According to an Ipsos Reed poll, two in three Canadians want to see the end of the monarchy in Canada once Queen Elizabeth II dies. Yet, strangely, everyone likes the Queen, giving her an approval rating roughly equivalent to the percentage of people who want her gone. That's a very polite way to break it off with the institution, suggesting that the Queen is a lovely person but we're just not right for each other.
Of course, maintaining the monarchy has much more to do with history than it does with any functional purpose they serve at this particular point in time. While the monarchy has pretty much only showed up for the odd tour and provided a portrait for some money in the past few years, the history of the monarchy in Canada is significantly more complex and interesting.
Discarding the institution wouldn't get rid of that history, and it wouldn't change the ways the country has developed. Given the Queen's high approval rating, many people do seem to appreciate the role the monarchy, and her specifically, have played in the history of the country. Given her lengthy reign, she's become an identifiable part of the country's makeup, even as she's in England the majority of the time. I can't see getting rid of her purely out of respect.
However, the question then becomes what we do when Prince Charles takes over the throne, and dropping the monarchy at that point seems to be what the majority of people are interested in. What getting rid of the monarchy would do is move the country in a direction less focused on ceremonial figures. In some ways, that's more in line with the world we live in now, where we are a more independent country than at the start of the Queen's reign. Breaking it off with the monarchy would be a final act to assert our uniqueness, discarding that final tie with our heritage as a British colony. It is not about the history but instead whether or not the monarchy is appropriate for our future.
On one hand, it's not a good idea to completely discard our history, and at the very minimum whatever action might be taken should be dependent on how to respect that history and those traditions. Still, as important as it might be to respect history, sometimes old systems have to be changed in order to better reflect the makeup of the country at large. Canada hasn't been a British colony for a long time, and the makeup of the country is becoming increasingly varied as the years go by. People are clearly less able to connect to the monarchy as a relevant institution in Canada, and while it certainly used to reflect the country as a whole, that is becoming less of a case.
Perhaps at this point, as a nation, we have to create a new tradition which is uniquely us, rather than a holdover from the people who founded the country. There have been many who complained about Canada not having a strong enough national identity, and while I don't believe that to be the case, keeping traditions tied to other nations does not help assert that identity. I see no reason why we can't respect our history, and appreciate the ties that Canada has had with Britain since its founding, while also being able to move on and create our own place in the world. We're still a young country, relatively speaking, but we've got an opportunity to grow a little more.
