Patrick Moreau is a professor of literature in Montreal, editor-in-chief of the journal Argument and essayist. He notably published These words that think for us (Liber, 2017) and Why our do children leave school ignorant? (Boreal, 2008).
A poll conducted last month by Angus Reid to measure Canadians’ attachment to the monarchy reveals some rather surprising results. A majority of Canadians (52%, and 66% of Quebecers) would agree that Canada should get rid of the monarchy, and they are even more likely (60%) to oppose Charles III becoming head of the state of Canada.
A small number of Canadians, just 8%, apparently want to keep the monarchy, but… without the king. This last figure leaves one wondering: who would they then see on the throne in place of Charles?
Such a response is quite revealing of the ambiguity of the Canadian political system, which has long been a kind of monarchy by default. Minimally informed Canadians know that Canada is a monarchy (in my experience many, however, especially the younger ones, are completely unaware of this), but, apart from official travel by members of the royal family, births, marriages and funerals within it, or rare controversies which place the monarchical regime very temporarily in the limelight, we continue to act as if nothing had happened, as if we did not know it, as if it didn’t matter in the slightest.
The Canadian monarchy has been vegetating for decades in a sort of blind spot. This is perhaps what explains this reluctance to see Charles III become king of Canada. Queen Elizabeth had been there for so long you could forget her, just like you don’t really pay attention to the color of the walls or the weather the night before. While the soon to be crowned monarch is too new, too present, too unusual to pretend to ignore. Hence the uneasiness reflected in the sometimes contradictory responses to this survey.
No doubt most Canadians for this reason preferred not to hear of the new sovereign, not to see his profile on stamps and coins, or his monogram, portrait or bust replacing those of his mother. It is true that given the primarily symbolic role of the Canadian sovereign, a deceased queen would almost do the trick. This may be the secret dream of those 8% of Canadians who would see the late Queen Elizabeth II continue to appear in majesty on our banknotes and coins.
His death would be considered a detail of history, and the Governor General would continue to expedite the day-to-day business of the Crown as if nothing had happened. Such a solution would avoid the pan-Canadian puzzle of wondering what to replace the monarchy and the monarch that goes with it.
Identity crisis
The levity, even the casualness with which the Prime Minister rejected this possibility out of hand also speaks volumes about the identity crisis that Canada is going through. The government, he said on this subject, has many other priorities, such as the aid measures provided for in the last budget. The question of the political regime is not, however, an accessory question. It is at the heart of the conception that we have of a State. It appears in the very first lines of the Constitution of this State; it is the foundation of its laws; its legitimacy also depends on it.
Canada’s monarchical character is not only reflected in banknotes, in the titles of lieutenant governors or in the oath taken by parliamentarians, members of the armed forces and new citizens. It can also be read in the nomination, rather than the election, of the members of the Senate, in a single-member ballot that operates singular distortions between the choice of the voters and the result of the elections, perhaps also in the passivity of the citizens who do not seem to have much appetite for substantive political debates, including those concerning the Constitution — a passivity which has the positive side of being that we live in a peaceful society, without major stormy debates, which we can measure advantage when looking at our neighbours.
This is undoubtedly the reason why the status quo, even at the cost of artistic vagueness and a certain denial, seems preferable, in the eyes of Justin Trudeau, to any debate on the nature of the new regime to be put in place. if by misfortune it was necessary to abolish the monarchy. He is probably in tune on this issue with the majority of Canadians, including those who want the abolition of this Canadian monarchy, but who we will certainly not see taking to the streets to loudly defend their cause and unbolt statues. .
It is therefore understandable not to want to open this Pandora’s box that would be a new constitutional debate; but it will have to be, nevertheless. Canada cannot hide forever, like Hamlet, in the shadow of its ex-sovereign, while constantly postponing the decision on what it is or is not.