SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 96

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 15, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 96 - Sep/15/22
Mr. Adam Chambers (Simcoe North, CPC)
  • Sep/15/22 11:20:19 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for seven decades, the Queen was our head of state and performed her duties admirably with great care. To many she was the Queen, but to us she was our Queen. An accomplished historian, Joe Martin, said to me just the other day, “Her reign was unprecedented and a sterling example of duty and responsibility.” Indeed, at just 21 years old, in Cape Town she took a vow: “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service”. The Queen never laid down the heavy weight of the Crown. Her Majesty loved this country, visiting us over 20 times, including Simcoe North in both Midland and Orillia. As a young boy, my father went to see her board a train in Midland in 1959. Years later, in 2010, I went to see her as she got into a car leaving Queen's Park. She elicited a sense of patriotism among many of us and I remember feeling it that day. It always seemed to me that Her Majesty would always be there. In some ways she always will be, but many will miss her calm and poised demeanour, which has provided comfort and stability to so many over numerous difficult periods over these last 70 years. Our system of government may not be perfect, but the Queen performed her role with dignity and grace to ensure the integrity of our system. There was a human behind the Crown who could enjoy a good laugh like the rest of us. There is a family that mourns the loss of a mother, sister, grandmother and great-grandmother. Many of us who feel connected to Her Majesty also feel a sense of grief. On behalf of those in Simcoe North who share in the grief of the loss of Her Majesty, we express our most sincere condolences to the royal family. May we take from Her Majesty's life example of service and apply it in our own lives. May God bless the Queen. Long live the King.
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Context: House Hansard - 96 - Sep/15/22
Mr. Scott Reid (Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, CPC)
  • Sep/15/22 2:36:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, at Her Majesty's coronation on June 2, 1953, the following sublimely optimistic, traditional formula was repeated: “God bless Queen Elizabeth. God save Queen Elizabeth. May the Queen live forever.” So long was our late Queen on the throne that it felt almost as if her reign really never would end, and it seemed possible to hope that the Queen really could live forever. She became so intimately woven into our memories that it felt to many people around the world as if she were a member of our own families. I think this happened not just because of the length of her reign, but also because she celebrated with us at every important event in our nation's life and mourned with her subjects at so many collective tragedies. Her reign started long before most of us were born. When, as a teenager, I first saw her in person at the 1982 event here on Parliament Hill where she affixed her signature to Canada's new Constitution Act, which includes the Charter of Rights, she had already celebrated her Silver Jubilee for 25 years on the throne. From my youthful perspective, she was already an eternal presence. This same perspective is very much the same for anybody who was less than kindergarten age when the Queen ascended to the throne, which means, demographically, over 90% of the Canadian population and an even higher percentage in some other Commonwealth jurisdictions. There simply is no time in our memories when Queen Elizabeth was not there. She was even woven into pop culture, referred to in songs by the Beatles and Dire Straits among many others. It was in this way that she came to feel like a member of the family to so many people who had never actually met her.
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