Trudeau's decision to change the symbol of the Crown is an affront to Canadian democracy
When even Tom Mulcair is against it, you've got problems
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a Prime Minister decided to change the symbol of the Crown used in Canada. But this wasn’t just any ordinary change. This was a change that would shake the very foundations of Canadian democracy and government. It was a change that would make the beavers weep and the maple leaves fall. It was a change that would make the Mounties hang their heads in shame and the hockey players trade in their sticks for golf clubs.
Well, perhaps not the hockey players.
Most Canadians yawned and carried on with their day. Irritated, to be sure, but almost everything Trudeau does irritates the average Canadian. He is like a mosquito, constantly buzzing.
But changing the Crown in Canada goes beyond a boring headline tucked in below the fold. It goes against the entire makeup of the Canadian system of democratic government, constitutional monarchy, and the rule of law in this land. It is such an affront to democracy that even the former leader of the NDP, Tom Mulcair, came out swinging hard against it. This is a man who sat across from Stephen Harper, a true-blue Royalist, as leader of the opposition.
Ouch.
Canada, meet The Trudeau Crown
The Trudeau Crown, as it is being denigrated, is cartoonish. It consists of a minimalist cartoon crown and a very poorly drawn red fabric. It has replaced St George’s Cross and the Fleur de Lis with a maple leaf and a snowflake (fitting). A series of white circles run along the top of the thing.
There are rumours, unquantified, that Trudeau personally designed the new crown. I could picture him staying up late at night with a box of Crayola crayons, fervently scribbling colourful images on construction paper with his tongue stuck out the side of his mouth and plate of chicken tendies getting cold nearby.
Whether or not he designed this thing, one thing is clear: he pushed his plans through single-handed, without consultation or debate. And this is what is such a big deal.
But first…what is “The Crown?”
In case you either lived under a rock all your life or remained extremely ignorant of the world outside your door, you probably know that England is a monarchy. You also are probably aware that England’s monarchy is the monarchy of several countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, Belize, Jamaica, New Guinea and Canada. There are 14 such countries, collectively known as The Commonwealth.
The Crown, currently on the head of King Charles III, is more than a person. It is the symbol of all legitimate authority and power. Monarchs come and go, yet the Crown is eternal, as they say (well, maybe they don’t, but I do).
From a practical perspective, because as my fellow readers you’re most likely a practical person, the Crown fulfills some very serious functions in Commonwealth countries, Canada included.
Head of State
The Crown is the Head of State while the Prime-Minister is the Head of Government. This means that the Crown is the one who represents the nation. The Crown in England is represented by the King. In Commonwealth nations, the Crown is represented by a Governor-General, who basically sits-in for the monarch when they’re out of town (which is, let’s face it, most of the time).
This head of state is the person who meets with foreign embassies, is the head of the military, represents their nation on the international stage, and does a lot of ribbon cutting. A LOT.
They’re also the final step in the legislative process. There are a lot of powers the Crown wields, called “reserve powers” or “Royal prerogative.”
All bills go the Crown after making their way through Parliament. The Crown has the power to veto any bill, called disallowance. Federally in Canada, the last time the Crown disallowed a bill was in the 1940s when the Prime-Minister refused to step down after losing an election and the Governor-General was forced to intervene (funny enough, PM Mackenzie King won a new election and Governor-General Byng was forced to resign).
Queen Elizabeth II disallowed a bill in 1999 which sought to transfer command of the military from the Crown to the British Prime-Minister. Thank God for that.
The head of government takes its form in the person of the Prime-Minister. This is a purely political position. This is partisan, and party-centric. Prime-Ministers come and go, sometimes quite rapidly, as is the case in England. Most Prime-Ministers in the 21st Century have been corrupt idiots who define their brand by their hair. Their job is to manage the country, not to rule it. Some people have forgotten their role.
The Crown can even dissolve Parliament if the government does not have the confidence of the house. This has happened many times. Prorogation happens when the Crown suspends Parliament, which Canada’s GG, Michelle Jean, did in 2009 as all the parties were fighting and it seemed the entire thing was going to come down. “Get your s**t together,” is what she basically told the politicians.
Head of the armed forces
If the armed forces of a nation represent the combined physical strength of a people, then the Crown is its head. Because the Crown is apolitical and uninvolved in the corruption and petty fights of politicians, this arrangement works exceptionally well.
Soldiers in all Commonwealth nations swear an oath of allegiance and duty to the Crown. So do many police, such as Canada’s famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
No Prime-Minister can tell the army to overthrow parliament or seize their political opponents. This is the kind of stuff that happens in places where the head of government and the head of state are combined into one office, such as a President. It could never happen in a constitutional monarchy like the Commonwealth.
Fount of law
The Crown is considered the well fount from which all authority springs. In simpler terms, it’s the law of the land.
The UK, along with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, et al. is a nation governed by the rule of law. This law brings stability, predictability, and security. It allows commerce to flow freely and people to live their lives in peace. It provides liberty while ensuring there are consequences for criminality.
That doesn’t just appear out of thin air.
All of this law and order comes from the legitimacy of the Crown. Police wear the symbol of the Crown on their uniform. Courts keep a large wall-hanging of the Crown behind and above the sitting judge. Superior courts are even called Court of King’s Bench. Parliament passes laws on behalf of the Crown.
Because the Crown chooses the judges (albeit on the advice of the government), the judges represent the Crown.
Crimes are not against the people, as in the United States, where criminal trials are often “the state of Georgia v. John Smith” or “the people v. Sammy Goodfoot.” Crimes in the Commonwealth are against the crown.
In Canada, a criminal offence, called an indictable offence, goes to trial as “R vs John Smith” with R=Rex eg. King (or Regina for Queen).
The King/Queen is the one charging the accused, because they represent the nation and all its people as a whole, and the crime committed is against them in that role.
The Crown is the Crown
The reigning monarch has authority over his or her regalia, including the Crown. There are a couple of Crowns in the old Tower of London, where the Crown Jewels are kept.
There is Saint Edward’s Crown, which is considered the most sacred of all the crowns. It is used primarily for coronations, but Queen Elizabeth II decided to continue using it as her official crown right up until her passing in 2022.
The day-to-day ho-hum crown from which all authority and government springs is currently the Tudor Crown. It began with Henry VIII, when the king separated England from the Roman Catholic church, and has been in use since then except for good old Lizzie’s 70-year reign.
But here’s the thing: the Crown is decided by the monarch, not any petty little Prime-Minister. Remember, this is the SYMBOL of all authority, of law, of order, of the very legitimacy of the government.
And Trudeau has decided "Nah.”
Trudeau is not the Crown
Canada changed its flag to the current maple leaf flag in 1965. Before that, the Red Ensign had been the flag of the land since 1870. The flag was changed while Lester Pearson was Prime-Minister and the Liberal Party held a minority in Parliament. But Pearson didn’t unilaterally change the flag without telling anybody.
In fact, there were years of debates, meetings, consultations and a nation-wide competition to choose the successor to the Red Ensign. People were arguing about the flag in the 1920s. There was a poll taken in the early 50s and a solid 80 per cent of Canadian respondents felt the Red Ensign did not properly represent Canada. In 1958, another poll had 85 per cent of respondents say they wanted a unique flag to differentiate Canada in the world, and 70 per cent said any new flag had to have a maple leaf displayed.
The changing of the flag is not the same as changing the Crown.
By unilaterally changing the Crown from the symbol of its authority to a symbol of Trudeau’s fancy, the Prime-Minister has undermined all of Canadian democracy and the very fabric upon which the constitution is based (a constitution his own father created, I might add). Trudeau has neither held debate in Parliament or with the public, nor has he consulted with the King. He has basically made himself the Head of State.
This affront has not gone unnoticed. Australian Prime-Minister Anthony Albanese said “This Trudeau guy really doesn’t get it” when asked about the new Trudeau Crown at the time Australia was reverting its symbology back to the Tudor Crown as per King Charles III’s wishes.
Tom Mulcair, aka “Fightin’ Tom,” wrote an angry op-ed in Le Devoir, Montreal’s largest French language newspaper, in which he decried the move and said it undermines the very democratic system Trudeau swore to uphold when he became Prime Minister in 2015. He also said this one move would end up being the end of Trudeau at the next election, even if the public hasn’t realized it yet.
For context, Mulcair was the former leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, a left-wing anti-monarchy party akin to Labour.
But Trudeau is nothing if not a raging narcissist, and I do not wish to assign malice to where incompetence is to blame. Chances are he did not intend to overthrow the King and take his place at the top of Canada’s pyramid. It’s more likely that he simply didn’t understand the deeper implications of this move, and because he’s a narcissist, nobody could tell him otherwise.
So we’re back to him scribbling a new crown with crayons while his chicken tendies get cold.