Conservative columnist Chris Selley argues that Canada's supposed interest in ditching the monarchy has been overhyped, citing a lack of public enthusiasm and debate on the issue. Despite some media commentators calling for an end to the monarchy after Queen Elizabeth II's death, there was little actual discussion or momentum towards reform. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who previously spoke fondly of his interactions with the Queen, did not seem interested in pursuing a republic, and more recently, Mark Carney has invited King Charles III to open Parliament. The piece suggests that Canada's anti-monarchy sentiment is largely an illusion.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-10,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Remember when the death of Queen Elizabeth II was going to prompt, at the very least, a serious rethinking of how the country works?
asserted
country → remember → rethinking
Finally we might (as some pundits hoped) “grow up,” “move out of our parents’ basement,” and install a resident head of state.
uncertain
pundits → hop → state
One chosen or elected through one of a variety of deeply flawed methods: a vote of Parliament and the legislatures, a general election, some kind of “citizens’ assembly,” or by just letting the prime minister choose.
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minister → choose → assembly
And the worst option, letting members of the Order of Canada choose, which is an actual real-life idea!
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which → let → Canada
Those are some of the options floating around out there in the ether, in roughly increasing order of terribleness.
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Those → float → terribleness
“This is the moment to have an honest debate on dissolving the monarchy, severing ties with Great Britain and taking the last momentous step on our journey to maturity,” author and journalist Andrew Cohen wrote in the Globe and Mail upon the Queen’s death.
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Cohen → have → death
“We spared Queen Elizabeth the conversation.
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We → spar → conversation
We cannot spare ourselves.”
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We → spare → ourselves
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“The truth is the monarchy is totally irrelevant today, an utterly useless institution that’s nothing more than a non-stop soap opera — from Harry and Megan to Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein,” the inimitable Bob Hepburn wrote in the Toronto Star shortly before the coronation of King Charles III.
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Hepburn → ’ → III
“Do (Canadians) want to continue to be ‘ruled’ from England or do they want their head of state to be a Canadian?” retired University of Ottawa poli-sci professor John E. Trent asked in the Ottawa Citizen.
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Trent → want → Citizen
Trent is described as “former Secretary General of the International Political Science Association” and “Senior Fellow at the Centre on Governance, University of Ottawa.”
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Trent → describe → Ottawa
Nevertheless, we are not “ruled from England.”
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we → rule → England
The word “impossible” was even used, appropriately, on occasion.
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word → use → occasion
People aren’t interested; they don’t much care; if they can’t agree on what comes next — the rather key point that derailed Australia’s 1999 referendum on the monarchy — then it’s really a moot point.
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it → care → monarchy
Justin Trudeau never seemed remotely anti-monarchy when he was prime minister.
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he → seem → ?
He spoke quite eloquently about how much he valued his time speaking with the Queen.
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he → speak → Queen
But perhaps, even in 2022 when the Queen passed away, Trudeau had enough of that progressive façade left to provide hope to the deluded.
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Trudeau → pass → deluded
There’s no such façade on Prime Minister Mark Carney, who famously invited King Charles to open Parliament in 2025, much to the chagrin of the anti-monarchists.
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who → ’ → monarchists
(“The few monarchists left in this country might be applauding the decision to have King Charles III read the speech … but others of us think the new prime minister would have been better advised to have had Mike Myers in a hockey jersey take on that role,” pollster Allan Gregg argued.
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Gregg → leave → role
I assume it was partly in jest, but why joke about that?)
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it → assume → that
Heck, in response to President Donald Trump’s talk of making us the 51st state, Carney is out there these days singing Sir John A. Macdonald’s praises.
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Carney → make → praises
And under his watch, the Bank of Canada just released a rather handsome new $20 bill featuring Charles on one side and the Vimy Memorial on the other.
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Bank → release → other
That couldn’t really be a more explicit statement without writing it out in so many words: Canada’s history will always British, and it will always be French, and it will live forever in the soil of European battlefields.
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it → write → battlefields
Roughly 4,000 Indigenous Canadians voluntarily enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force to fight for the British Empire during the First World War, incidentally.
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Canadians → enlist → War
This is the sort of bedrock stability that many Canadians understandably yearn for in Trump’s Wonderland.
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Canadians → yearn → Wonderland
It’s what leads some of us to indulge the fantasy of European Union membership as our alliance with America deteriorates.
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alliance → ’ → America
But even if it were possible, EU membership would involve surrendering sovereignty.
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membership → involve → sovereignty
Having King Charles III as our head of state involves no surrender of anything, because it has always been thus.
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it → have → anything
We don’t have to put him on money.
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We → have → money
We don’t have to invite him to give the throne speech.
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We → have → speech
We choose to do those things.
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We → choose → things
I had my doubts about Charles.
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I → have → Charles
I have few now.
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I → have → few
He has successfully rebranded from “wooden, occasionally crusty and a bit odd” to “wooden, occasionally crusty and strangely avuncular.”
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He → rebrande → ?
And it doesn’t seem like a put-on.
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it → seem → on
Meanwhile he has dealt with Andrew, Harry and Meghan in suitably brutal fashion — brutal by Royal Family standards, that is.
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that → deal → standards
Charles clearly takes this job very seriously, and so does William, who will succeed him.
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who → take → him
Indeed, they take it much more seriously than many Canadians who think they want to get rid of them.
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they → take → them
