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Debate between monarchists and republicans in Canada has been taking place since before the country's Confederation in 1867, though it has rarely been of significance since the rebellions of 1837. Open support for republicanism only came from the Patriotes in the early 19th century, the Red River Métis in 1869, and minor actions by the Fenians throughout the 1800s. However, paralleling the changes in constitutional law that saw the creation of a legally distinct Canadian monarchy shared with the other Commonwealth realms, the emergence in the 1960s of Quebec nationalism, and the evolution of Canadian nationalism, the cultural role and relevance of the monarchy altered and was sometimes questioned in certain circles, while continuing to receive support in others.

It has been estimated that only 0.6% of the population is actively engaged in any debate about a republic. The Monarchist League of Canada's chief executive officer, Robert Finch, stated the greatest threat to the monarchy is not republicanism, "it is indifference."

The debate

In the early 1800s, reform-minded groups began to form in the British colonies in Canada; from them rose William Lyon Mackenzie, who, along with Louis-Joseph Papineau, was the first prominent proponent of a republican Canada. Their causes were countered by the Lieutenant Governors and Executive Council members at the time, as well as a majority of the colonists, who did not espouse a break with the Crown, and the rebellions ultimately failed.

In the lead-up to Confederation in 1867, there was debate over whether the new polity should adopt a republican or monarchical form of government.

Alistair Horne observed in the late 1950s that, while Canada's cultural mix grew, the monarchy remained held in high regard: "At its lowest common denominator, to the average Canadian— whether of British, French or Ukranian extraction— the Crown is the one thing that he has that the rich and mighty Americans have not got. It makes him feel a little superior." However, at the same time, he noted that the institution was coming more into question in Quebec and that it was sometimes perceived as having a "colonial taint", but theoriese that this was because Canadians had an inferiority complex in relation to the British.

Controversy arose in the run-up to the Queen's 1959 visit, when CBC personality Joyce Davidson, while being interviewed by Dave Garroway on NBC's Today Show, said that as an "average Canadian" she was "pretty indifferent" to the Queen's forthcoming visit. Davidson was lambasted in the Canadian press and by many indignant Canadians for her comment.

Debates over the monarchy and its place in Canada also took place through the 1960s and 1970s, following the rise of Quebec nationalism. Republican options were discussed following the sovereigntist Parti Québécois' (PQ) election to power in Quebec, but only specifically in relation to the province. However, the non-Quebecker attendees at the 1968 Constitutional Conference agreed that the monarchy had worked well and was not a matter for discussion.

The Cabinet in June 1978 put forward the constitutional amendment Bill C-60, that, amongst other changes, potentially affected the sovereign's role as head of state by vesting executive authority in the Governor General, and renaming the position as First Canadian. Some academics, such as Edward McWhinney, supported these proposals, though they were opposed by others, like Senator Eugene Forsey, who said that the government had managed to " up a hornet's nest with a short stick." From that year's First Ministers' conference in Regina, Saskatchewan, the provincial premiers (including that of Quebec) issued a statement against what they saw as a unilateral attempt by the federal government to push through alterations to the monarchy, and expressed their opposition to "constitutional changes that substitute for the Queen as ultimate authority a Governor General whose appointment and dismissal would be solely the pleasure of the federal cabinet"– a message that was reiterated at the conclusion of the 1979 meeting, and echoed in newspaper editorials. Decades later, David Smith stated that the federal government at the time had "misperceived the complexity of the Crown failed... to recognize its federalist dimension."

After his press secretary, Peter Donolo, in 1998 unaccountably announced through a media story that the Prime Minister's Office was considering the abolition of the monarchy as a millennium project, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien stated that he was open to a public debate, but never pursued the matter and expressed concerns about resulting divisions, saying that he "already had enough trouble on hands with the separatists of Quebec, and didn't want to take on the monarchists in the rest of Canada, too."

Other media at the time noted that, though there was "no longer any strong idea behind the Canadian monarchy and its representative," in the absence of which "there can be no pulse in common between the people and their constitution," there simply was no debate about any republic amongst the general populace, with discussion limited to a political and journalistic few. An inadequate number of willing participants was pointed to as a reason for this phenomenon– which was seen as a manifestation of what Carolyn Tuohy had called Canada's "institutionalized ambivalence"– as well as a lack of alternate model to be discussed, with no method put forward by which the powers of the Crown could be soundly transferred to a president, no definitive solution to where Canadian sovereignty would be placed should the sovereign be removed from Canada, nor any means by which the constitutionally required consent of all 11 parliaments (one federal and 10 provincial) could be achieved. It was also theorised that Canadians had a growing sense of distrust for politicians (which is what a president would be), more pressing issues to deal with, and no appetite for nationally divisive constitutional change. Political scholar David Smith expressed his thoughts on how the Canadian monarchy had benefited from this dearth of discussion.

Debate on the monarchy was seen through the 2000s in other Canadian media, generally at times of national significance, such as Canada Day and Victoria Day, or during a royal tour.

In 2007, Quebec's Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs, Benoît Pelletier, expressed his opinion that it was "not impossible that we might have to reconsider the role of the monarch, the lieutenant governor, and the governor general... I'm not saying that the monarchy must be abolished, but it will take some thought, especially on its usefulness and relevance.

At the time of the visit in 2009 of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, self-described monarchist Andrew Coyne characterized loyalty to the monarch in Canada as being "the obsession of a radical fringe group dismissively referred to as 'monarchists'." In the same article, he portrayed Canada as an "ancient kingdom" having had "nine French and nine English" kings and queens, argued that the debate was futile because the monarchy was here to stay given all the references to the "Queen" throughout the constitution, but then also called for importing "not just a King of Canada, but a Canadian King" that would reside permanently in Canada.

Tom Freda, chairman and co-founder of the Citizens for a Canadian Republic, called for simply replacing the monarchy with the Governor General, saying that he's not in favour of destroying Canada's identity or cultural institutions: "All we're advocating is that the link to the monarchy, in our Constitution, be severed. Our governor general for the past 60 years has performed all the duties of a head of state, and there's no reason we shouldn't make our governor general our official head of state."

Polls

1970

When constitutional amendments were being considered in the 1960s, the role of the monarchy was not strenuously questioned, as it was deemed to be "no great priority in the present round of constitutional changes." This statement was reflected in the four opinion polls conducted in 1970, which showed that the monarchy was favoured by two thirds of those questioned. The Canadian Institute of Public Opinion asked nationally: "Do you think Canada should continue to pay allegiance to The Queen, or do you think we should become a republic with an elected president?" To this, 50% opted for retention of the status quo, 33% favoured a republic, and the remainder declined to answer. Further, the answers differed by region: in Quebec, 46% wished for a republic as against 23% for monarchy, while in Ontario the monarchy was favoured well above the national average, and support was even higher in the western provinces. Older persons (over 50 years) were the strongest advocates for the monarchy than any other age group, although those in their 20s also gave their preference for the Crown. Similarly, another poll that year revealed that in Canada, exclusive of Quebec, the monarchy was of no issue to 37% of the populace, and a further 41% rated themselves as loyalists, although many of the older responders "recognised that youth had different ideas which might have an effect in the future."

1990s

Through the 1990s, the Angus Reid Group conducted two national polls on the monarchy, one in 1993 and the other three years following. Both asked the question: "Thinking about the monarchy's role here in Canada, all things considered, do you think Canada should preserve its formal constitutional connection with the monarchy, or should Canada move to abolish its formal constitutional connection with the monarchy?" The responses in 1993 were 51% supporting and 42% opposing abolition, and in 1996 were 47% supporting and 44% opposing removal of the Crown. The Monarchist League of Canada found the wording of the question in these polls to have been the least biased of any survey taken on the subject of the monarchy from 1993 onwards. Republicans, however, felt the question's wording had influenced the results, with "preserve" indicating the safe status quo, and "abolish" sounding more violent. Another poll by Pollara in 1997 asked: "As you may know, Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain is also Queen of Canada, our official head of state. Do you favour or oppose abolishing the monarchy when the present Queen dies and having a Canadian head of state, or does it really make no difference to you?" The results were 41% favouring abolition, 18% opposing, and 39% not caring. While monarchists and republicans agreed that the wording was weighted, each thought so for different reasons; monarchists felt the Queen was made to appear as un-Canadian, wile republicans felt it was made too easy for respondents to offer a neutral response. Then, in 1999, Gallup surveyed Canadians, asking them: "Do you believe Canada should have a monarch as its head of state, or should Canada discontinue its ties with the monarchy?" 48% said the monarchy should continue, 43% said it should discontinue, and 9% offered no opinion. Republicans were disappointed with this question, stating that the alternative presented should have been "a Canadian citizen" or continued "ties with the monarchy", the exact type of wording the Monarchist League of Canada felt skewed later polls.

2002

A poll conducted by EKOS Research Associates in 2002 showed that support for the abolition of the monarchy was declining, yet also highlighted a number of contradictions in public opinion. 48% of respondents agreed and 35% disagreed with the statement: "instead of a British monarch, we should have a Canadian citizen as our head of state." Yet, at the same time, 43% disagreed and 41% agreed to the same statement worded slightly differently: "it's time to abolish the monarchy in Canada," results that differed from those found in 1996, when 27% disagreed and 47% agreed. Monarchists suggested that the confusion may have been due to the skewed question that referred to a "British monarch" as Canada's head of state, unreflective of the reality that for Canada the sovereign served distinctly as the monarch of Canada. Indeed, only 5% of those surveyed were even aware that the Queen was in fact Canada's head of state, with 69% thinking it was the prime minister, and 9% believing it was the governor general. Still, 55% agreed that the monarchy kept Canada distinct from the United States, while 33% disagreed.

Ipsos-Reid also took a poll in 2002, and found that 79% of Canadians supported "the constitutional monarchy as Canada's form of government where we elect governments whose leader becomes Prime Minister," and a further 62% believed the monarchy helped to define Canada's identity. At the same time, however, 48% of Canadians said that "the constitutional monarchy is outmoded and would prefer a republican system of government with an elected head of state, like in the United States," and 65% believed that the royals were simply celebrities who should not have any formal role in Canada. The same poll found that 58% of the population felt that "the issue of the monarchy and the form of Canada's government isn't important to them and if the system is working OK why go through all the fuss to change it?"

Two other firms conducted polls on the monarchy in 2002: Léger Marketing's showed that 50% said yes and 43% said no to the statement: "Elizabeth II is currently the Queen of Canada. Do you (yes or no) want Canada to maintain the monarchy?" Also, a majority (56%) answered in the affirmative and 39% negatively to the question: "In your opinion, should we replace the head of Queen Elizabeth II on the Canadian dollar by those of people who have influenced Canadian history?" Monarchists were wary of the latter question's assumption that Queen Elizabeth had somehow not been influential in Canadian history, while republicans felt that the first question led respondents to answer in favour of the monarchy because the words "maintain the monarchy" implied safety and the status quo. The survey taken by COMPAS, as commissioned by the National Post/Global Television media outlet, showed that 63% of Canadians "believe the monarchy should retain or strengthen its role in Canada," while 12% felt moderately that the monarchy should be abolished, and 18% felt strongly about the same. 69% agreed with the statement: "the government accepts the Monarchy but doesn't give it much thought."

The fact that many Canadians continue to not completely understand exactly what a head of state is, or the true nature of the Canadian monarch's role, can cause problems in drawing concrete conclusions from poll results. For instance, Michael Valpy pointed out in The Globe and Mail that the prevailing mood towards the monarchy suggested that there was no great need seen for changing the system; that, in and around 2002, polls showed that younger Canadians demonstrated majority support for the monarchy; and that, in general, Canadians took the attitude that if the institution works, don't fix it. On the other hand, Citizens for a Canadian Republic interpreted the results of the four polls conducted in 2002 as showing a majority of Canadians supporting the ending of the monarchy in three of the four polls, and support divided equally for both camps in one of the polls.

2005

In 2005, The Strategic Counsel polled Canadians for The Globe and Mail, asking: "When you think of the Governor General of Canada, do you regard this position as very important, somewhat important, not very important, or not at all important to Canada?", to which a net 57% felt the viceroy was important, and 39% expressed the opposite opinion. To the question: "Under the Canadian Constitution, Queen Elizabeth holds the position of Head of State. The Governor General is the Queen's representative in Canada. Do you support or oppose that the British monarchy remain the Head of State in Canada?", the results were split with an identical 47% opposing and supporting, and 9% undecided. That same year, Rogers Media and Maclean's commissioned Pollara to mount a poll, which revealed that 46% supported and 37% opposed the question: "Do you support or oppose Canada replacing the British Monarch as Canadian Head of State?" This survey was deemed by the Monarchist League of Canada as skewed for two reasons: It mentioned the "British monarch" rather than the "Queen of Canada", and it was conducted after the announcement of Prince Charles's marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles– an announcement that was unpopular, even with some monarchists.

2007

An Angus Reid Strategies poll conducted in September 2007 reported that the majority 53% of Canadians do not want the country to retain formal ties to the "British monarchy", while 35% did, and 12% were unsure.

A commentary in the "Canadian Monarchist News", an occasional newsletter for friends and family of the Monarchist League of Canada, complained that the poll's question referred to "formal ties", alleging that it implied that the monarchy was both perfunctory and restraining; that the reference to the Canadian monarchy as the "British monarchy" implied the institution was foreign; and that the entire question was worded to favour a response that was negative towards the Crown, only a negative response to the question bringing a favourable result for the monarchy. The newsletter commentary also bemoaned the fact that a 58% majority of Conservative party supporters - the group it perceived as the "most natural supporters of the Crown" - actually opposed the monarchy, and urged, "Messrs Harper and Kenney have some work to do in their own back yard!".

The newsletter also revealed that the Monarchist League of Canada's chairman, Robert Finch, had lobbied the polling firm, Angus Reid Strategies, in an attempt to get it to change the wording of its poll questions.

2008

A poll conducted by Angus Reid in March 2008 also reported that the majority of Canadians believe it is time to end the country's official relationship with the "British monarchy". The majority 55% of Canadians favour ending formal ties - the plurality 34% of Canadians "strongly" so, and the second largest group of repondents, 21%, "moderately" so - while 34% disagreed.

2009

An August 2009 poll commissioned by "Canadian Friends of the Royal Family" found that the majority of Canadians, more than 60%, felt that a constitutional monarchy was outdated.

An October 2009 poll by Léger Marketing found that 45% of Canadians consider the monarchy to be useless to Canada and feel that the country should sever all formal ties with the Queen, while 44% considered the monarchy to be a tradition that should be maintained. Opposition to the institution was strongest in Quebec where 78% believe the monarchy is useless to Canada and should be ended, and only 11% wanted to maintain it.

In an October 2009 poll by Angus Reid, only a minority 27% of Canadians preferred Canada to remain a monarchy. The plurality 35% of Canadians prefer Canada to have an elected head of state. When asked who they would prefer as a monarch after Queen Elizabeth II, the plurality 37% of Canadians responded by saying there should be no monarch after her.

An Ipos Reid poll conducted in late October 2009 found that the majority 53% of Canadians want Canada to end its constitutional ties to the monarchy after the Queen dies. 49% of Canadians want to abolish the constitutional monarchy structure now and become a republic, with an elected head of state. The majority 60% of Canadians said the Queen and the Royal Family should have no formal role in Canadian society, and that they are "simply celebrities and nothing more."

In November 2009, a poll by Angus Reid found that the majority two-thirds of Canadians would like to see a Canadian serving as Canada's head of state, while 18% disagreed. Only a minority 27% preferred Canada to remain a monarchy, while the plurality 43% preferred Canada to have an elected head of state.

2010

In May 2010, a poll by Angus Reid found that more than two-thirds of Canadians, a 69% majority, would like to see a Canadian serving as Canada's head of state, and a 52% majority of Canadians support reopening the constitutional debate to discuss replacing the monarchy with an elected head of state, while only 32% oppose doing so. Despite 69% of Canadians having a "mostly favourable" opinion of Queen Elizabeth II as a person, only one third, 33%, of Canadians preferred Canada to remain a monarchy - the plurality 36% of Canadians said they would prefer to have an elected head of state, another 21% were indifferent, and 11% were unsure. When asked who they would prefer as a monarch after Queen Elizabeth II, three-in-ten Canadians responded by saying there should be no monarch after her. 31% of Canadians also want members of the Royal Family to stop visiting Canada.

Also in May 2010, a poll by Leger Marketing for QMI Agency found that majority 69% of Canadians said that they had little or no interest in the Queen's visit to Canada, while only 39% did. The poll found that only 32% of 18 to 34 year-olds had an attachment to the crown, and even in the 65-and-over group, only 46% reported an attachment. One fifth of Canadians said the Queen should stay home, and that furthermore, "Canada should sever its ties with the British Crown".

In June 2010, a national poll by the Association for Canadian Studies found decidedly lukewarm feelings about the concept of monarchy. The survey found that the plurality 49% of Canadians had a negative reaction to the word "monarchy", compared to just 41% with a positive reaction. In the Maritimes, where the Queen would begin her Canadian visit, the majority 60% registered a negative opinion of monarchy, compared to only 37% positive. (The poll did not refer to the Canadian monarchy or to the Queen specifically, but to the concept of monarchy.)

A poll by Ipsos-Reid, also in June 2010, found that the majority two-in-three Canadians agree the royal family should not have any formal role in Canadian society, and reported growing sentiment that Elizabeth II should be Canada's last monarch. The majority 58% of Canadians want Canada to end ties to monarchy when Queen Elizabeth II's reign ends, and the majority 62% of Canadians believe that Canada's head of state should be the Governor General, not the Queen.

A fifth poll, conducted by Harris-Decima for The Canadian Press a few days ahead of the Queen's nine-day visit to Canada in June, found that nearly half of Canadians, 48%, consider the monarchy to be "a relic of our colonial past that has no place in Canada today." The poll also found that 44% of Canadians want a national referendum to decide whether Canada should keep the monarchy.

See also

• History of monarchy in Canada
• National symbols of Canada
• Annexationist movements of Canada
• Republicanism in Australia

Notes

1. In an interview in Saskatchewan, and in response to a question on the role of the monarchy in a sovereign Quebec, René Lévesque responded: "Are you joking? Why? I have great respect for the Queen... but what the hell part should monarchy have in Quebec?"
2. The Globe and Mail condemned the proposed changes as " of the symbol most central to Canada's identity" and "crypto-republicanism."
3. Valpy claimed about the debate: "The push to get rid of the Canadian monarchy comes from people like Citizenship Minister Lucienne Robillard who don't understand it, from people in the Prime Minister's Office desperate for something to merchandise as an idea, and from an arid assemblage of academic, bureaucratic and journalistic elites cemented into some curious antediluvian profession of anticolonialism and sort-of nationalism indecipherable in 1999 to all but themselves.
4. Reg Whitaker said on this: "If sovereignty is now to be vested in the Canadian nation or the Canadian people, what precisely is this? Is it Canada including a Quebec that thinks of itself as a different, perhaps separate nation? Is it Preston Manning's "New Canada," shorn one way or another of a distinctive Quebec? Is it a two-headed, dualist sovereign nation, perhaps even sprouting additional heads– Aboriginal nations, regional identities– like some genetically engineered Medusa?"

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• Monarchy in Canada
• Politics of Canada
• Legal history of Canada
• Republicanism in Canada