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Justin Trudeau's Partial About Face on the Monarchy

5/13/2023

Photo Credit: Reuters

I have, for a while now, been
critical of Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau's handling of
the monarchy. Perhaps,
surprisingly, he has done
several positive things for the
monarchy in a very short
amount of time and it is worth
examining what the effects of
his actions will be.

Approval of Coronation Medallions

Trudeau faced a fair amount of
criticism, even from within his own
caucus, for failing to issue a medal to
mark the late Queen's jubilee. While
no coronation medal was issued, a
medallion was. Now, I hate to be the
one to nit pick but medallions are
generally sold while medals are
given to recognize some worthy
person. Given the recent times we've
been through there are a large
number of Canadians who ought to be honoured. Trudeau's
reluctance to issue a medal on both occasions is curious.

King Charles III to Grace the $20 Bill

The government confirmed that the King's portrait will be
on the Canadian $20 bill as well as all coins issued. The coins
were never really in doubt but there were suggestions around
not having the King on the $20 bill. Trudeau has put that
speculation to rest.

Ottawa Coronation Celebrations

While the events were described as low-key, Trudeau's
government didn't have to hold them at all so the fact that he
did shows some desire to acknowledge the monarchy.

A New Crown

Trudeau's government has created a new Canadian crown.
It is a heraldic design only and shares elements with the
Tudor Crown, Saint Edward's Crown, and (probably
unintentionally) the Loyalist Coronet.

Now, some dislike this design. There are criticisms about how
the design was decided on (without consultation), removal of
religious symbols (crosses and fleur-de-lis), and the addition
of a snowflake to the top of the crown. Even the direction of
the ermine arrows was critiqued (I am not going to discuss
ermine arrows!).

Okay, first of all, I understand why there was no consultation
with Parliament. There may still be people old enough to
remember the Canadian Flag Debate and all the acrimony
that caused. The monarchy is meant to be a unifying symbol,
intentionally making it a source of division would be perverse.

Second, as a Christian myself, yes, I would prefer to have my
beliefs represented. However, the Canadian Monarchy, unlike
the British Monarchy, has no connection to an established
church (which is also reflected in a recent change to the
King's Canadian titles). It is weird then for such a connection
to be present in the crown. Given the monarchy's association
with a single faith has been a point of attack for republicans
this may blunt that particular charge.

The new design plays up the theme of Canadians being tied to
the land they live on with the crown's representations of
rivers, mountains, maple trees and snow. Also, that snowflake
is a bestagon.

This does mean that future Leadership Surveys will need
to change out the crown used but thats a me problem.

New Passport Retains Royal Symbols

Photo Credit: Sean Kilpatrick

The new passport design was
released to mixed reviews. Some
praised the artwork while others
criticized the lack of historical
references. But despite this the
passport retains the coat of arms
and its royal symbolism (even if
the cover is a bit awkward). As a
side note the coat of arms still uses
Saint Edward's Crown which may
indicate a lack of coordination between the government
departments. Most likely, differing time tables on when things
needed to be done prevented the new crown from being
included.

Defence of the Monarchy Improves

Recent terrible polling for the monarchy has led other leaders
in the Commonwealth musing about future republics. To his
credit, Trudeau wasn't one of them. In the past I did critique
his defence of the monarchy. His comments after the King's
coronation were quite a bit better and came at a time when
they were needed. Likewise, his comment before the funeral
of Queen Elizabeth II about appreciating the monarchy's
'steadiness' shows a degree of growth, if not in his thoughts
regarding the monarchy, at least in how he presents those
thoughts.

Closing Remarks

Some of the actions above have attracted criticism but that is
unavoidable in the current political climate. Overall, I think
Trudeau has set the monarchy up well for the future. I still
have grievances with how Trudeau handles the monarchy
file (the free portrait program especially) but he has done a
solid B+ job recently.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Coronation Cost Too Much? Its A Steal At Double The Price.

5/7/2023

The King's coronation this past
Saturday went off without a
hitch and frankly was a beautiful
affair. It is hard to believe that
the British were once held to be
rather bad at pulling off such
highly orchestrated events. And,
as with all things these days it
seems, someone is worried that
too much money is being spent.

The final cost won't be known for some time but unofficial
estimates put it at $125 million on the high end. Now, it
would be rather trite to call that a rounding error in a country
with a yearly GDP of 3 trillion dollars, so I won't. Instead, I
want to do a small comparison with republics. Specifically, I
want to take a look at inauguration costs (all sums given in
US Dollars).

United States of America

The USA is to republics what the UK is to monarchies; the
arch-typical example everyone seems to compare themselves to. In the US there is a presidential inauguration every four
years. The price varies (but rises with inflation) and private
donations cover some of the costs but taxpayers in the US are
usually on the hook for about $100 million.

France + Germany

The French in inauguration is a bit of an all day affair. There
is the constitutionally required parts followed by various
events around Paris. The Germans have much more low-key
inaugurations.

What both France and Germany have in common is the
difficulty in finding cost breakdowns. The French example
probably reaches the $100 million threshold while the
German example probably doesn't.

Ireland

Again, a full costing does not seem to be available but they did
spend $110,000 on catering for the 2018 inauguration. Its a
bit iffy if Ireland reaches the $100 million threshold. The
main determiner is staffing costs for security and clean-up
which might push it up a bit. An educated guess would be
$500,000 all told.

Time Between Events

Coronations don't happen at set intervals and can vary
between a few years and many decades. Usually a long reign
means a short interval will follow. If you averaged it out you'd probably come out with something close to one coronation
every 20 years. I'm going to say once every ten years for the
sake of the argument I'm making.

Presidential terms vary but for the examples I've used its; US
four years, France five years, Germany five years, and Ireland
seven years. The result being that the US and France spend
twice as much on inaugurations than the UK spends on
coronations. Ireland probably spends more if a 20 year
average interval is used and Germany might have spent more
on inaugurations during the Queen's reign.

More Bang Per Buck

All of which is to say that the King's coronation is not out of
line with what other countries spend on ceremonial transfers
of power and may be on the less expensive side due to longer
intervals on average compared to republics. There is also the
point to be made that since the coronation covers many
different realms its a bargain for all involved. I don't think a
Canadian republic would long avoid having its own, perhaps
modest, inauguration event. The result being the introduction
of a cost it doesn't currently have. Plus, the coronation was
a far more spectacular event than any inauguration. People
need to learn to stop being penny wise, pound foolish.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour