44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 15, 2022 10:00AM
- Sep/15/22 2:14:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is always a privilege to be able to stand in the House. I stand here before my colleagues with mixed emotions. I am both happy to to return and see colleagues on both the government and opposition benches, who I have not had the chance to see since June, but I am deeply saddened by the events that recently took place in Saskatchewan in James Smith Cree Nation, as well as what we are here today to discuss, which is the passing of our Queen, Queen Elizabeth II.
To the families who lost loved ones in Saskatchewan, we are all thinking of them and stand with them.
I would like to send my condolences to only the royal family, but indeed also to those around the world who are mourning her passing. She was a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother, but she was also our Queen and the head of state for millions around the world.
During my time today, I would like to highlight some of the incredible contributions that the Queen made to public life during her 70‑year reign. I also want to talk about the importance of the Crown and Canada's relationship with the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarchy.
It goes without saying that the Queen was a dedicated public servant, and I think all of us in the House, indeed all Canadians, have probably had an opportunity to reflect on her time serving as our head of state. We recently had a national caucus in New Brunswick and there were reflections of how best to be able to move forward in her passing.
Literally 36 hours before her death, she was performing her constitutional obligations. She was performing her public service by welcoming the United Kingdom's new prime minister to form government in her name. That, at its core, is a reflection of how seriously she took her job as the sovereign of not only the United Kingdom but also the realms of the Commonwealth for which she served as the head of state. It is significant.
As has been mentioned in various speeches today, in her first address to the Commonwealth, she dedicated her life to public service. It is important to recognize that during the Second World War, Princess Elizabeth served with the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's branch of the British Army, where she trained as a mechanic.
I want to take a moment to talk about Her Majesty's relationship with Canada. As has been referenced, Canada was the most visited country outside of the United Kingdom in the Commonwealth that the Queen visited. She visited Nova Scotia on five separate occasions.
I am wearing a MacLachlan tie. I have deep Scottish roots and a connection to the United Kingdom. I think about the fact that the Queen loved visiting Balmoral Castle, loved her time in Scotland, specifically as part of the Highland Games and certainly, on reflection upon her visits to Nova Scotia, particularly enjoyed our province because of those deep Scottish roots that our province shares with the mother country.
In some ways, the Queen reminded me of my grandmother. I say this in the best of terms possible. They are relatively the same age. My grandmother is now 93, born just three years after the Queen. I think we could all have an appreciation, depending on one's age I suppose, of how the Queen almost served as a grandmother to all of us, particularly those who have come of age. She was someone we might not have known, but we felt like we knew because of her presence over such a long time in Canadian history.
She spent 70 years as our head of state, which is just shy of half of the entire existence of this country. It is quite significant. I saw a statistic the other day that 9 out of 10 people living in the world right now have only ever known Queen Elizabeth as the head of state, at least in the country of Canada, and indeed only one out of 10 were born prior to her serving in her capacities.
A number of reflections have come out since Her Majesty's passing. One video that I found on social media was particularly funny. I think it probably reflects the type of person that she was.
There is a police officer who had been a part of her guard, and the video is only about a minute and a half, but the police officer goes on to explain that, during one of their walks in Scotland while he was accompanying her, there were two American tourists who ran into them along the road. It became very apparent that the tourists did not know that this was Queen Elizabeth. Without going into great detail, I would encourage colleagues to actually find the video on Twitter.
The Queen played along and said that she had not met the Queen but that her police officer had. The police officer jumped in and says, “Well, yes, I have met her. She can be cantankerous at times, but she has a great personality.” Those two American tourists, according to this story, walked away not even knowing that they had just met the head of state of Canada and of all her realm. I think the Queen's good-natured spirit is reflected in that story. I would encourage colleagues to go find it.
Of course, today our primary focus is sending our condolences, recognizing the public service of Queen Elizabeth and celebrating the ascension of King Charles III. There will undoubtedly be conversations about Canada's constitutional nature. I just want to take the opportunity in the time I have left to highlight that I am unequivocal in my belief that the Crown and the relationship that Canada shares with the United Kingdom through the constitutional monarchy is something that needs to continue. I hope to go into just a little bit of detail as to why I feel that way.
Canada's relationship with the Crown is fundamental to the development of our country. The member for Hastings—Lennox and Addington went into great detail about the history of her particular riding and the relationship with loyalists that founded the area. Nova Scotia is no different. When we look at Hants County, the relationships between the Acadians and the Loyalists who came to Nova Scotia, along with those who had Scottish roots, as I mentioned previously, were all really important relationships, along with those with indigenous people, that really helped the founding our country.
This Parliament we stand in, our Westminster tradition, was founded and borrowed from our mother country in the United Kingdom. I would be remiss if I did not mention that Nova Scotia was the first colony, the first government, outside of the United Kingdom to actually form a responsible government in 1848. These are all conventions and customs that we have inherited and that evolved in Canada. They have been built off of our tradition and our relationship with the Crown and the British monarchy.
As it has been mentioned previously, our relationship with indigenous people has not always been perfect. It has indeed been rocky. Perhaps this speaks to my naivete, but in conversation with indigenous constituents, I have been surprised at the deep connection that indigenous communities in Kings—Hants share with the Crown, particularly when talking about treaties that predate the founding of Canada. Those were signed directly with the British Crown. I am thinking about the friendship treaties of the 1700s, particularly of 1763. Those were formed, and then, of course, enshrined in our Constitution in 1982.
I thought the member for Orléans did a particularly strong job of talking about how sometimes there has been tension about how the Crown's relationship in Canada has been forged both in English and French, which shows our diversity in linguistic and cultural elements.
I have just two more points before I finish. On our international outlook and cooperation, I recognize that we do not need to be a constitutional monarchy to share our relationship with the Commonwealth. Those foundational partnerships that the United Kingdom has formed around the world gives us an international community that we can work with and rely on. In today's world, where there is a whole host of uncertainty, those partnerships and international shared experiences are extremely important for our diplomatic work in the global forum.
It is often quoted that democracy is not necessarily the best form of government but that it is the best of all the other alternatives.
When we examine our own form of government as a constitutional monarchy, we see that yes, there are other forms, but I think that those forms, whether a republic or another style of government, come with a whole host of questions. When we look at the transition between Queen Elizabeth II and the accession of King Charles III and the way in which that has been built over time, we see the certainty that it provides. Indeed, members have talked about our ability as parliamentarians to be focused on the partisan nature of politics, to be able to debate vigorously here in the House, but always to be doing it in the service of the Crown and the country, and that, I think, provides important stability.
I wanted to make sure that my thoughts were on the record and in Hansard.
Certainly, on behalf of the constituents of Kings—Hants, we welcome King Charles III as our new monarch in Canada. I think certainly it has been “God save the King” or “Long live the King”. I do not know exactly whether there is a convention that is different, but we certainly welcome his accession and his role as our head of state in this country.
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