Queen Elizabeth II attends the Elizabeth line's official opening at Paddington Station in London on May 17.Andrew Matthews/Getty Images
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Now and then
Re 96 Steps To Asymmetric Federalism (Editorial, May 25): When bilingualism was instituted by the Pierre Trudeau government, cynics muttered that it was the thin edge of a process to convert Canada into a francophone republic. Today we recognize such mutterings as conspiracy theory.
Since those distant times, there has been significant expansion of francophone rights across this country. A unilingual anglophone can no longer be a Supreme Court justice and French immersion has transformed schools.
At the same time, the situation of English speakers in Quebec has been narrowed into insignificance. Our federal leaders appear to have ceded the debate to Quebec nationalists. “There are only votes to be lost.”
“Bilingual today, French tomorrow” was the voice of those a half-century ago who suspected a plot. The recent half-century proves them right, at least in Quebec.
I support bilingualism. It differentiates our culture and makes our beloved country a more interesting place. Unilingualism in Quebec dilutes that value.
Ian Guthrie Ottawa
God save…
Re The Monarchy Is Here To Stay. Embrace It (Editorial, May 26): It is important to distinguish between the monarchy and the monarch.
Queen Elizabeth is a classy and dignified person who has earned respect throughout the Commonwealth and around the world. I cannot say the same for her heir.
Respect is earned, not given or inherited. While I respect the monarchy as an institution, Prince Charles and Camilla have not earned my respect.
They should lie low for the duration of his reign until Prince William, let’s hope, can repair the damage to the monarchy caused by his father.
Tom Driedger Toronto
Given our constitutional straitjacket, the chances of abolishing the monarchy appear to be nigh on impossible. We most certainly do have a “virtual monarchy.” However, far from being laudable and 21st-century à la mode, it should instead illustrate a lack of national honour and an absence of constitutional maturity.
For it makes no sense to me that Canada still has an absentee British monarch with a sidekick Canadian as stand-in head of state. I see it as a risible anachronism. Just as the British “anglicized” the German Hanoverians and Saxe-Coburg-Gothas, had one of Queen Victoria’s prolific brood been dispatched to Ottawa in 1867 as sovereign, a truly Canadian dynasty could have been established – and quite probably would have thrived.
As things stand, King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla? Heaven help us.
Alan Scrivener Cornwall, Ont.
A U.S.-style republic is not the only alternative to a head of state who lives in another country.
The Gov.-General is our de facto head of state who never turns to the British monarch for direction or constitutional advice. That status should remain; we need only break the royal connection (while remaining in the Commonwealth) and find an appropriate selection process and name for the office. (Tyee?) All else could remain the same.
While the constitutional steps are forbidding, they are not insurmountable.
John Edmond Ottawa
Sir Antony Rupert Jay told us that “the strength of the monarchy does not lie in the power it gives the sovereign, but in the power it denies to anyone else.”
That’s good enough for me.
Charles Klassen Toronto
I sent a copy of The Globe and Mail’s editorial on the monarchy to my family in Britain.
The response was, ”Great, you can have them. Nobody here wants them. We are trying to get rid of them and dismantle the whole system which she epitomizes. If you want them, you really would be doing us a favour.”
Alma Javad Burlington, Ont.
I have read the 2013 judgment of Judge Edward Morgan of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. He decided that the oath of allegiance in Canada was not to the person of the Queen but rather to the institution of the Crown.
Thus the monarchy in Canada is really a chimera, something that may be wished for by some but is in fact illusory. To put it another way, the monarchy in Canada is like the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland: It has all but disappeared except for the grin.
So while we cannot exactly embrace it, we can treat it for what it is: a mirage.
Peter Harnetty Vancouver
Arrive early
Re IATA Urges Canadian Officials To Move To Limit Airport Delays (Report on Business, May 25): I would suggest to the International Air Transport Association that more people are travelling now because of pandemic protections.
Who wants to board a plane and sit for hours near unvaccinated and unmasked passengers? I would venture to say that passenger numbers may drop if all protections are dropped.
What if passengers display personal responsibility and get to airports earlier, allaying the anxieties ostensibly experienced?
Janet Wees Calgary
Digital divide
Re Cutting Through The Noise On Digital Currencies (Report on Business, May 23): Perhaps we should focus on cutting through the hype.
Almost all coverage of central bank digital currencies speculates on how they would work. But whenever I use tap-to-pay point-of-sale systems in stores or pay online with Apple Pay, PayPal or Interac e-transfer, I try to imagine how a CBDC would provide consumers with a better service. I cannot.
The question of CBDCs should not be how, but why? Protect the digital equivalent of cash? I’m not sure I’d notice if the same two $20 bills in my wallet for the past four months were stolen.
And if Canadians have to move their accounts to the Bank of Canada, the real fear shouldn’t be “Big Brother,” but yet another Phoenix debacle. There are far more important and critical things that need fixing.
Bob Rafuse Beaconsfield, Que.
Ride on
Re A True Five-Star Ride (First Person, May 25): In the midst of the pain and suffering reported in the news, it is more than heartwarming to read about incidents such as essay-writer David N.H. Bell’s Uber ride from Regina to Winnipeg.
I grew up on a farm about 100 kilometres east of Regina and only a few kilometres south of the Trans-Canada Highway. I have travelled various stretches of it my entire life.
We truly do need more people in the world like YC the Uber driver. Kudos to him. I trust that with his attitude, much luck will come his way.
Mary Ellen Murray Calgary
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