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rfmcdonaldQueen Elizabeth II is celebrating the 60th anniversary of her ascension to the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Since Canada is a Commonwealth realm, this marks the 60th anniversary of her ascension to the Canadian throne, too, such as it is.
I wish her majesty long life, of course, and not only because I've no desire to see King Charles III on the throne. Do I wish the Canadian monarchy long life? On the balance, yes. Canadian democracy and Canadian civil rights haven't been obviously harmed by the retention of a constitutional monarch as head of state, especially since the monarch's limited responsibilities and powers are largely discharged by the Governor-General. It's nice to have a head of state be nominally apolitical and removed from the quotidian, inasmuch as this serves as another layer of insulation against undue politicization of the polity--compare the appointment, not election, of Canada's judges. I can imagine ways in which the Canadian system of government might go awry, but the person of the monarch doesn't feature strongly.
I don't think it an issue, incidentally, that the head of state of Canada isn't Canadian. Blurred loyalties and citizenships fit the postmodern world well, especially when there's no conflict. I do wonder whether it would have been possible for Canada to acquire its own royal family at some point, say, a cadet branch of the Windsors, in much the same way that newly-independent Norway selected its monarch (from the Danish family, true, not the Swedish). "The Kingdom of Canada." At least Kingdom has more of an obvious meaning than "Dominion."
I wish her majesty long life, of course, and not only because I've no desire to see King Charles III on the throne. Do I wish the Canadian monarchy long life? On the balance, yes. Canadian democracy and Canadian civil rights haven't been obviously harmed by the retention of a constitutional monarch as head of state, especially since the monarch's limited responsibilities and powers are largely discharged by the Governor-General. It's nice to have a head of state be nominally apolitical and removed from the quotidian, inasmuch as this serves as another layer of insulation against undue politicization of the polity--compare the appointment, not election, of Canada's judges. I can imagine ways in which the Canadian system of government might go awry, but the person of the monarch doesn't feature strongly.
I don't think it an issue, incidentally, that the head of state of Canada isn't Canadian. Blurred loyalties and citizenships fit the postmodern world well, especially when there's no conflict. I do wonder whether it would have been possible for Canada to acquire its own royal family at some point, say, a cadet branch of the Windsors, in much the same way that newly-independent Norway selected its monarch (from the Danish family, true, not the Swedish). "The Kingdom of Canada." At least Kingdom has more of an obvious meaning than "Dominion."
