The King's visit is a response to Trump's 51st state threats. Will it help?
CBC
King Charles III will soon land in Ottawa to deliver the throne speech that kicks off a new session of Parliament. It's only the third time the Canadian monarch has read the speech from the throne, and it's happening now for a reason.
"If you want to make a point about Canadian sovereignty, what better symbol than the embodiment of that sovereignty?" said Philippe Lagassé, a professor at Carleton University who specializes in the role of the Crown in Canada's political system.
"The King is the personification of the state. He is at the apex of it because he personifies it. He is, therefore, the legal personality of Canada," Lagassé added.
For months, Trump has threatened to make Canada the 51st U.S. state, as recently as his Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney. Trump's ambassador to Canada, for his part, said he knows the King's visit is meant to fight back against the U.S. president's threats.
"I know what the implication is. It's all about the 51st state [remarks]" said U.S. ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, in an interview with CBC's The House that will air Saturday. But Hoekstra added the annexation saga is "over."
The expectation that Trump would have an interest comes from his admiration for the royal family and the King, Lagassé said.
In February, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer brought Trump an invitation from King Charles to meet at Balmoral, a royal estate in Scotland. After reading the invitation in front of reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said it would be an "honour" to visit the "fantastic" country.
Lagassé said Charles's trip to Canada is a "useful reminder" to the U.S. president that he is both the British and Canadian monarch.
"If you respect and admire the king of the United Kingdom, perhaps you should also respect and admire the King of Canada, given that is the same person. So there is that signal being sent, which is not unimportant," Lagassé added.
Not everyone is impressed by the royal visit. Parti Québécois MNA Pascal Bérubé said on Thursday the king is an "archaic and colonial symbol."
"It's a big joke," Bérubé said, adding that Canada is "not that strong" if its response to the U.S. president's threats is bringing over the King since "he's not frightening at all."
Catherine Gentilcore, another Parti Québécois MNA, questioned "how is the king convincing in any way?"
"So to express Canada's power, you have to go get a foreign king?" Gentilcore added.
Quebec sovereigntists like Bérubé and Gentilcore have long criticized the monarchy's role in Canadian politics. Two years ago, the provincial government passed a law making the oath of allegiance to the King optional.
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