Canadian MPs overwhelmingly reject effort to ditch UK crown

Opposition movement urging Canada to chop ties with the British monarchy is shot down in 266-44 vote in parliament.

Canadian MPs have rejected an try by a Quebec opposition occasion to push the nation to chop ties with the British crown, voting down the Bloc Quebecois’s parliamentary movement by an amazing margin.

The tally within the Home of Commons on Wednesday was 266 in opposition to, to solely 44 votes in favour.

The trouble stood little probability of success as Canada — a constitutional monarchy that has King Charles III as its symbolic “head of state” — requires the consent of each homes of parliament and all of its provinces to separate from the UK’s monarchy.

However Bloc Quebecois chief Yves-Francois Blanchet stated earlier this week that the current loss of life of Queen Elizabeth II supplied a chance for Canadians to “free themselves” from the crown, an establishment he described in a press release as “dilapidated”.

“It’s an anachronism. It’s a coat of paint in a lounge that’s beginning to fade within the corners,” Blanchet stated throughout a information convention on Tuesday forward of a debate on his occasion’s movement.

The push comes amid a debate in a number of Commonwealth realms, particularly within the Caribbean, over the long run function of the British monarchy within the aftermath of Queen Elizabeth’s loss of life in September.

The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda stated in September that the island nation deliberate to carry a referendum on the matter within the subsequent three years, whereas comparable conversations have gained steam in Jamaica.

Barbados in November of final yr additionally renounced the queen to turn out to be a republic.

In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday rejected the Bloc’s push, saying in parliament that his Liberal Occasion was centered on extra urgent matters.

“Canadians are involved by the problems they’re going through, whether or not that’s local weather change, international instability or the price of dwelling. And that’s what we select to debate,” Trudeau stated.

An Ipsos ballot launched in September confirmed that Canadians have been divided over the monarchy’s future function within the nation, with 54 % saying they agreed that Canada ought to “finish its formal ties to the British monarchy” within the aftermath of the queen’s loss of life.

Forty-six % disagreed with chopping relations to the crown, the identical ballot discovered.