We note that the majority of Canadians have realized that there is no reason for Canada to continue to have a monarch. Charley definitely does not cut it. His wife is an embarrassment. His kids by Princess Diana have their own quarrels. Yet they have entitlements to which Canadians cannot aspire.
When polls show that four out of five Canadians feel no attachment to the monarchy, it is time we did something about it. I would suggest that no federal politician is rushing to open discussion on the constitution. That is a can of worms that only provides opportunity to the unwary.
It might fall on the provinces to make the course correction on the monarchy. We could start by not feeding crap about the monarchy to our school children. There would be greater justification for them to learn some American history rather than believe the fancified records of the movies and television produced in the U.S. British history might, in reality be less boring than what our textbooks tell them. Nor should we take them out of their classrooms to provide audiences for those boring visits by this or that overly entitled and titled person.
But leave their statues standing. They provide a welcome perch and a place to poop for pigeons. And besides, only the foolish among us want to hide history. We are not all suddenly woken to the faults of our ancestors. Yes, when John A. Macdonald was prime minister, he was a drunk. It is likely that many who voted for him were also drunkards. But that drunk had a vision of Canada that benefits us today. Give credit when credit is due.
And I personally want to see John Diefenbaker, Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau on our banknotes. We can also stop messing with the ten-dollar bill and restore John A. Macdonald to where he was immortalized.
It is appreciated that the Netflix series, The Crown, did much to inform and explain the monarchy’s role for us but it did not excuse the elitist attitude that allows the monarchy to continue to bore us.
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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
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