Mark Carney’s royal Canadian symbolism

Much has been said about the message that King Charles III’s trip to Canada sends to U.S. President Donald Trump. But it is also a marker of the symbols Prime Minister Mark Carney is displaying to Canadians.

The King’s two-day visit this week, after all, isn’t just a play presented for an audience of one in the White House. Mr. Carney has chosen it as the ceremonial marker of his tenure. And he is resetting the symbols to more traditional tones.

A decade ago, Justin Trudeau’s first throne speech came with deliberate symbols of progressive change. Certainly, there was pomp, and then-governor-general David Johnston received the royal salute.

But then Mr. Johnston and Mr. Trudeau were treated to an Indigenous honour song and slowly made their way down the halls of Parliament lined with young new Canadians, notably including newly arrived Syrian refugees. The watchwords in the speech were openness, caring and diversity.

Mr. Carney has chosen different symbols. Many are about the history and traditions that bind Canadians together. That‘s how Canadians came to see the King dropping the puck for a street hockey game.

In Mr. Carney‘s first speech as Prime Minister in March, before the election, his words were chosen to evoke symbols of historical ties that bind. He talked about “the wonder of a country built on the bedrock of three peoples: Indigenous, French and British.”

That‘s the modern version of the once-commonly expressed notion that Canada had two founding peoples – before Indigenous people were counted in – but you don’t hear politicians using it any more, perhaps because it leaves out the multicultural mosaic. Mr. Carney likes to reach back to origins and treats them as the foundation of current identity.

In some ways, a lot of Mr. Carney‘s style seems to involve easing the pendulum back to the middle after Mr. Trudeau swung out pretty far. The new Prime Minister is not just moving policies closer to the centre, but the symbols.

Mr. Carney talks about diversity, but sounds less woke. His friend and Natural Resources Minister, Tim Hodgson, went to Calgary to tell Albertans that Liberals love oil – or something like that.

The message in that is that Mr. Carney is here for trade war, not culture war, and he’s trying to build on Canada’s heritage to bridge divisions. Perhaps a touch of tradition and history helps him mark a difference with his immediate predecessor.

Of course, that fits in together with Mr. Carney‘s goal of marking distinctions from United States – and to have Canadians feel like it is a collective nationalist statement that their country will not be the 51st state. That‘s the open subtext to the invitation to the King to open Parliament and deliver the Throne Speech on Tuesday.

That‘s a message to Mr. Trump but more of a power play. Inviting the King to symbolically stand up to the U.S. President – and that‘s how it will be seen – will ensure that the opening of the Canadian Parliament gets a lot more attention around the world.

Still, traditional symbols have old fissures. Quebeckers, by and large, view it as an anachronistic symbol of ties to a foreign country, and for some, an unhappy past.

A Léger Marketing poll published Monday found 87 per cent of Quebeckers said they feel no attachment to the monarchy. (The May 14-16 poll surveyed 1,011 Quebeckers. As an online poll, it cannot be assigned a margin of error.)

Perhaps Mr. Carney, who has spent more of his life in England than in Quebec, doesn’t quite grasp that sensibility. But perhaps that doesn’t worry him, either.

The King’s visit has revived chatter in Quebec about whether ties to the monarchy should be cut, but there is no intense movement to actually do it. Polls show split opinions about the monarchy across Canada, and there was probably more emotional attachment to Queen Elizabeth than the King.

But chances are his trip will be a meaningful symbol to some, and a source of irritation to few. And it will be an event.

Certainly, Mr. Carney clearly feels comfortable with the royal symbolism. He beamed at nearly every moment by the King’s side on Monday.

After Mr. Trudeau, who consciously sought the symbols of progressive change, Mr. Carney is looking like a more traditional prime minister.