Geoff Russ: King Charles III belongs on the $20 bill

King Charles III will be on Canada’s new $20 banknote, unveiled just days before the fourth anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Next February, the notes will enter circulation, and Canadian republicans will have to seethe and stare into the face of the sovereign as they withdraw cash.  

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Instead of spending months recovering from the sight, they might try to explain how abolishing the monarchy would make Canada a better country. We already have a (nominally) accountable government, political independence, and a firm constitutional order that is not threatened by turnover in government. 

Canadian republicans want to replace something demonstrably Canadian with something they think is more modern and “inclusive,” at least in theory. Their soiled explanation is that the Crown is somehow opposed to democracy or an impediment to Canadian autonomy. That flies in the face of Canadian history, which has produced a very robust democratic culture and political system under the Crown, not outside it. 

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Electing the head of state is not an evolution, but a choice, and one that is unlikely to be made by any Canadian government in the near future or perhaps even the far future. It is not as if abolishing the monarchy would complete some sort of silly fantasy of democratic maturity. 

Look at the existing monarchies in the West, and what do you find? There are Australia, Britain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. All of these parliamentary monarchies rank among the world’s freest and most stable countries. Their records of democratic endurance speak for themselves. They are not awkward outliers from some simplistic theory in which republicanism represents progress. 

Russia and Iran are republics, and nearly all of Africa is as well. Every South American state is a republic, every one of them has “no kings,” yet the continent has hardly anything to brag about when it comes to democracy or stability. They are breathing rebuttals to the idea that becoming a republic is itself an accomplishment. 

There is great value in keeping the country’s highest constitutional office away from ugly electoral mudslinging. There is no need to add another partisan contest to divide Canadians and make them bitter. We need only do that as much as is necessary. The prime minister should not embody Canada, and the Westminster system is very good at keeping the office of head of state away from ambitious politicians who dislike restraints on their power. 

There is cultural continuity in Canada’s Crown too. A grandfather and grandson can recognize the same Crown — and, in Elizabeth II’s time, the same monarch — without voting for the same political party. These public symbols are shared across living generations and with generations now gone. Such political and cultural common ground is valuable, and countries are better off when they can offer more of it without attaching it to the latest election campaign. 

The arguments for the Crown as a centrepiece of our constitutional arrangements are well established, as is its relationship to the military. Nonetheless, many of the monarchy’s critics accuse it of reminding Canadians that their country was once a colony of the British Empire. How can that possibly be a mark against us? 

Being connected to a wider civilization that spread the English language, parliamentary ideals, bourgeois habits, forks, and flush toilets across the world is something to be proud of. To be embarrassed by that is the preserve of idiots and those with an axe to grind. 

We are not another country’s property because we share a history and a monarchy with Britain. King Charles III is the King of Canada, and that is constitutionally and politically ironclad. We have the independence to govern ourselves, and trying to completely sandblast the country’s past and identity is not a mark of maturity, but of pimply adolescent rage. 

Anglo-Canada is half of the historic and still-living core of Canada, and the English-speaking society from which much of the country’s political culture, military traditions, and customs emerged. Recognizing that does not erase French Canada or anybody else, nor is Canada more admirable when Anglo-Canada is diminished. 

Apart from marking four years since Queen Elizabeth II’s death, this September is also the anniversary of Canada’s entry into the Second World War. Our army was predominantly drawn from English-speaking Canada, which understood itself to be British North American and expected newcomers to become part of that society. Tens of thousands fell in defence of democracy as Canadians knew it then and know it now, under a King and a parliamentary system, against the Nazis. 

Whoever observes Remembrance Day to honour those dead while cheering the disappearance of the culture of the fallen should give their head a shake. 

Besides, that same culture continues to defy expectations that newcomers will reject it. Last year, a survey from Pollara Strategic Insights found support for retaining the monarchy at 46 per cent among immigrants and 44 per cent among Canadian-born respondents. Is this the demographic destiny that republicans so eagerly wish for? 

The idea that newcomers will find the monarchy incomprehensible says far more about the speaker than the newcomer, and the notion that the Canadian republican movement is powerful is laughable. A 2022 vote in the House of Commons rejected a motion to sever ties with the Crown by a vote of 266 to 44, with both Liberals and Conservatives voting together to crush it. 

Obnoxiously bashing royalty is far easier than building a movement to alter the Constitution. Republicans cannot point to a single democratic freedom that we lack because of the King. They have no grassroots movement of any meaningful influence, and their most high-profile ally was former federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, a glaring failure of a politician. 

The quest for a puritan, “liberal democratic” society shorn of all pre-modern character and callbacks to our past is no more than bugmen racing to the bottom of a cave.  

If Canadian democracy needs any fixes, it does not apply to the King, long may he reign.  

National Post

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