A Loyal Toast to Queen Victoria

This is Queen Victoria's weekend, her birthday.  How lovely it is that in Canada we have "Victoria Day Weekend" -- the weekend to remind us that we are not the United States.  We are Canada and honour a Queen who is Head of State and will always be.  Now, of course, May 24th is the official birthday of all Canadian Monarchs; it will be Charles' when he ascends.

I know that the media will typically be filled with ignorant rants about how we should do away with the Crown and become a republic.  How ridiculous.  Canada just can't write a letter saying..........

Dear Queen,

We don't need you any longer and we don't want you.

Yours sincerely,
Canada

No, it is not as easy as that because, of course, the Canadian constitution would have to be opened and re-written -- a can of byzantine and convoluted worms no self-respecting and ambitious provincial premier would would dare reconnoitre; federal transfer payments would be altered and no one knows what that would bring.  Heaven help the province that received less!  Folks, it's all about money and federal spending power...a la British North America Act, 1867.

Happily, The Monarchy rises above such pedestrian and prosaic concerns.  It defines Canada and sets us respectably and sensibly apart from other countries.  Our parliamentary democracy works better than the republican system of the US, in my view.  They must have elections every four years, which means the politicking starts the day after the inauguration and poisons effective domestic debate.  And God help us if we ever have an elected Senate here!  Nothing would ever get done.........hello policy-crippled Washington!  That is one thing on which I disagree with Albertans, many of whom are lobbying for one. 

In Canada, elections are triggered when the government loses the confidence of the House and is defeated by Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition -- might be the day after an election, might be years later, it all depends on "the people".  I like that.

It always amuses me that the country which dumped the monarchy a few hundred years ago did so over a tax on tea, that very "British" of beverages.  Today, I defy anyone to get a proper cuppa' anywhere in the entire country (Careful!...if you don't specify "hot" you will be served "iced").  Even more ironically, when a member of the Royal Family visits the US, he or she is mobbed and worshipped!  Indeed, the gentry pays thousands of dollars to simply get a sniff of an oil rag...in "The presence".  B and I were honoured to have been presented to Her Majesty in London a few years ago simply because of volunteer service; no money changed hands.  Can you imagine being presented to the president of the United States in a formal setting without having paid for it?  Service is what Elizabeth II exemplifies.

Presidents come and go, but The Monarch goes on  forever.  Notwithstanding, I love the United States, admire, respect and revere it.  In fact, I sport an American flag bumper sticker because both my natural and adoptive fathers were American -- not to mention that I have had a few charming American suitors.  (I also have two adorable Texan grandchildren.)  Doesn't matter; I love Canada more.

So, when you read the predictable letters to the editor about abolishing the Monarchy, ignore them and drink 'The Loyal Toast' to Queen Elizabeth II.  Hip hip!