There has been no shortage of columns on the future of the Canadian monarchy over the past few days – I’ve even contributed my own – and they are all over the map between “Our current system works” and “Barbados is going republican so why can’t we?” But one of the fundamental problems with many of these pieces is a fundamental lack of basic civics. Like, the most basic, which then gets even more compounded with wrong-headed expectations about what our other political actors should be doing. A huge example is the importance of keeping the ceremonial head of state functions away from the head of government functions, but this is failing to find as much traction these days, and that’s a problem.

https://twitter.com/LagassePhilippe/status/1372200793546366976

https://twitter.com/LagassePhilippe/status/1372202091712819200

https://twitter.com/LagassePhilippe/status/1372203588466978820

https://twitter.com/LagassePhilippe/status/1372205703843225607

I would dispute with Philippe a bit here in that people would get fussed about honours being handed out by prime ministers or ministers, particularly if it’s a PM that they disagree with. That’s one of the primary reasons why honours should be with the Queen via the Governor Genera/Lieutenant Governors, because it keeps it out of the hands of politicians and the whims of the government of the day. When you start turning honours over to politicians, bad things happen – recall the gong show that was the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medals, where MPs and senators were given a number to hand out apiece, and some of them went to certain individuals that would never have been eligible for any other honours in this country.

We can only look at the mockery which has been made of Presidential honors and awards in the USA in the last four years around the Medal of Freedom as well as the Kennedy Center Honors and other awards associated with the Presidency as a cautionary tale.

— Richard Berthelsen (@rberthelsen) March 17, 2021

But of course, as Dan Gardner points out, so much of this stems not only from our poor civics education, but the fact that we are so saturated with American pop culture and politics that so many in this country believe that we are analogous in so many ways. Hell, we have political parties in this country who simply swallow the positions of American politicos and just divide by 10, thinking that’s all it takes, like we’re not separate countries or anything. It’s a huge problem and not enough of us are pushing back against it. The Crown is a big part of what keeps us distinct, and we need to better appreciate that. I can say from personal experience that one of the comments I’ve received most about my book is that people read the chapter on the Crown and say that it finally makes sense to them because they’ve never learned it properly before. We have a problem and we need to solve it before more people think that the solution is to become Americans.

https://twitter.com/dgardner/status/1372205403782676486

Good reads:

• It turns out that only five percent of people who test positive for COVID are using the COVID Alert app properly, as provinces aren’t distributing one-time codes.
• The Star has a longread on the early days of the pandemic and places where the government might or might not have been able to do better.
• China has announced that the two Michaels will go to trial on espionage charges later this week and next.
• The Senate has passed the assisted dying bill, and it later received royal assent. Here is an explainer of how these changes differ from the original legislation.
• The federal government is rejecting Iran’s “final report” on the downing of Flight PS72, and their claims of “human error.”
• David Lametti is trying to dissuade the Senate from amending the judicial training bill, citing the minority parliament, and constitutionality.
• The government’s plans to regulate web platforms to force the removal of illegal content could run afoul of the New NAFTA.
• Internal RCMP reports show that the alleged spy in their ranks was also harassing co-workers, and the Force’s brass wouldn’t acknowledge the complaints.
• The Senate’s proposed new harassment policy is getting pushback because of its use of NDAs, while others want more protection from “bullying” by other senators.
• Apparently the excuse for Conservatives privately slagging Erin O’Toole in the media is because of how badly they’re doing in the polls.
• Peter MacKay plans to sit out this weekend’s Conservative convention, fuelling rumours of discontent.
• The Conservative Party is planning to disband their own riding association in Derek Sloan’s constituency, possibly trying to salt the earth before rebuilding it.
• The Line talks to Shannon Phillips about the police surveillance she was subject to.
• Stephen Saideman declares that Harjit Sajjan should resign for abdicating his constitutional responsibility when it comes to the allegations against General Vance.
• Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column delves into the issues that surround multiple committees looking at the same subject matter.
• Susan Delacourt ponders about how the pandemic has changed the conversation about inequality in Canada.
• Colby Cosh lambastes the Ontario NDP private member’s bill Temptation Be Gone Act. No seriously, that’s what it’s called.
• Over at Open Canada, I make the case that the Uyghur genocide vote is a solid indication that none of Canada’s political parties are serious about foreign policy.

Odds and ends:

More self-owns from Erin O’Toole, from the nonsense about election planning, and his website with a Soviet helicopter (with a Canadian flag on it). Oops!

But he gets to…keep…his job if there's no election? https://t.co/c3w4YgRCCK

— Andrew MacDougall (@AGMacDougall) March 17, 2021

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/1372264791406956556

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