Editor:
Re: A royal welcome, Feb. 11.
Letter-writer Dan Hatcher proclaims he “is a very loyal subject of our queen”; a stance which he has every right to take.
But let’s flip the coin over for the viewpoint of a once-loyal subject – me! I have been a Canadian for over 40 years. My total loyalty is to Canada. I carry no other passport.
I am certainly of British stock, as good Yorkshire blood courses through the starboard side of my body. In my 20s, I spent some two years working in the U.K. Many moons ago, I was on a 17-day voyage on a ship holding about 1,100 one-class passengers who were almost entirely Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans, with a smattering of Canucks. When we toasted the queen and sang God Save the Queen, there was a glow of camaraderie of togetherness. The concept of “our” queen united us.
But the passage of time has brought enormous global changes, and we Canadians should be flexible enough to duck and weave and change in tune with that changing world.
Modern-day Canada has no inherent tie to the queen of another country who deigns to visit about every three years at an immense cost – to us! As an aside, the queen is finally paying taxes on her vast income, but how much ends up in Canadian coffers? Yep, zilch!
Not that the queen actually ignores us in the three-year intervals. She sends her children and grandchildren to Canada on their “hols”; again with the resulting huge costs paid for by Canadian taxpayers.
I suggest the time is at hand to evaluate the connection between Canada and British royalty. We became a country in 1867. We are a free and sovereign nation. Let us act as if we believed the truth of that.
David Poole, Surrey
