One hundred and fifty kilometres away from where King Charles III was delivering his speech from the throne, British Canadian citizens Nicky Fisher and Derek Jones were listening in with great interest.
“The monarchy is still very important to Canadians — not all of them, but a lot of them,” Jones said. “It’s where we came from, a lot of us. And he still represents all of that.”
The couple, who run a British specialty food and gift shop in Vaudreuil, Que., say the King’s mere presence in Ottawa is his way of reaffirming his support for Canada in the face of threats to the country’s sovereignty from U.S. President Donald Trump.
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“I think that it’s very important that those south of the border know that we are not the same — we run on a different system,” Fisher said. “And although not everybody is a great fan of the Royal Family, I feel that they bring something to the Commonwealth — it makes us different and I think that’s a good thing.”
But some people, including many Quebecers, don’t see the monarchy in the same light. A recent Leger poll shows 87 per cent of Quebecers don’t have any attachments to the monarchy — and many would vote in favour of breaking ties.
In Quebec City on Tuesday, Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon laughed when a reporter suggested that some see the King’s visit as a gesture of Canadian sovereignty and criticized Prime Minister Mark Carney for inviting him.
“If you think, or anyone here thinks, that Donald Trump will stop saying things that are random or hostile because Charles the Third was giving a speech today, I don’t know what game we’re playing right now. It doesn’t make sense,” Plamondon said.