44th Parl. 1st Sess.

September 15, 2022 10:00AM

Hon. Andrew Scheer (Regina—Qu'Appelle, CPC)

Sep/15/22 12:41:36 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is always a privilege to rise in this House, but today I and all of our colleagues do so with the heaviest of hearts. At around this moment last Thursday, it “pleased Almighty God to call to His Mercy our late Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth the Second of Blessed and Glorious Memory”, to borrow the words of the first of many accession proclamations made last weekend. In the week which has intervened, we have witnessed and, indeed, ourselves have felt the shock, grief and reflections that have been felt in every corner of the globe ever since. For me, some of my own reflections have been upon the genuine honour and privilege I have had to have been received in audience by Her Majesty on two occasions. First, as speaker of the House, I was there with my counterpart, Noël Kinsella, speaker of the Senate at the time, to present the addresses which both Houses of our Parliament had voted to present to Her Majesty, on the occasion of the Queen's 2012 Diamond Jubilee and in 2013 following the birth of our future king, the current Prince George. Since the House has adopted an address to our new King Charles III, the Speaker may find himself having an audience soon with His Majesty to present him with our Parliament's formal condolences. I am reminded of a personal anecdote of such an audience. Before the Speaker meets the King, he will be presented with a briefing on protocol. We were all told what to do and what not to do. I asked the protocol officer how we would know when the meeting had ended. He looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and said, “Oh, you will know.” Sure enough, at one point in the conversation when it was clear Her Majesty had exchanged enough pleasantries, out came a box with a button on it. She very gently pressed on it and moments later, the equerry came into the room and the meeting was over. I am sure there are many people throughout Canada who wish they had that kind of box when they are having meetings that they would like to get out of. On both occasions when I had that privilege, I can say that Her Majesty's warmth and interest in Canadian matters remarkably shone through. Those various reports members might hear or read about Queen Elizabeth being incredibly well informed about Canadian and world matters certainly accord with my own personal experiences, yet her love of Canada was not just about being well briefed on the news. Canada was tangibly present in her life. She made 22 official visits as Queen and one as Princess Elizabeth, more here than any other country. Her longest visit to Canada in 1959 covered 45 days and 24,000 kilometres. On that trip, she performed her official duties with equal parts grace and grit as she fought through morning sickness to complete her gruelling itinerary. Canada was very much her second home. On a royal tour in 1983 which included both the United States and Canada, as she prepared to fly from California to Vancouver, she told the press, “I am going home to Canada tomorrow.” Some members may be aware that Her Majesty's favourite horse ever was Burmese, the first of the horses gifted by the RCMP, that was foaled in Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan. The Queen rode Burmese at every Trooping of the Colour for 18 consecutive years, from 1969 to 1988, and on many other occasions, like the time she was famously photographed riding with Ronald Reagan. When Burmese retired, the Queen never rode to the Trooping of the Colour again, preferring to travel by carriage. A statue of Queen Elizabeth riding Burmese can be found in Regina, the queen city, a city I proudly represent. We know that the people of Saskatchewan were in her thoughts right up until the end. Her final public statement a little over a week ago was to the people of Saskatchewan, specifically of the James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon, to tell them that she was grieving with them and mourning their loss. The day before that, we all saw the news and photos of her appointing a new British prime minister, her 15th. That Her Majesty, in her mid-nineties, was working right up until literally her very last days is a testament to her understanding of the responsibilities to which she was called by fate. When she was 21, she gave a radio address that has been replayed many times in recent days. In it she declared, “my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service”. She was a young woman then, barely out of childhood, thrust by her uncle's unexpected abdication into a lifetime of service. It was an awe-inspiring promise for such a young person to make with such conviction. She knew even at that young age that there would be no relaxing retirement for her, however well-earned it would have been. Her duties would end only in death, as indeed they did. In her last official photo she is standing beside the fireplace at Balmoral, and she exudes warmth and wisdom, though she must have known the end of her service was only a few days away. She was duty personified to the very last. That devotion to service, which our late Queen typified for the near century she lived and which she witnessed her father demonstrate so remarkably especially during the Second World War, was all the more remarkable since neither of them was meant to be the monarch from birth. It is the same example our new sovereign, King Charles III, witnessed and felt first-hand. I am sure we can have every confidence that His Majesty will follow in their footsteps and the footsteps of their many illustrious predecessors of the past thousand years. The memories, reflections, tributes and appreciation expressed this past week have vividly recalled for all of us the majesty and magic of our constitutional monarchy, the continuity it provides and the bedrock of stability it forms. Other countries may pledge allegiance to flags, which blow unpredictably with the political winds, but our allegiance is to the Canadian Crown, which connects us in a direct line to the historic source of our Constitution. It is a living tradition of order and liberty that is renewed with each generation. The other day I was recalling how the role of the Crown in our parliamentary democracy reminded me of the so-called parable of Chesterton's fence. In his 1929 book, The Thing, G.K. Chesterton wrote of a fence that some reform-minded folks would tear down because they did not understand its purpose, while other more cautious types would first seek to understand the original purpose of the fence and whether it was satisfying those needs. Basically, the lesson is do not destroy what we do not understand. I suspect after this week many more will truly understand the meaningful role of the Canadian monarchy, A Crown of Maples, and that will be yet one more legacy of Her Majesty's remarkable reign. There is no doubt the Crown has helped shape Canada, but we should not view the monarchy or the Crown as some kind of foreign institution. Canada and the Crown are intertwined, and Canada has had an impact on the Crown itself. Our francophone colleagues from Quebec are familiar with the history of our people here in North America, and they know that certain events had a significant impact on the Crown. For example, it was the Quebec Act that first gave religious liberties to Catholics, paving the way for religious tolerance throughout the entire British Empire. That innovation that was used here in North America to help bring two peoples together changed the way Catholics, and ultimately religious minorities, were treated throughout the entire globe. We can take credit here in Canada for that legacy, the change that we effected on our system of government, and through it, the entire world and the entire British Empire. It was the Quebec Act that first established the principle that one can be loyal to the sovereign while still practising whatever faith one chooses. When someone serves so diligently for as long as Queen Elizabeth did, it is tempting to think that they will continue forever. Perhaps that is why, although her death was not unexpected, it still moves us so deeply. We have lost someone who was part of the backdrop of our lives for as long as most of us in this House can remember. Although she is gone, we will be reminded of her for years to come. We will probably encounter her unexpectedly, when we empty coins from our pockets or rummage for stamps at the back of a drawer and we suddenly see that familiar regal profile again. In those moments we will pause and smile as we remember the life of an extraordinary woman and an exemplary Queen. God bless Queen Elizabeth, and God save the King.

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