All anyone could talk about yesterday was
the fact that we’ve restored the word “Royal” to both the Navy and the Air
Force, and predictably, there was backlash from the small-r republicans in the
country, as well as parts of Quebec, who somewhat illogically feel that this is
just a divisive bit of British-ism thrown in their faces (never mind that the British
Crown allowed them to keep their language, culture, religion, and even their
legal system when France abandoned them after the Seven Years’ War, but hey –
details). And so, we were inundated with comments about how people were
“embarrassed” that our “young country” was clinging to “colonialism.” Or worse
yet, boneheaded comments from the likes of Peter MacKay about how this was
recognising our “historic ties to Britain.”
No. Number one – Canada is not a young
country. We are in fact one of the older countries in the world (even if you’re
not counting the fact that we’ve had settlements here for some four hundred
years now), and our constitution is one of the oldest in the world. Number two
– references to the monarchy have nothing to do with colonialism because, guess
what – Canada is a constitutional monarchy. We have a unique and independent
monarchical institution (which coincidentally shares the same personages as the
British monarchy, but we could change that at any time we wanted). It is not an
antiquated institution either – it is one that is adaptive and has evolved into
a uniquely Canadian Crown. Not that people recognise that fact as they
inappropriately wave Union Jacks when the Queen of Canada comes to visit. And
never mind that constitutional monarchies are inherently more stable and democratic than most
republics out there. But republics sound more “modern” and “democratic,” so
they must therefore be better, no matter that there is evidence to the
contrary.
The take-home lesson here is that restoring
the “Royal” title to these Forces points to the fact that the Canadian Forces
report to the Crown (and not Parliament), and that the Queen of Canada is the
Commander-in-Chief. It is a reflection of our constitutional reality, not a
vestige of the past. As for why Harper is doing this, well, we’re not quite
sure. I haven’t seen any particular news releases that he is trying to slip
past while the NDP divide themselves over this kind of an issue. And maybe
that’s why he’s doing it, as Tom Flanagan suggested – just to watch the NDP tie
themselves into knots as their republican and sovereigntist Quebeckers square
off against more traditional English Canadians and federalists. It could be his
way of undoing the great Liberal injustice of renaming the Forces back in the
sixties (though organisationally, unifying them was probably a good thing to
have done). Or it could be that Harper’s growing admiration for the Canadian
monarchy is tempering some of his own worst impulses, and we have seen some of
that – he’s stopped breaching protocol with demanding military salutes or
trying to shoehorn his way onto the podium at Canada Day or Remembrance Day.
The official “Harper Government” designation on public service documents seems
to have stopped (not that the partisan messaging has, mind you, but it’s not
quite so personally focused). Don’t get me wrong – I still think that Harper
has a lot of presidential envy, and he has an end game that we still don’t
quite see, but the more constant presence of the Canadian monarchy of late has
had a beneficial impact on him, so perhaps we should give this one a pass.
Meanwhile, Jack Layton says he won’t be
attending his party’s September caucus meeting, but is still hoping to be back
in the House by September 19th.
Here’s a look at the worrying contempt that
people – and politicians especially – seem to have for Ottawa as the capital,
and how the city itself is suffering as a result. One need few other reminders
than the way this government has not only let the proposed Portrait Museum
moulder, and opened two new national museums outside of the capital to
demonstrate that contempt.
And Aaron Wherry enumerates all of the
things that the Conservatives have invoked their “strong mandate” to justify.
