It is the Queen’s Golden Jubilee this year. Fifty years, where did they go? As a country, I think we as a whole should give Elizabeth II something from all of us. That gift is a republic.
You heard me. Dump the monarchy. Some of you out there may still have some sort of odd attachment to the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (now Windsor-Mountbatten). You see the Queen on our money and her picture in small-town hockey arenas. She’s even on some of our stamps. You might feel she’s part of us or even part of you. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, she’s not one of us. If she was, she wouldn’t live in state-subsidized housing without anyone calling on her to get a job or pay her own way.
I am not the only person calling for the abolition of the monarchy, or at least for our fine country, to turn away and become a republic. Minister of Foreign Affairs John Manley is a not-so-closet republican. In Australia, the republican movement has been strong for years, but not strong enough to abolish that Antipodean nation’s connection with the Queen. I think it is the World War II generation, our grandparents and such, who have held back Australia’s quest for a republic. That generation fought a war for King and country. Their parents did the same. So these septuagenarians and their elders believe that they still belong to the now defunct British Empire, but give it a few years until these voting seniors all die and Australia will be a republic.
In Canada, we cannot afford to be left behind, and it is not Australia we are behind. The United Kingdom has a strong republican movement. Although the republicans are admittedly in the minority, they have some influential members including much of the editorial staff of Manchester’s Weekly Guardian, most of the Labour cabinet, and, more importantly, Cherie Blair, wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Anyone who has read The Isles by Norman Davies cannot help but feel that not only the monarchy but in fact the whole of the United Kingdom is on its last legs. Devolution, especially in Scotland, has increased the awareness of the non-English countries in the United Kingdom that they are not so united. Before long Scotland will separate, Northern Ireland will join the Republic, and Wales will come to some sort of understanding with England or separate itself. All the former parts of the United Kingdom will be monarchless and part of the greater European Union.
So where does that leave us, the Canadians?
Before there is no Queen to put on our money, we should get rid of her. Declare a republic, elect a president, reform our electoral system and maybe the senate at the same time. But that’s another column.
The president will not be a figurehead, like the Queen, but he or she will not be like the American president, the centre of national power. The office of president could balance the power of Parliament, as Parliament is not totally representative of our nation right now.
You see my reason for abandoning the monarchy is not personal. I like the Queen. I like Prince Charles, he’s against the whole idea of cul-de-sac developed communities and for organic food. Getting rid of the monarchy is not personal. It’s strictly business.