Speech of Charles reflects a firm stand on issues
- Last updated: May 29, 2025 | 08:57
The Speech from the Throne by King Charles III to the Canadian Parliament on Tuesday was a much anticipated event. US President Donald Trump’s threat to make Canada the 51st state of the United States has been hanging in the air. And the Canadians have only increased their defiance.
The King’s speech, the third from the Throne to Canada, was seen as a resounding assertion by Canada of its distinct identity and how it plans to hold on to it. King Charles’ speech reflected the determined declaration of its own identity.
Charles had said in the course of his speech, “The prime minister and the president of the United States, for example, have begun defining a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the United States, rooted in mutual respect and founded on common interests to deliver transformational benefits for both sovereign nations.”
The independent identity and the sovereignty of Canada have been asserted in a clear language, and without challenging or provoking Trump’s statement. As a matter of fact, Trump was not even mentioned by name by King Charles. He also mentioned directly the issue of export of fentanyl to the United States, which Trump had blamed on Canada. Charles said in his speech: “Law enforcement and intelligence agencies will have new tools to stop the flow of fentanyl and its precursors.”
It is a fact that the Speech from the Throne is one written by the government of the day for the monarch to read out, and it really expressed the stance and viewpoint of the government. That it comes from the Throne has only symbolic significance. But it is something that has far greater gravity than it would have had if it had been the Governor-General of Canada. That King Charles had personally delivered the speech would be of significance to Canadians. It is to be doubted whether it would make any difference to Trump, and whether he would have any deference for King Charles.
The Canadians are keen to send the symbolic message to Trump and to Americans that Canadians did not fight the war of independence against Britain in the 18th century, and they did not raise the battle-cry, “No taxation without representation”. The Americans of that time too did not think beyond their 13 colonies. Trump’s idea of acquiring Canada comes what vaguely from what was known as Manifest Destiny, when American colonists of the 19th century moved relentlessly and inexorably towards the Pacific Coast. The belief of American politicians was that Americans cannot be confined to the eastern sea-board and that it has to spread from ocean to ocean.
There was the pioneers’ drive and desire to expand. But even at that time, in the 1840s, Americans did not think of going into Canada and making it their own.
So, Trump has got the American history wrong, and he has got the viewpoint of the Americans wrong. The unguarded border between the US and Canada is a tribute to the friendliness that exists between the two sides, despite the differences in their political history and their religious affiliation. The Canadians remained loyal to the Throne and they inherited the democracy from the mother-country, Britain. Canada is different from America to the south in every which way.
The Canadians are indeed worried about Trump’s finger-wagging, and they are doing everything they can to tell off Trump. King Charles’ speech to parliament was indeed one of them. Charles’ speech also means that if Trump wants to send troops across the border into Canada, Charles’ speech, though it has not been written by him, obliges him to send British troops in defence of Canada.