Canadian Republic

Offshore Coronation : last leg of long journey to Canadian republic begins

May 6th, 2023 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. MAY 6, 2023. Almost by accident we have stumbled across a (for us) especially sensible way of commemorating the events of today back in the old imperial metropolis across the seas. Recently our colleague Randall White completed the last or concluding draft chapter of his political-history work in progress, Children of […]



Why Canada needs a new citizenship oath

Apr 10th, 2021 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

SPECIAL FROM ASHOK CHARLES, TORONTO/THUNDER BAY. APRIL 10, 2021 : Canada’s current citizenship oath, with its medieval pledge of fealty to a hereditary monarch, does not meet the needs of a prominent 21st century democracy. In 2019 Canada accepted 340,000 new permanent residents, and is among the countries with the highest levels of immigration. Some […]



How hard would it be for Canada to follow Barbados and become yet another Commonwealth republic?

Oct 18th, 2020 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

SPECIAL FROM ASHOK CHARLES, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, REPUBLIC NOW/RÉPUBLIQUE DU CANADA, TORONTO/THUNDER BAY. OCTOBER 18, 2020 : That Barbados has resolved to transition from constitutional monarchy to constitutional democracy (see “Barbados To Become A Republic by 2021”) also has relevance for Canada. Explaining the coming changeover, Barbados’ Governor General, Sandra Mason, said : “Barbadians want a […]



Happy Canada Day 2020 : Is a fake-news monarchy really the “future we want to build together” after COVID-19 ??

Jun 30th, 2020 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

CANADA DAY, JULY 1, 2020. GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. RANDALL WHITE : As quite recently noted by the counterweights editors, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has urged that the COVID-19 pandemic has given us a “chance to reshape Canada’s future.” In the prime minister’s own words, the coronavirus “has been an unprecedented challenge.” But it “has also been […]



RIP Sean McCann .. who among many other good things believed in the brilliant future of a Canadian republic

Jul 12th, 2019 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

Last Friday – a week ago now – the Globe and Mail published an obituary for “Character actor Sean McCann” who died in Toronto “on June 13 of heart failure at the age of 83.” The Toronto Star and Toronto Sun had earlier published their own commemorations – “Canadian actor Sean McCann dies at 83” […]



On the “speculative play King Charles III” in Toronto .. and the future of the British monarchy in Canada

Feb 13th, 2018 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

As an altogether confirmed Canadian republican (not at all the same as an American Republican of course, especially today), I ordinarily do my best to ignore the British monarchy. But two contemporary media events have slightly increased my interest in the subject. The first is Harry Windsor’s forthcoming marriage to the mixed-race (and unquestionably hot) […]



The polite fiction that the governor general is somehow “above politics” is what really lacks credibility today

Nov 8th, 2017 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

There seems at least some significant agreement within the Canadian federal punditocracy (which I admire a great deal) that our new former-astronaut Governor General Julie Payette badly blotted her copy book, when she gave spirited opening remarks at the recent 9th annual Canadian Science Policy Conference in Ottawa. I nonetheless feel driven to confess that […]



Monarchism’s last gasp as protest against decline of old WASP hegemony in Canada (and Australia etc)

May 17th, 2017 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2017. Toronto, Ontario.  This coming Monday we will celebrate locally what is known here in Ontario (and other Canadian provinces) as Victoria Day.  (In Quebec the same holiday is now more sensibly called  Journée nationale des patriotes.) The holiday is nowadays defined as “the last Monday preceding May 25.” And this entrenches […]



Happy Canada Day 2016 – for Canadians biggest Brexit impact may be Canadexit from King Charles III

Jun 30th, 2016 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

TORONTO, CANADA. JUNE 30, 2016. Our local and regional stock markets are back,  and it is starting to seem that the Brexit crisis in the United Kingdom is not going to precipitate a global depression after all. It does nonetheless remain something of a bigger-than-expected political (and no doubt economic) disturbance in the UK itself. […]



Laughing to keep from crying in the Commonwealth realms : Justin Trudeau meets the Queen

Nov 25th, 2015 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

A few days ago on Canadian TV the always interesting Susan Riley in Ottawa was expressing her delight at the first few weeks of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. For a moment many of us shared her feelings. But then the otherwise excellent Ms Riley could think of no higher way of concluding her praise than […]