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The pathological nature of Canadian republicanism is apparent from the Ipsos poll itself. Respondents were asked to indicate whether they agree or disagree with the statement “When Queen Elizabeth’s reign ends, Canada should end its formal ties to the British monarchy.” Fifty-three percent of the sample agreed; the figure was 73 per cent within Quebec, 46 per cent elsewhere.

But why would the death of the Queen be considered an appropriate moment for constitutional revision? Ipsos’s republican push-pollsters do not even have the guts to say out loud what they are talking about. Even as they contemplate a Canadian republic as something to be perpetrated like a theft, when the right distraction happens along, they instinctively avoid lèse-majesté. They know people like the Queen: their own poll finds that 81 per cent of Canadians think she has done a good job (leaving us to wonder what hallucinated grievances the other 19 per cent might have).

People perhaps like Prince Charles less, but this just goes to show how short-sighted republicans are, to say nothing of the clear possibility that his mother might outlast him. The Prince of Wales, whose constitutional and personal position is innately awkward, is always more controversial than the sovereign. This is a permanent condition of our monarchy, one that it has survived a dozen times over.

It will vaccinate Canadians against creeping, phony Americanism long enough for the monarchy to trundle onward.

The idea that we would steal away from the Royal Family while its back was turned in sorrow is so absurd that I can barely find polite language for it. The death of a Canadian monarch sets an apparatus in motion that will keep Ottawa plenty busy. (The letterheads and signage alone…!) Republican pundits who try to seize the moment will find themselves accused of poor taste and worse judgment. The death of the late Princess of Wales gave us a preview of this mental environment: that of Carrie Fisher, a space-opera princess, has just given us another small taste.