Conservative Leadership Candidates and the Monarchy: Michael Chong

Michael Chong's leadership campaign has
gotten back to me with an answer to my
inquiry into what the candidate thinks
about the monarchy. At this point I am
about half way done this little project of
mine (counted registered candidates only).
The reply (below) was delivered by Jim
Smith from the campaign team. For
various reasons I prefer a direct reply but
​I can understand if Mr. Chong is busy.

---

"Michael supports Canada's constitutional monarchy."

Well, that's...nice? I guess? This is the shortest reply I have
received thus far (such short replies is one of the reasons I
prefer direct replies) and it doesn't reveal much about the
candidates views beyond him not being a republican. To be
fair Mr. Smith wrote that if I wanted Mr. Chong to elaborate I
could submit another email. I have decided to take him up on
this offer and ask how Mr. Chong plans to support the
monarchy. 

As before I searched through the parliamentary debates for a
number of terms related to monarchy including 'monarchy',
'queen', 'royal family', 'crown', and 'prince'. Other than to note
that Canada is not an absolute monarchy the 'monarchy'
search didn't yield any results. However, when I searched for
references to the queen I found an interesting quote from
2015: 

"I could talk as well about how the role of the Crown is rapidly disappearing. Our
Parliament is made up of the Senate, the House of Commons and the Crown. The
Crown is diminishing in importance in this country. We as parliamentarians and the
government across the aisle need to do a better job of making sure that this is not
allowed to continue, because the Crown is an integral part of our system. The
change in the letters of recall and credence at the end of last year was a very sneaky
under the wire act which I disagree with completely. 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. When we
talk about Parliament we are including the Crown and the Queen. The problem is
not with individual MPs who work very hard in their constituencies. It is how we as
parliamentarians have treated Parliament, the Senate, the House and the Crown."

I rather like this quote. It acknowledges the Crown as being a
vital part of Parliament. It notes the republicanism by stealth
of previous years. And it ties the diminishing of the Crown to
​the decline in respect for the roles of MPs (an issue known to
​be close to Mr. Chong's heart). 

On the more subjective side it should be noted that Michael
Chong was a founded member of the Dominion Institute
which sought to increase awareness of Canada's history and
how it relates to the present day. While an interest in
Canadian history does not always correlate with support for
the monarchy it is also true that those with an interest in
history can have a better understanding of the institution's
​importance. 

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour