No one was surprised to see the Conservative MPs oppose this week the tabling by the Bloc Québécois Stéphane Bergeron of a motion to congratulate Barbados “for freeing itself from the British monarchy”. It is rather the gesture which followed this refusal by the troops of Erin O’Toole that shocked the ears of many of their colleagues in the House of Commons: several Conservatives then sang God Save the Queen.
Until the 1960s, the British national anthem was systematically played at official ceremonies in English Canada. It was not until 1967 that the City of Toronto City Council abolished a by-law to this effect. In 1980, on the eve of the repatriation of the British North America Act, the Canadian Parliament finally designated theOh Canada as the country’s national anthem. But the vice-regal salute, performed when the Governor General is present, always begins with the first six bars of God Save the Queen.
For how much longer ? If Barbados, a small island country of barely 300,000 inhabitants, was able to free itself from its colonialist past by becoming a republic this week, why not Canada, a country of 38 million inhabitants which has an independent foreign policy? than that of the United Kingdom for 90 years already and whose attachment to the British Crown has somewhat eroded over the generations?
While some conservatives still resist change, the ranks of die-hard monarchists have almost emptied since the days when the Orange parades drew thousands of participants to English Canada.
In the first census in 1871, over 60% of the Canadian population declared origins in the British Isles. This figure fell to 32.5% in the 2016 census. If, in 2021, Canada remains a constitutional monarchy, it is more because of the apathy of its population regarding its own institutions.
Barbados’ slave past
Admittedly, it would be a rather inelegant move to cut the cord with Buckingham Palace as Elizabeth II prepares to mark the 70e anniversary of his reign. Given its slave history, Barbados had its own reasons to emancipate itself from the British Crown, in the wake of the death of George Floyd in the United States and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. In any case, it would take several years for any effort to change the constitutional order in Canada to bear fruit. Unlike Barbados, where the decision to become a republic was endorsed by a simple majority vote in Parliament, such a change in the country would inevitably have to go through a pan-Canadian referendum as well as an affirmative vote in the legislature of each province. and the Federal Parliament. It would be a long term job.
You still have to start somewhere. It would suffice for a federal political party to join the Bloc Québécois to demand a real debate on the future of the monarchy in Canada and thus really set the machine in motion. In 2018, New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh hinted that he would be in favor of abolishing the monarchy in Canada.
“I do not see the relevance of the monarchy and I do not believe that the majority of Canadians see it,” he said on the show at the time. Question Period, from the CTV television network. However, the NDP leader immediately added that this change was not a priority for him. Politicians who are reluctant to tackle this issue for the simple reason that Canadians seem to care little are cowardly.
A wave of political support
An Angus Reid poll released this week found that more than half of Canadians do not believe Canada should remain a constitutional monarchy indefinitely. Not surprisingly, this proportion rises to 72% in Quebec.
Nationally, two-thirds of respondents said they were opposed to Canada recognizing “King Charles” as its head of state after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who is 95 years old. The disappearance of the latter thus risks triggering a wave of political support for the abolition of the monarchy in Canada. The Canadian political class should prepare for it.
As for the Bloc Québécois and the Parti Québécois, which never miss an opportunity to denigrate the Crown, they should be wary of their dreams. The abolition of the monarchy in Canada would deal another hard blow to the sovereignist movement in Quebec. Canada, on the other hand, could finally claim to have become something like a real country.