Having a politically weak but symbolically powerful monarch as the head of state within a Westminster-style democracy has proven to be an effective barricade against populist demagogues.
This Victoria Day, the usual suspects will decry the holiday — in the name of decolonization. However, so long as Canada’s existence is said to make the world a better place, the process by which this country was created ought not be deplored.
However, one can simply compare the constitutional monarchies of resource-rich Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to the republics of the resource-richer South Africa, India, and Zimbabwe to see which is preferable for guaranteeing human rights, democracy, and stability — not to mention prosperity. Yes, there were slaves in Canada, and Britain participated in the Atlantic slave trade. But slavery was at odds with the British ideal of liberty — which differed markedly from its continental European counterparts.
Canada’s other great reformers of that era, like Robert Baldwin or Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, merely wanted to enjoy the same rights as those living in Britain, not to outright detach their home from Britain itself. This reality was understood by the most successful leaders of the decolonized world as the age of imperial empires declined in the 20th century. Lee Kuan Yew and Jawaharlal Nehru understood that Singapore and India, respectively, did not need to erase all traces of British colonial rule for their newly-independent states to thrive.
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