Why Charles III will not also be Charles the Last for Canada
Despite Canadians' discomfort with the monarchy and their British king: for now, the crown is not replaceable
On May 2, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became the target of an unusual attack. During Question Period of the Canadian House of Commons, Rhéal Éloi Fortin, a member of the opposition Bloc Québécois (BC) from the French-speaking part of Canada, expressed his disapproval of the Prime Minister's participation in the coronation of Charles III on May 6 in London. Trudeau had therefore specially adjusted his schedule and left the concurrent party convention of his governing Liberals only after the first day, May 4, in order to arrive in Europe on time. "He could have sent someone in his place, such as a minister, but his priority is to prostrate himself before the king," Fortin shouted loudly into the chamber. By then, however, Trudeau had already left it, and his Canadian Heritage Minister had to fend off the attack. True, as a regional party, the BC has traditionally been anti-British and anti-monarchist - as early as the 18th century, France had to cede large parts of its Canadian possessions to Great Britain. But Fortin's contribution, placed specifically at the start of Coronation Week in Great Britain, tapped into a currently quite measurable antipathy throughout Canada toward the British monarchy and its still authoritative role in the country.