Canada Republic: A valentine on Flag Day

By happy coincidence each year, Valentine’s Day cozies up next to Flag Day (Feb. 15), the anniversary of the Maple Leaf’s adoption in 1964. That’s appropriate, because both days are about love. On Valentine’s, our passions show with kisses, cards, and chocolate. On Flag Day—well, 47 years after it was born, we tend to repress public displays of affection for the flag, and that ought to change. We possess patriotic passion, but the day sees no pageants, parades, or nationwide flag raisings, and no songs sung about it. Then again, it is February, and in some places it’s reached the freezing point of nylon.

Canadian Republic Research List – Summer 2011

(1) June 1, 2011 … The Queen will keep a close eye on William and Catherine’s Canadian tour … Unlike Australia, Canada has no major republican movement … however, Canadians are divided on the future of the monarchy after Elizabeth’s reign ends : http://tiny.cc/0yksf .

[Yet re “no major republican movement,” note the Ottawa Citizen, July 2, 2011: “despite the excitement about the royal wedding and now the royal visit, polls have told a different story about Canadians’ views toward the monarchy. Polls show a nagging indifference toward the royal tour among many Canadians. And opinion surveys have long uncovered a strong republican streak among Canadians, the majority of whom, according to some polls, would like to see the monarchy abolished and replaced with an elected head of state.”] : http://tiny.cc/aaysx.

Canadian Republic Research List: April 2011

Prominent Canadian Republican Randall White’s monthly ‘Canadian Republican Research List’ providing a timeline of Canadian Republican-related news events/articles/happenings with appropriate links by date.

(1) April 6, 2011 … A more striking resemblance: Canadian Mint releases coin to mark Royal Wedding… and it’s a better likeness of William and Kate than the British one : http://bit.ly/l0mZ7k

Michael Ignatieff: Your Wife has to swear an oath to an old lady to vote for you

With the May 2nd Federal Election approaching, and Michael Ignatieff’s Liberal Party needing all the support it can get, it is unfortunate that his own wife, Hungarian Zsuzsanna Zsohar is not yet a Canadian citizen and thus, cannot add her support to his plummeting poll numbers. What’s worse is that if Mrs. Zsohar wants to become a Canadian citizen, she must swear an Oath to the queen and not to Canada, the country with which her husband wants to lead.

The Monarchy & “Liberal” Royalists By Can Pat

Of all things, before all else must issue a sincere and heartfelt condemnation to royalists that identify themselves as leftists or liberals. There is nothing liberal or democratic about monarchy, whatever it has done or hasn’t done. Any person who is a leftist and a monarchist is like a black member of the Ku Klux Klan—an idiot undergoing an identity crisis. One can’t be the upholder of democratic ideals and of an inherently evil and unnecessary institution that is at the core of all the inconsistent whinings about imperialism and colonialism we Canadians have always attributed against the Americans. Republics can correct themselves while monarchies cannot and won’t. Royalists, whatever political stripe, either hate democracy or are too stupid or insane (in some cases both) to realize monarchy is an evil affront to democracy and will fight tooth and nail to prevent it.

Canadian Republican Research List – March 2011

Prominent Canadian Republican Randall White’s monthly ‘Canadian Republican Research List’ providing a timeline of Canadian Republican-related news events/articles happenings with appropriate links by date:

(1) March 2, 2011 … Prime minister, wife invited to royal wedding — but will they go? : http://bit.ly/dTWbFR

(2) March 4, 2011 … Canada doesn’t have a constitutional monarchy. It has a “Harper government” … Tories re-brand government moniker in government communications : http://bit.ly/gH6PNj

My Encounter With Bob Rae @ Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy By Ashok Charles

The Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy sponsors an annual debate in cooperation with the Hart House Debate Committee at the University of Toronto. Having learned that the resolution of this year’s debate would be: “Support for democracy should be the foundation for Canadian foreign policy,” and that Bob Rae would be speaking afterwards, I decided to attend.

As it happened, I had started reading Bob Rae’s most recent book, Exporting Democracy, and had been impressed with the breadth of the political and historical context contained in the first section. As part of his historical overview, he sketches out the contrasting notions of Thomas Paine, who advocated an uncompromising expression of the theory of egalitarian democracy, and Edmund Burke, who proposed great caution when modifying established institutions.

Flag Policy Archaic: Commonwealth Day marked with British, not Commonwealth, flag

Today is Commonwealth Day. If that’s news, you’re forgiven. The only visible sign is a flag. Not the Commonwealth flag, mind you—the British flag. And that’s the problem. Every year, Ottawa reminds federal properties across the country to fly the Union Jack. It’s a suggestion followed assiduously by the City of Toronto and others, despite the Commonwealth having its own inclusive banner, one that’s Canadian in origin.

An Open, Republican Letter To Monarchy Sympathizers (Like Rachel Sa of The Toronto Sun)

Below is an excerpt of a rebuttal written to Rachel Sa of The Toronto Sun on her poorly researched article on the monarchy in Canada from The Toronto Sun, Sunday, February 19th, 2011 (As of March 11th, I have yet to receive a response):

Canadian Republican Research List – February 2011

Prominent Canadian Republican Randall White has compiled a ‘Canadian Republican Research List’ providing a timeline of Canadian Republican-related news events/articles/happenings with appropriate links by date.

(1) January 31, 2011 … Canadians support changes to British throne succession: Poll … Ipsos pollster Darrell Bricker …  said the rules-of-succession issue isn’t likely to ignite a storm of controversy in Canadian politics … But he noted that broader questions about the country’s constitutional monarchy are likely to remain on the public’s radar as long as there is a prospect of minority and coalition Canadian governments, which tend to highlight the role of the governor general in deciding who governs and when elections occur … “One of the things that has become really interesting over the space of the last five years is the relevance of our more historic political institutions in this country,” he said : http://bit.ly/fyIoF9