Blog Archives

The Year Ahead

1/18/2022

2022 is well underway and it is perhaps time to look ahead to
what the year has in store for the Canadian Monarchy.

The Platinum Jubilee

As detailed in my other post today Her Majesty's Platinum
Jubilee will be marked this year in some manner. My
understanding is that official events will start occurring after
February. Partly this is because of a combination of it taking
time for grants to be processed and money for jubilee events
to be distributed, partly its because no one wants to hold
events in the middle of a Canadian winter, and partly its the
lingering uncertainty around the pandemic.

I have my own projects I'm working on as Chairman of the
New Brunswick Branch of the Monarchist League of Canada
but those can be detailed in a separate post.

Vice-Regal Appointments?

2022 might see a number of vice-regal appointments. The
traditional length of a lieutenant governor is five years. There
are currently four of Her Majesty's representatives who have
held office longer than five years or who will reach that
milestone in 2022. The current Lieutenant Governor of
Ontario, Her Honour the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell,
has entered her eighth year in office. I find it doubtful the
premier will replace the lieutenant governor before the
scheduled June election so if it happens this year we might
expect the announcement around September (which is when
the last appointment occurred).

Green Party Leadership Race

As per the Green Party constitution a leadership race must be
called by May 24th of this year (although the end date might
be in 2023). The last race was a decidedly mixed bag for
anyone who supports the monarchy. The candidate with the
best score in the last survey, David Merner, has also stated he
will not be running again. There are already a couple declared
candidates who I will be reaching out to in coming weeks.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Platinum Jubilee News

1/18/2022

We are officially in the 70th year of Her Majesty's reign.
While events won't likely get started till the summer I wanted
to go over what we know so far.

Event Funding

The Department of Canadian Heritage opened applications
for funding in November. I know that the manager of the
Albert County Museum applied for funding. Interestingly,
she stated that the window for applying for a grant was very
short. Whether it was abnormally short is not a question I
can answer.

Monarchist League of Canada Seal

The Monarchist League of Canada
has released its own seal to mark Her
Majesty's Platinum Jubilee. Mitch
Ramsay-Mader's design was chosen
from a number of submissions. Several
submissions had to be rejected as they
used elements such as the royal cypher
which are for the Queen's use alone.
Mitch explaining his design:

"The profile of Her Majesty with seven maple leaves - six in free fall and
one integrated into the 70 emblem - each representing a decade of Her
Majesty's reign. The maple leaf integrated into the 70 represents 70
years of service to Canada by Her Majesty. The emblem is designed in
Canada's national colours (granted by the Queen's grandfather, George
V) - red and white."

Mitch is originally from Nova Scotia but now resides in Her
Majesty's other realm of Australia.

The Platinum Jubilee Medal Saga

Since I last wrote on the efforts to have an official Platinum
Jubilee Medal program there has been some media attention:

It is probably worth noting that the original Platinum Jubilee
Medal article has been this blog's most commented on post
ever.

Efforts in Parliament continue with two tory MPs having
released a statement on January 13th:

Ottawa. January 13 – John Nater, Conservative Shadow Minister for Canadian
Heritage, and Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative Shadow Minister for Public Services
and Procurement, are calling on the Liberal government to commission Queen
Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals to celebrate the monarch’s 70th year as
Canada’s Head of State.

2022 marks a historic anniversary for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Seventy
years as Head of the Commonwealth and Canada’s Head of State is a remarkable
milestone that should be properly recognized and celebrated by the Government of
Canada. It is unacceptable that 2022 has already begun and the Department of
Canadian Heritage has not made any announcement regarding a Platinum Jubilee
Medal.

Should the Liberal government not proceed with the creation of a Queen Elizabeth
II Platinum Jubilee Medal, it would be the first time Canada failed to issue medals
for a jubilee. In 1977 and 2002, the Liberal governments of the day issued medals
for the sliver and golden jubilees. In 2012, the Conservative government issued the
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

To commemorate each jubilee, the Government of Canada awarded medals to
Canadians who made outstanding and exemplary contributions to their
communities or to Canada as a whole. During these unprecedented times, there is no shortage of Canadians deserving of recognition for their contributions to their communities and our country.

The Platinum Jubilee is not only a historic anniversary, but it is also an opportunity for the Liberal government to recognize Canadians. We believe that our front-line health care workers have shown remarkable courage and resilience throughout the last two years of the pandemic and deserve recognition for their service, courage, and sacrifice.

Canada’s Conservatives are calling on the Liberal government to take immediate action to commission Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals and award medals to our front-line health workers who have stepped forward and answered the call. We believe their service should be formally acknowledged and the distribution of Platinum Jubilee Medals must go ahead without delay.

While great to see (especially from two MPs that hold critic
roles in their party) it is a bit of an opportunity missed. There
are MPs from many parties that agree with this statement and
such a bi-partisan statement would have had more impact.
Alas, perhaps partisanship in the House of Commons has
made such reasonable ideas impossible.

While efforts continue the usual timeline for these things is
becoming so compressed that I don't hold out much hope.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour