, and see the sovereign as a more personal, less bureaucratic, symbol of the will and character of the "Canadian national family", giving a human face on the nation and locus of allegiance, as opposed to republics where the objective constitution, flag, or "the country" is revered instead. It is the position of the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canadian Secretary to the Queen
Canadian Secretary to the Queen
The Canadian Secretary to the Queen is the senior operational member of the Royal Household of the sovereign of Canada. The secretary is the principal channel of communication between the Queen and her Canadian government, provincial governments, and the governments of the fifteen other...
that "in every respect, [the monarch] represents the humanity of our country and speaks eloquently of the collective spirit that makes us truly Canadian."
Since at least the 1930s, supporters of the Crown have held the opinion that the Canadian monarch is also one of the rare unified elements of Canadian society, focusing both "the historic consciousness of the nation" and various forms of patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
and national love "[on] the point around which coheres the nation's sense of a continuing personality," and reflecting this back through life-long public duties and service, an arrangement its supporters contend allows for diversity, as opposed to the American ideology of the state being the majority and demanding allegiance. Former Governor General Vincent Massey
Vincent Massey
Charles Vincent Massey was a Canadian lawyer and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 18th since Canadian Confederation....
articulated that the monarchy "is part of ourselves. It is linked in a very special way with our national life. It stands for qualities and institutions which mean Canada to every one of us and which for all our differences and all our variety have kept Canada Canadian." Gary Toffoli, past chairman of the Toronto branch of the MLC, stated on this concept that "it is one of the great protections of democracy and one of the weaknesses of the republican system that in our system the Queen is the state and the people are not the state", arguing that such a society permits its members, though they be in an inseparable symbiosis with it, to exist apart from the state, to criticise it, and not take responsibility for what the state might have done. This, he asserted, avoids the paradox wherein opposing the state is opposing the people, which would mean one opposes one's self. George-Étienne Cartier predicted that Canada, with its cohabitational French and English-based cultures, could never have an ethnic nationality, but through allegiance to the common symbol of the Crown, it was possible for the country to be a unified political nationality.
Canadian institution and symbol
Combining constitutional law, the concept of national personification, and their acknowledgement of the reigning monarch as the end of an unbroken chain of sovereigns of Canada that starts with the first European settlement of the region in the 16th century, monarchists in Canada share the Department of Canadian HeritageDepartment of Canadian Heritage
The Department of Canadian Heritage, or simply Canadian Heritage |department]] of the Government of Canada with responsibility for policies and programs regarding the arts, culture, media, communications networks, official languages , status of women, sports , and multiculturalism...
's view that the sovereign is at least partly, and the monarchy within Canada is fully, Canadian, the monarchy's supporters thus often employing the epithet
Epithet
An epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...
"Maple Crown", first coined by The Lord Grey
Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey
Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey was a British nobleman and politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the ninth since Canadian Confederation....
in 1905. The contrary opinion of republicans, who continue to brand the persona and institution of the Crown as purely British and foreign intrusions in Canada, is considered by monarchists to be a superficial argument, representative either of ethnic prejudice, or of a cultural and historical confusion that forgets a number of Canadian values peace, order, and good government
Peace, order and good government
In many Commonwealth jurisdictions, the phrase "peace, order and good government" is an expression used in law to express the legitimate objects of legislative powers conferred by statute...
; parliamentary
Parliamentary system
A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch get their democratic legitimacy from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined....
democracy; the elevation of public welfare over personal greed; responsible government
Responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...
; etc. were similarly inherited from the United Kingdom. Already by the end of the Second World War, a difference had been established amongst Canadians between loyalty to the Crown and loyalty to Britain.
Because of this history and contemporary sentiment, the monarchy's supporters allege that presidential republicanism is not a part of the Canadian psyche, and any move towards such an end, without provocation or real reason, would run contrary to the national persona and be foreign to Canada, as no part of the country had ever been a republic. Indeed, the Quiet Revolution, like earlier revolts, failed to inspire republicanism in the Canadian populace outside of Quebec; amongst that remaining bulk of Canadians, the level of monarchism became difficult to gauge over the ensuing decades, as public opinion polls found instability and sometimes even contradictions in numbers for and against the Canadian monarchy (frequently labelled in questions as "British"), but no popular desire to alter the status quo ever expressed itself. When, in December 1998, Peter Donolo
Peter Donolo
Peter Donolo is a political strategist and former Chief of Staff to former Liberal Party of Canada leader Michael Ignatieff. From 1993-99, he was the Director of Communications in the office of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien....
unaccountably announced through a story by Lawrence Martin that the Prime Minister's Office
Office of the Prime Minister (Canada)
In Canada, the Office of the Prime Minister , located in the Langevin Block, on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, is one of the most powerful parts of the government. It is made up of the prime minister and his or her top political staff, who are charged with advising the prime minister on decisions,...
was considering the abolition of the monarchy as a millennium project, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
expressed on television that the topic of a republic was neither a Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
priority, nor one for average Canadians, admitting "[t]here's no big debate in Canada." The provincial premiers at the time displayed the same sentiment, as did various newspaper editorials, with the Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
s headline about the so-called millennium project reading: "Which millennium?" The lack of interest in republicanism cannot, however, be taken automatically as proof of monarchism; Canadians are generally indifferent to the subject, and, as early as the 1950s, it was observed that Canadians don't "think of themselves as citizens of either a republic or a monarchy."
Canadian loyalists further aver that, rather than be ashamed of the country's monarchical chronicle and present arrangements, they should be embraced. Monarchists find that republican arguments often take the form of cultural cringe
Cultural cringe
Cultural cringe, in cultural studies and social anthropology, is an internalized inferiority complex which causes people in a country to dismiss their own culture as inferior to the cultures of other countries...
, focusing, as they perceive it, on long settled issues like Canada's independence and responsible government
Responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...
, or unsubstantiated ones, such as the republican claim that the monarchy was non-consensually imposed on Canadians, and demonstrating a sophistry that has been described as "'presto-you're-an-adult' immaturity that would malign Canada as some sort of pimply-faced adolescent thinking she could prove she is grown up by smoking a cigarette and telling Mom where to get off." Monarchists have contended that this is a product of inadequate knowledge of the monarchy's role in both Canadian history and modern civics, a phenmonenon sometimes compounded by the prevasiveness of American culture
Culture of the United States
The Culture of the United States is a Western culture originally influenced by European cultures. It has been developing since long before the United States became a country with its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore...
in Canada.
The central role of the monarchy in the Canadian constitution, and the difficult prescriptions to removing it, are said by monarchists to illustrate the importance of the Crown as the centre of the entire system of government and justice in Canada, to the point where Crown and constitution are inseparable. Dr. Stephen Phillips, Chair of the Department of Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at Langara College
Langara College
Langara College is a public degree-granting college in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada which serves approximately 20,000 students annually through its university, career, and continuing studies programs...
, said that the monarchy was more entrenched in Canada than generally realised, having undergone profound changes since Confederation in reaction to and in parallel with Canada's transition from a self-governing
Self-governance
Self-governance is an abstract concept that refers to several scales of organization.It may refer to personal conduct or family units but more commonly refers to larger scale activities, i.e., professions, industry bodies, religions and political units , up to and including autonomous regions and...
Dominion
Dominion
A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. They have included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland,...
to a fully sovereign state, thereby pre-empting the rise of any significant republican movement. As the monarchy works satisfactorily and still has a "powerful, if under-stated" symbolic value to English Canadians, republicans are left to build popular support for its abolition, necessitating the suggestion of constitutional reform, from which Canadians commonly recoil, and causing a debate that monarchists feel would be nationally divisive.
First Nations, Quebec, and multiculturalism
Aboriginal peoples in Canada
Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....
have been described as "strongly supportive of the monarchy," due partly to the constitutionally entrenched fiduciary obligations of the monarch alone to be the negotiator between First Nations and non and provide to the former certain guarantees, which all makes the Crown's inherent stability and continuity, as opposed to the transitory nature of populist whims, an important factor to aboriginal people in Canada; Tony Hall has argued that the "living heritage" of Crown-First Nations treaties must not be sacrificed to reductivist republican views of constitutional change that do not consider the relations between the Crown and Canadian aboriginal peoples. Further, those loyal to the Crown have felt that aboriginal peoples in Canada cherish their ability to present grievances directly to the sovereign before the witness of international cameras.
Quebec in the latter half of the 20th century has been regarded as less inclined towards the Crown. However, it was expressed by Jacques Rouillard that from the mid-19th century until the end of the Second World War, in Quebec the monarchy was seen as a source of democracy that permitted the prosperity of French Canada. At the time of Confederation, there existed French-Canadian royalists who favoured the retention of the monarchy in the new polity that would include the new province of Quebec, some 40 years before Raymond Auzias-Turenne published in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
his book République royale, extolling the virtues of constitutional monarchy, and of monarchism in the province, Prime Minister of Canada Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
stated: "people are surprised at the attachment French Canadians feel for the Queen, and we are faithful to the great nation which has given us liberty." In 2007, though polls showed the province's population to be that which held the monarch most unfavourably, and despite threats of violence and protest from separatists, the Executive Council of Quebec
Executive Council of Quebec
The Executive Council of Quebec is the cabinet of the government of Quebec, Canada....
and the Mayor of Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, Régis Labeaume, desired the attendance of Elizabeth II, or either Prince William or Prince Harry
Prince Harry of Wales
Prince Henry of Wales , commonly known as Prince Harry, is the younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and fourth grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
, at the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec.
Monarchists have also come to find that the Canadian monarchy correlates well with multiculturalism, the monarch being a living illustration of the concept: the Crown's non-partisanship extends to culture and religion, the sovereign reigns over multiple socially diverse nations, appoints persons of each gender and different races to be viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
, and is him or herself of a heritage that including more than 30 ethnicities, from Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
to Mongol. The monarchy has also been seen by new Canadian citizens as a favourable symbol; in the late 1950s, for instance, recent immigrants from Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
countries made public expressions of loyalty to the Queen and criticism towards those who were dismissive of the Crown. Indeed, Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Hubert Badanai
Hubert Badanai
Hubert Badanai was a Canadian automobile dealer and politician.Born at Azzano Decimo in the Province of Pordenone, northern Italy, he moved to Canada when he was 18 and worked at a brickyard in Rosslyn. He later opened a successful car dealership and became an alderman in Fort William, Ontario for...
said during Queen Elizabeth II's 1959 tour of Canada that "non-Anglo Saxons
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
are more keen about the Queen than the Anglo Saxons." Alistair Horne
Alistair Horne
Sir Alistair Allan Horne is a British historian of modern France. He is the son of Sir James Horne and Lady Auriol Horne ....
observed at the same time that, while Canada's cultural mix grew, the monarchy remained held in high regard: "At its lowest common denominator, to the average Canadian whether of British, French or Ukrainian extraction the Crown is the one thing that he has that the rich and mighty Americans have not got. It makes him feel a little superior." Some, such as journalist Christina Blizzard, emphasise that the monarchy "made [Canada] a haven of peace and justice for immigrants from around the world." Michael Valpy contended that the Crown's nature permitted non-conformity amongst its subjects, thereby opening the door to multiculturalism and pluralism.
In regards to the anti-Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
provisions of the Canadian constitution, monarchists either see them as a non-issue, as noone who is Catholic is near to the throne in the line of succession, or see them as a discriminatory clauses of a law for which, as it was enacted by elected parliamentarians in Britain and inherited by Canada with Canadian parliamentary approval, the monarchy cannot be held responsible, and can be altered by parliament to repeal the offending parts.
Democratic principles and governmental role
Monarchists in Canada uphold that "the old view that democracy and monarchy are fundamentally incompatible has been proven wrong" by countries such as Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Spain, and the like; and there is no reason why Canada is different. Not only is a monarch trained from birth to be a competent head of stateHead of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
, they argue, but also that constitutional monarchy is a democratic institution, given that the monarch's position is created and filled by and according to the Canadian constitution
Constitution of Canada
The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law in Canada; the country's constitution is an amalgamation of codified acts and uncodified traditions and conventions. It outlines Canada's system of government, as well as the civil rights of all Canadian citizens and those in Canada...
, which continues to be supported by the Canadian people through their elected representatives in parliament. It has been noted that such a system is already built on republican principles, wherein the Crown's power has, since long before Confederation, been tempered by the will of the elected legislature, coming directly into play only when an elected individual abuses the power lent to him.
Arguments against the monarchy include the idea that the existence of the Royal Family prevents Canada from becoming a meritocracy
Meritocracy
Meritocracy, in the first, most administrative sense, is a system of government or other administration wherein appointments and responsibilities are objectively assigned to individuals based upon their "merits", namely intelligence, credentials, and education, determined through evaluations or...
, the royal clan being "the prime representation of a class system that divides the nation not on ability but by the hidden mechanisms of privilege." Against that, and in a reversal of the republican derision that they comprise are a modern "Flat Earth Society
Flat Earth Society
The Flat Earth Society is an organization that seeks to further the belief that the Earth is flat instead of an oblate spheroid. The modern organization was founded by Englishman Samuel Shenton in 1956 and was later led by Charles K...
", however, monarchists declare that such thoughts are quaint and outdated; the modernization of the monarchy has given the country "a figurehead which is as apolitical as it could possibly be" and a royal family that acts as a symbol of a modern, democratic, and multicultural meritocracy. The dignity of the monarchy above partisan politics has also been said by Peter Boyce to have "underlined the distinction between polity and executive" and fostered trust in political institutions.
The system is generally viewed by supporters of the monarchy as well functioning, and, as such, adhere to the analogy of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Along those lines, at a 1968 constitutional conference
Constitutional convention (political meeting)
A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...
in which Quebec delegates raised the proposal of a republic, the other provincial representatives agreed that the monarchy had worked well and was not a matter for discussion; it was said two years later by Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
, who was by then in the Cabinet
Cabinet of Canada
The Cabinet of Canada is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada...
of Lester Pearson: "I wouldn't lift a finger to get rid of the monarchy... I think the monarchy, by and large, has done more good than harm to Canada." Later, Trudeau would say: "Canadians should realise when they are well off under the monarchy. For the vast majority of Canadians, being a monarchy is probably the only form of government acceptable to them. I have always been for parliamentary democracy
Parliamentary system
A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch get their democratic legitimacy from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined....
and I think the institution of monarchy with the Queen heading it all has served Canada well." Former Governor General Roland Michener
Roland Michener
Daniel Roland Michener , commonly known as Roland Michener, was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 20th since Canadian Confederation....
said in a 1970 speech to the Empire Club of Canada
Empire Club of Canada
The Empire Club of Canada is a Canadian speakers' forum. Established in 1903, the Empire Club has provided a forum for over 3,500 speakers.Through a variety of presentation formats, the Empire Club invites local, national and international leaders and other change-agents to address the topical...
: "Canadians refuse to consider the question at all on the simple ground that what we have works. Isn't this the acid test of any system?"; and one of his viceregal successors, Ed Schreyer, stated: "on a list of 100 things that need fixing, the monarchy ranks 101st."
Though political scholar David Smith theorised that the Canadian monarchy had benefited from the dearth of discussion around it, he also expressed his feeling that those monarchist arguments in favour of the Crown that focused on legalities, despite their strong legislative and logical foundations, were actually counter-productive, serving only to further distance average Canadians from their monarchy, which they perceived mostly through the filter of mass media.
Non-partisanship
Bias
Bias is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of alternatives. Bias can come in many forms.-In judgement and decision making:...
ed as a constitutional monarch. This "rigorously neutral civic identity" at the national level, monarchists argue, benefits democracy as the sovereign and his or her viceroys are free to represent all Canadians, un-reliant on blocks of voters divided by age, race, gender, financial worth, or political leanings, appealing to, for example, Farley Mowat
Farley Mowat
Farley McGill Mowat, , born May 12, 1921 is a conservationist and one of Canada's most widely-read authors.His works have been translated into 52 languages and he has sold more than 14 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Canadian North, such as People of the...
, a self-described New Democrat
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
and socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
; Eugene Forsey
Eugene Forsey
Eugene Alfred Forsey, served in the Canadian Senate from 1970 to 1979. He was considered to be one of Canada's foremost constitutional experts.- Biography :...
, a trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
ist and founder of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
, precursor to the New Democratic Party; George Grant
George Grant (philosopher)
George Parkin Grant, OC, FRSC was a Canadian philosopher, teacher and political commentator, whose popular appeal peaked in the late 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for his nationalism, political conservatism, and his views on technology, pacifism, Christian faith, and abortion...
, a Red Tory
Red Tory
A red Tory is an adherent of a particular political philosophy, tradition, and disposition in Canada somewhat similar to the High Tory tradition in the United Kingdom; it is contrasted with "blue Tory". In Canada, the phenomenon of "red toryism" has fundamentally, if not exclusively, been found in...
; and Dalton Camp
Dalton Camp
Dalton Kingsley Camp, PC, OC was a Canadian journalist, politician, political strategist and commentator and supporter of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Despite having never been elected to a seat in the House of Commons, he was a prominent and influential politician and a popular...
, a Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
.
Monarchists opine that in a country such as Canada, where regional, linguistic, and cultural divisions already exist, a divisive head of state would be detrimental rather than beneficial; it was said by George-Étienne Cartier
George-Étienne Cartier
Sir George-Étienne Cartier, 1st Baronet, PC was a French-Canadian statesman and Father of Confederation.The English spelling of the name, George, instead of Georges, the usual French spelling, is explained by his having been named in honour of King George III....
that symbolizing the entire nation is "one reason monarchs flourish in countries split by ethnicity," and that the monarchy permitted "the formation of a political nationality where a cultural nationality was not possible." As Governor General The Baron Tweedsmuir
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation....
put it, the monarch was "the friend of every citizen, but the master of none, for friendship implies a noble equality", and a link not only between all the peoples of every country that shared the same king in a personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
-type relationship, but also those of Canada. W. L. Morton felt that because Canadians owed their allegiance to a monarch, rather than to a concept like "the People", there was no pressure on anyone to conform to a singular Canadian way of life; he said "the society of allegiance admits of a diversity the society of compact does not, and one of the blessings of Canadian life is that there is no Canadian way of life, much less two, but a unity under the Crown admitting of a thousand diversities."
John A. Macdonald
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...
, speaking in 1865 about the proposals for the upcoming Confederation of Canada, said:
- "By adhering to the monarchical principle we avoid one defect inherent in the Constitution of the United StatesUnited States ConstitutionThe Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
. By the election of the president by a majority and for a short period, he never is the sovereign and chief of the nation. He is never looked up to by the whole people as the head and front of the nation. He is at best but the successful leader of a party. This defect is all the greater on account of the practice of reelection. During his first term of office he is employed in taking steps to secure his own reelection, and for his party a continuance of power. We avoid this by adhering to the monarchical principle the sovereign whom you respect and love. I believe that it is of the utmost importance to have that principle recognized so that we shall have a sovereign who is placed above the region of party to whom all parties look up; who is not elevated by the action of one party nor depressed by the action of another; who is the common head and sovereign of all."
Indeed, five years prior, it was said that Canadians' enthusiasm for The Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), during his 1860 tour of Canada was "the intelligent appreciation by a free people of a principle of government and law, which is above party... It is in this that a free monarchy is distinguished from a free republic on the one side and an arbitrary despotism on the other as the personification of impartial authority and supreme law and not the head of a party." In the late 1930s, Tweedsmuir said in a speech that, while the will of the populace prevailed through their election of parliamentary representatives, the King embodied the people on a higher level, above all the "mutations and vicissitudes of parties," and some sixty years later, New Democratic Party Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Bill Blaikie
Bill Blaikie
William Alexander "Bill" Blaikie, PC is a Canadian politician. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba since April 2009, representing the Winnipeg division of Elmwood as a member of the New Democratic Party of Manitoba, and Minister of Conservation and Government House Leader...
opined: "[The Queen] symbolizes for many the merits of a constitutional monarchy in which the head of state... is separate and apart from the ongoing political struggles of the day," a sentiment echoed in 2009 by American-born, Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...
professor Anthony Perl.
Constitutional guarantor
It is felt by monarchists that the monarch's position apart from the machinations of politics allows him or her to work as an effective intermediary between Canada's various levels of government and political parties an indispensable feature in a federalFederation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
system. It is thus reasoned that the monarchy makes the provinces in their fields of jurisdiction equally as potent as the federal authority, allowing for a flexible and sustainable federalism that thwarts "the political, academic and journalistic elites" in Canada. During constitutional talks in the 1970s, the provinces
Provinces and territories of Canada
The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...
did not endorse any alterations to the Crown in either its federal or provincial fields
Monarchy in the Canadian provinces
The monarchy of Canada forms the core of each Canadian provincial jurisdiction's Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government in each province...
, all agreeing that the Crown "has served us well," and later anaysis by David Smith showed that the federal Cabinet at the time failed both to understand the complexity of the Canadian Crown and to "recognize its federalist dimension," the monarchy being said to be crucial to provincial co-sovereignty. Even beyond provincial geo-politics, the monarchy has been said to be the only body in which Canadian sovereignty can be vested, as none of the alternatives the people or the nation has enough cohesiveness in Canada to serve the purpose. The Irish presidency
President of Ireland
The President of Ireland is the head of state of Ireland. The President is usually directly elected by the people for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the President does exercise certain limited powers with absolute...
, which Canadian republicans theorise could be copied in Canada, is not the head of a federated country, and thus a hypothetical Canadian president's role would not be the same as that in Ireland.
Monarchists, such as The Lord Tweedsmuir, felt that, despite having some drawbacks, constitutional monarchy offered greater stability, it's being seldom thought of an illustration that it was working properly. This, loyalists assert, is because the Crown's non-partisanship permits it to be a permanent guarantor against the misuse of constitutional power by transitory politicians for their own personal gain, the monarch being a required co-signatory to political instruments and having a personal stake in protecting constitutional government from non-justifiable abuses, but having no policy powers or job security reliant on the prime minister of the day. As Forsey and George Grant
George Grant (philosopher)
George Parkin Grant, OC, FRSC was a Canadian philosopher, teacher and political commentator, whose popular appeal peaked in the late 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for his nationalism, political conservatism, and his views on technology, pacifism, Christian faith, and abortion...
put it, by simply being there, the sovereign denies more sinister forces, such as a partisan or corrupt president, access to the state's power, forming a "vital safeguard of democracy and liberty" by acting as a "bulwark against cabinet despotism", or as "the last bulwark of democracy", as former Quebec Premier
Premier of Quebec
The Premier of Quebec is the first minister of the Canadian province of Quebec. The Premier is the province's head of government and his title is Premier and President of the Executive Council....
Daniel Johnson, Jr. put it; the worth of the monarchy being not its power, but the power it denies any other person. Thus, the reserve powers of the Crown and the peculiar nature of the office holder are viewed as making the position a useful, if limited, asset against the "presidential" aspirations of prime ministers, and a superior safeguard for executive oversight than any republican alternative. As Andrew Coyne
Andrew Coyne
James Andrew Coyne is the national editor for Maclean's, a weekly national newsmagazine in Canada. Previously, he was a columnist with the National Post and an editor-in-chief of the University of Manitoba's newspaper, The Manitoban.-Background:Coyne was born in Ottawa, Ontario, the son of Hope...
described it, the sovereign's supremacy over the Prime Minister in the constitutional order is a "rebuff to the pretensions of the elected: As it has been said, when the Prime Minister bows before the Queen, he bows before us." The analogy monarchists use is that the Crown is like a fire extinguisher
Fire extinguisher
A fire extinguisher or extinguisher, flame entinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations...
, rarely used, but highly visible, and there in case of emergencies.
Monarchists thus see the monarch, unconnected as he or she is to party politics, as "a political referee, not a political player, and there is a lot of sense in choosing the referee by a different principle from the players. It lessens the danger that the referee might try to start playing." They further theorise that having both an elected president and prime minister could lead to the two coming to odds over who holds more authority; each could claim to be "elected by the people", as happened in the Congo in 1960, Burma in 2004
Khin Nyunt
General Khin Nyunt is an officer and politician in Myanmar. Khin Nyunt is of Burmese Chinese descent. He held the office of Chief of Intelligence and was Prime Minister from 25 August 2003 until 18 October 2004. He is married to Khin Win Shwe, a medical doctor, and father to a daughter, Thin Le Le...
, and East Timor in 2006
2006 East Timor crisis
The 2006 East Timorese crisis began as a conflict between elements of the military of East Timor over discrimination within the military, and expanded to a coup attempt and general violence throughout the country, centred in the capital Dili...
. The Canadian republican group Citizens for a Canadian Republic
Citizens for a Canadian Republic
Citizens for a Canadian Republic is a not-for-profit Canadian organization founded in 2002 that advocates the replacement of the Canadian monarchy with a head of state who would either be chosen through a general election or elected by parliament...
has proposed the Governor General be elected as a step towards some form of republic, to which monarchists counter that this move would bring divisiveness to the office, citing the situation that emerged in 2004
Paulias Matane
Sir Paulias Nguna Matane GCL, GCMG, OBE, KStJ , formerly a career civil servant, was the eighth Governor-General of Papua New Guinea from 29 June 2004 to 13 December 2010.-Personal life:...
between the rival candidates for the viceregal office in fellow Commonwealth realm Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
, where the nominee for Governor-General
Governor-General of Papua New Guinea
The Governor-General of Papua New Guinea is the viceregal representative of Queen Elizabeth II, known in Tok Pisin as 'Missis Kwin', Papua New Guinea's head of state, performing the duties of the Queen in her absence...
is selected by parliamentary vote. To the idea that the head of state be selected by the Companions of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, monarchists have said that such a situation would "politicise and destroy" the Canadian honours system by turning it into a form of electoral college
Electoral college
An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way...
, and they further counter Edward McWhinney's notion that Canada could become a republic simply by failing to proclaim another sovereign upon the next Demise of the Crown
Demise of the Crown
In relation to the shared monarchy of the Commonwealth realms and other monarchies, the demise of the Crown is the legal term for the end of a reign by a king, queen, or emperor, whether by death or abdication....
, stating that such a proposal ignores the necessity of provincial input, and "would be contrary to the plain purpose of those who framed our system of government".
Quebec sovereignty
The Canadian monarchy has been presented by monarchists in Canada as being a continuation of the French monarchy under which New FranceNew France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
was founded, the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
The Lieutenant Governor of Quebec : Lieutenant-gouverneur du Québec, or : Lieutenant-gouverneure du Québec) is the viceregal representative in Quebec of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions...
representing the sovereign in "the same way representatives of the French Crown were resident in Château St-Louis
Chateau St. Louis
The Chateau St. Louis in Quebec City was the official residence of the French Governor of New France and later the British Governor of Quebec, the Governor-General of British North America, and the Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada....
." It is further argued that, as with the rest of Canada, Quebec has never been a republican order, and monarchism is not an alien concept to the populace of the province. Moreover, far from being dismissive of the French heritage of Canada, the country's royalty has always gone to allowable lengths to ensure the inclusion and appreciation of that culture,
In response to the republican claim that Canada becoming a republic would appease the drive for Quebec sovereignty
Quebec sovereignty movement
The Quebec sovereignty movement refers to both the political movement and the ideology of values, concepts and ideas that promote the secession of the province of Quebec from the rest of Canada...
, monarchists say that those in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
who wish for their province to secede from confederation rely on anti-British, historical revisionism, and view any federal authority as repressive, regardless of whether that authority is republican or monarchical; hence, the future of the monarchy is regarded as a non-issue by separatist parties like the Bloc
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
and Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
. Monarchists also say that Canadian presidents would be more often selected by and/or from the majority Anglophone population of the country, and thus sovereigntists would argue that Québécois are not being represented by the head of state. Even if a sovereignty-association relationship with Canada was established, questions remain as to whether or not Quebec would truly be free of the Canadian monarchy.
Loyal organizations in Canada
- Canadian Royal Heritage Trust
- Monarchist League of CanadaMonarchist League of CanadaThe Monarchist League of Canada is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization whose mission is "to promote the full expression and a better understanding of the history and real benefits of a uniquely Canadian constitutional monarchy"....
- Grand Orange Lodge of CanadaOrange Order in CanadaThe Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal organisation based predominantly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and has lodges in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ghana, Togo, the U.S.A, etc..-History:...
- Royal Society of St. GeorgeRoyal Society of St GeorgeThe Royal Society of St George is an English patriotic society established in 1894 to encourage interest in the English way of life, and English customs and traditions. It operates from offices in Folkestone, Kent.-History:In 1415 St...
- United Empire Loyalist Association
See also
- Debate on the monarchy in CanadaDebate on the monarchy in CanadaDebate between monarchists and republicans in Canada has been taking place since before the country's Confederation in 1867, though it has rarely been of significance since the rebellions of 1837. Open support for republicanism only came from the Patriotes in the early 19th century, the Red River...
- Republicanism in CanadaRepublicanism in CanadaCanadian republicanism is the appreciation amongst Canadians for the replacement of the Canadian system of constitutional monarchy with a republican form of government in the sense of the state headed by a president. These beliefs are expressed either individually generally in academic circles or...
- MonarchyMonarchyA monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
- MonarchismMonarchismMonarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...