I was most interested to read that there would be a ceremony in Sidney marking the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, on Monday, 19 September. I was a bit puzzled to read Adam Olsen’s remarks when asked “whether Canada should keep a foreign monarch as a head of state.” Olsen said, “It is necessary to answer the question, ‘if not that (the monarchy), then what? Who is the head of the state?’ I’m not going to give you a direct answer, because I haven’t myself determined who that head of state is – if it is not what it is right now.”
I am rather alarmed to hear this coming from a Canadian politician. To begin with, the monarch as ceremonial head of state is a keystone of our system of government in this country. The monarch has no power here, but is necessary for the structure of government we have here in Canada.
Grant Hayter-Menzies
Sidney