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His Royal Highness King Charles III and family,
It is with a heavy heart and sorrow that I learned of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. On behalf of Kingston and the Islands, please accept our sincerest condolences on this sorrowful loss.
During her 70 years as monarch of Canada, Britain and the Commonwealth, Her Majesty saw many great accomplishments.
Aside from being a loved figure globally, she is best known for injecting vitality and vigour into the lives of many during some of the darkest times we faced. Her strength, resilience and ability to empower those around her will be aspects of her legacy that will live on and be remembered by all.
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As a nation, we mourn the loss of such a strong figure.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will seldom be forgotten. Please know that you are in our thoughts during this difficult time.
Mark Gerretsen
Kingston and the Islands MP
Marshall McLuhan famously said the medium is the message. By that he meant that we often take more from the way we communicate than the content of our communications. Queen Elizabeth II was a master of both. Her iconic wave may have signified her regal splendour, but it was her radio broadcasts early in her reign that came to symbolize her tone and her communication style.
As Princess Elizabeth, her first radio broadcast was in October 1940 to the children of the Commonwealth. As would be familiar in the decades of her communications, the princess discussed her family and provided a reliably sombre and thoughtful view on the state of the world. Later as Queen, her Christmas messages beginning in 1957 would become a tradition as important as any other on that day. These serve as markers for the year that passed and optimism for the year that is to begin. Not all addresses were marked by such undiluted pleasure as Her Majesty said in 1992 on the 40th anniversary of her accession. This was the speech that marked annus horribilis in our popular imagination. Even when she was marking the breakup of three of her children and a fire that ravaged her home, the Queen still managed to do so with such restraint and litotes.
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Decades later in 2014, the Queen would take the next leap in technology and use Twitter. It was as important that she was on this platform (you could reply to her!) as it was the content of her messages. Her Twitter account has been used to express concerns over the floods in B.C. or gently take a shot at Justin Trudeau. Marshall McLuhan would be proud.
Jonathan Rose
Head, Department of Political Studies, Queens University
Sadly, the role of Queen Elizabeth II in preserving the Canadian union and strengthening federalism is often overlooked today.
In 1867, the innovative founders of our great nation combined parliamentary democracy with a federal system of government. Cartier, Aime Dorion, McGee and others understood the need for a common bond among Canadians from all provinces and territories to hold this vast country together over time.
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They believed that the Crown at the apex of government would foster a sense of political nationalism that would transcend partisanship and differences based on place, race, ethnicity and religion. A Crown with a team of governors, as Frank McKenna later called the Governor General and lieutenant-governors in the provinces, would preside above the fray of politics and social and economic divisions, providing a focus of loyalty among citizens.
The importance of Queen Elizabeth serving as this non-political, apolitical institution to sustain the Canadian federation is no more evident than during the constitutional wars (1970s to 1990s).
The Pierre Trudeau federal government responded to the 1970s rise of separatism in Quebec by proposing legislation to replace the Queen with the Governor General as Head of State. All of the provincial premiers, including the separatist Quebec Premier Levesque, immediately and vociferously opposed this move because federal appointment of the Head of State would pave the way to John A. Macdonalds vision of a centralized state.
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Throughout the constitutional battles, the premiers opposed abolishing the monarchy because it would undermine the principle of federalism and empower Ottawa at provincial expense.
Throughout these debates, First Nations leaders appealed to the Crown as the signatory to their treaties to protect their rights, thus recognizing treaty federalism as a constitutional relationship.
The Queen calmly presided over these frays, never intervening publicly but standing as a powerful reminder of the founding principle of federalism and the equal sovereign authority of federal, provincial and Indigenous governments. Her gracious and authoritative demeanour was a silent admonishment to all politicians to honour the Crown by playing by the constitutional rules with respect for all citizens.
Prof. Kathy Brock
MPA Director, School of Policy Studies, Queens University
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