By Amy Minsky, Canwest News Service June 16, 2010
Queen Elizabeth II may feel a little alienated when she arrives in Canada later this month, on the heel of news that the majority of Canadians believe the country should sever its ties to the monarchy once her reign ends.
Two in three Canadians agree the Royal Family should not have any formal role in Canadian society, according to the results of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted for Canada.com and released Wednesday.
But according to one expert on the monarchy, the sentiment is simply a product of Canadians being "woefully misinformed" about our institutions.
"Canada has always been a monarchy," said Matthew Rowe, a spokesman for the Monarchist League of Canada. "It's part of who we are as a nation. We didn't spring from the Earth fully formed. We're part of an institution."
Canada's association to European crowns dates back through centuries. Now, as a sovereign nation, Canada is a constitutional monarchy, meaning the powers of the monarchy in Canada are limited by the Constitution.
According to the poll and not surprisingly, the strongest voices favouring abolishment of the monarchy in Canada come from Quebec, where eight in 10 people believe ties to the monarchy should be cut when the Queen's reign ends, but 53 per cent think she has done a good job in her role as monarch.
On a national level, the Queen's approval rating is at 73 per cent.
"Find me a politician who has that approval rating," Rowe quipped.
As for what would replace the Queen, a majority of Canadians surveyed in the poll said they would prefer a republic system where the Governor General would become the elected head of state.
"Right now, our Governor General can't act as the constitutional referee," said Tom Freda, director of Citizens for a Canadian Republic, pointing to the fact the Michaelle Jean approved both of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's requests to prorogue Parliament. "It's not appropriate to have the prime minister appoint our head of state — and she does act as our head of state . . . Some dinosaurs in Ottawa and the Monarchist League are inhibiting the democratic evolution of the country."
But ridding Canada of the monarchy and reconstructing the government would be enormously difficult, Rowe argued.
"This would be something on a scale unheard of. It would be completely rethinking the basis of our legal system, the basis of our government structures. It would be a fundamental shift," he said. "And I don't think there's an appetite in Canada for that kind of shift in constitutional discussion."
The poll of 1,017 adults was conducted June 10-14, and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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