Category: Maxime Bernier

The People's Party and the Monarchy

9/15/2018

Maxime Bernier

On September 14th former Conservative
Party leadership hopeful Maxime Bernier
announced the founding of a new party.
This 'People's Party' still has not fully
defined its party policy. Mr. Bernier doesn't
give me much to go on either. As some
might recall I surveyed all of the
Conservative Party leadership candidates a
while back. Bernier's response left his
own feelings pretty much unknown. This is
of small, but persistent, concern to me.

I am concerned as he is essentially creating the new party's
identity himself. While, in the past, he stated he would not do
anything to change the position of the monarchy in Canada,
that was during a leadership race for a party that has a ton of
monarchist members. The makeup of this new party will also
be in flux for a while. With so many unknowns I have written
the party and asked for clarification on their stance. I will post
an update should I receive a response.

While this blog takes no stance on which
party people should vote for (there are
monarchists in every party after all), it
would be preferable for this new party to
have a strongly supportive stance in regards to Canada's
monarchy. As such, if you are a monarchist as well as a
member (or supporter) of the PPC consider making your voice
heard that you want a party that respects Canada's
monarchical traditions.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Conservative Party Leadership Race: Views on the Monarchy

9/16/2016

For a while now I have been emailing the various leadership
candidates for the Conservative Party of Canada to ascertain
their views on the monarchy. I have already posted individual
articles on some of the candidates. This post is to function as
a sort of index and supplement to the other articles. Now,
without further delay let us take a good look at what the tory
leadership candidates think about the Canadian monarchy.

The Emailed Question & Responses

The question posed to each candidate was simple:
"What are your views on the monarchy?"

Below are links to each candidate's reply and a short look at
any previous comments they have made in regards to the
monarchy. Names are in order of when they entered the race.

Kellie Leitch
Maxime Bernier
Michael Chong
Tony Clement (Withdrew From Race)
Deepak Obhrai
Brad Trost
Pierre Lemieux
Adrienne Snow (Withdrew From Race)
Dan Lindsay (Withdrew From Race)
Andrew Scheer
Chris Alexander
Erin O'Toole
Rick Peterson
Andrew Saxton
Steven Blaney
Lisa Raitt
Kevin O'Leary

Five Crown Scoreboard

Here I have ranked the candidates support for the monarchy.
Keep in mind this is only my assessment and your mileage
may vary. Also, note that changes may occur as the campaign goes on. The score is out of five crowns with each candidate
receiving one crown for stating support for the monarchy in
their reply, one crown for having defended the monarchy in
Parliament, two crowns for outlining how they would improve
the monarchy's role in the future, and one crown for having
spoken in support of the monarchy outside of Parliament.

Maxime Bernier

Mr. Bernier's score suffered mostly
due to how little he has said publicly
about the monarchy. While I don't
think he supports republicanism I
can't say more beyond that.

Score:

Tony Clement

Mr. Clement gave a better reply to my
email but like Mr. Bernier has had
little to say about the monarchy since
being elected.

Score:

Michael Chong

Mr. Chong was both supportive of the
monarchy in his reply and has spoken
favourably about it in Parliament.

Score:

Kellie Leitch

Ms. Leitch's response is on par with
that of Tony Clement but I have more
doubts about her support for the
Crown.

Score:

Chris Alexander

A good chunk of Mr. Alexander's
score comes from his support of a
Canadian coronation ceremony. His
lack of time in Parliament indirectly
lowered his score though.

Score:

Pierre Lemieux

Like several other candidates Mr.
Lemieux has had little to say about
the monarchy outside of his reply to
me.

Score:

Deepak Obhrai

Mr. Obhrai has expressed support for
the monarchy both in his reply and in
Parliament. Has grown to appreciate
the monarchy over time.

Score:

Andrew Saxton

As with several other candidates Mr.
Saxton stated his support for the
monarchy in his reply but has had
little else to say on the issue.

Score:

Rick Peterson

Mr. Peterson's score partly reflects
how little time he has had in public
life.

Score:

Brad Trost

Mr. Trost's reply had some meat to it
but was otherwise typical of the
replies received so far.

Score:

Lisa Raitt

Mrs. Raitt's has replied stating her
support for the monarchy.

Score:

Erin O'Toole

Mr. O'Toole has stated strong support
for the monarchy both in his
statement and in public.

Score:

Andrew Scheer

Mr. Scheer gave a very good reply and
has stated a desire to better educate
Canadians on the role of the
monarchy.

Score:

Loyal Quotes

"The Queen is our head of state. The Governor General is her
representative here and should remain as such. A sort of
republicanism by stealth has been orchestrated over the last
number of years in this country. We need to be very careful
about not going down that path."
~Michael Chong, 2005

"I was very proud to have received The Queen's Commission
in the Canadian Armed Forces, and it hangs in my office. I
have worked indirectly with the Royal Family on the True
Patriot Love Foundation - a military charity I co-founded -
and for which I received Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee
medal. The photo book of Prince Harry's visit to Canada
House for this charity sits on the coffee table in my Hill
office. And it was this organization that successfully bid for
Canada to host this year's Invictus Games, led by Prince
Harry.
There is nobody in the race who has more of a direct
association with the monarchy, nor, I believe, is there
anyone in the race who has been more publicly supportive of
the monarchy than I. One of my most widely reported
policies during this race is all about working closer with our
Commonwealth allies. I have raised the monarchy and its
strengths in my many discussions about the CANZUK policy,
which would create a trade and security pact for Canada,
Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
The above is a snapshot to give you a flavour of my track
record and consistent and steadfast support for the
monarchy as a foundational element of our parliamentary
democracy and a positive force in our society."
~Erin O'Toole, 2017

_______________________________________

I would like to thank all of the candidates for getting back to
me. While I might disagree at times with the replies I receive
it is at least good to know that politicians still take the time
to reply to ordinary Canadians.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Conservative Leadership Candidates and the Monarchy: Maxime Bernier

6/29/2016

The Conservative Party of Canada is
holding a leadership race. As I have done
on many other occasions I decided to
find out what the candidates think about
our monarchy. I also sought their views on
intellectual property law but that really
isn't pertinent to this blog. Anyways! Let's
look at what the first respondent had to
say. The first to have replied is Maxime Bernier of the riding of Beauce.

"I do not envisage any change in policy or practices with regard to the
role of the monarchy in Canadian institutions."

Let's start off with the good news: he doesn't appear to have
anything against the monarchy. Or at least not enough to
want to change anything. The bad news: Mr. Bernier didn't
really give a strong indication what he thought about the
monarchy on a personal level. This leaves Mr. Bernier's
reply feeling a little bit like boilerplate.

I decided to dig a little deeper by looking at what Mr. Bernier
has said about the monarchy in the House of Commons. To do
this I used openparliament.ca (which I still think is a great
site). My search was fairly extensive using 'monarchy',
'queen', and 'head of state'. In the years since his election in
2006 I could find only one reference to the monarchy:

"Mr. Speaker, as we know, Canada is a democratic country with a parliamentary
system, and under the Constitution, Canada's head of state is the Queen of England.
Unlike the Bloc Québécois, we are not ashamed that the Queen is our head of
state. We know that the Bloc Québécois would like to destroy this country and make
Quebec an independent country. That is not—"
~June 7th, 2012

While it might seem I would take issue with the term 'Queen
of England' (a title that has not existed for several hundred
years) I'm inclined to let it slide. The French language uses
'Queen of England' to describe the British monarch to this
day. Would it have been nice for him to have stopped that
sentence after the word 'Queen'? Sure. It is also not exactly
appreciated that he used a reference to the monarchy in the
context of a partisan dual.

But the bigger issue is that Mr. Bernier has said so little about
Canada's monarchy over the years that it is impossible to pin
down his views. Perhaps Mr. Bernier will further clarify his
views in regards to the monarchy as the leadership campaign
continues. But in the meantime there are other leadership
candidates to contact.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

The People's Party and the Monarchy

Conservative Party Leadership Race: Views on the Monarchy

The Emailed Question & Responses

Five Crown Scoreboard

Loyal Quotes

Conservative Leadership Candidates and the Monarchy: Maxime Bernier

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