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“Should Canada Drop the Monarchy?”
Presented by Paul Kaplan

Today, Charles III is coronated king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as well as the King of the additional 14 Commonwealth realms which include Canada, Australia and New Zealand. (Charles is also the head of the Commonwealth of Nations which includes an additional 41 countries where he is not head of state.)

The coronation begs the question, should Canada continue to be a commonwealth realm, while remaining in the Commonwealth? Other countries have made this transition from monarchy to republic. In principle, it would very simple to do this. At the federal level, the Governor General would be replaced by a president who could be selected either by popular vote or by parliament. Similarly, the Lieutenant Governor of each providence could be replaced by a vice president. The rest of the federal and provincial governments would be unchanged.

However, to make such a change would require an amendment to the constitution. This is would require a fairly involved process.

I see at a few possible positions on this question of should the monarchy be abolished:

1)    Pro-monarchy. The monarchy is a cherished institution that celebrates our historical connection to Great Britain.

2)    Indifference. The monarchy plays no role in the lives of Canadians or in how we govern ourselves, so it doesn’t matter whether we keep it or get rid of it. Since getting rid of it would be hard, leave it alone.

3)    It’s undemocratic. Hereditary posts have no place in a democracy. The head of state should be selected by democratic means.

4)    Reconciliation. The crown is a powerful symbol of colonialism and how European settlers treated indigenous people. There cannot be full reconciliation until it is abolished.

Let’s discuss.