The King's Throne Speech

In my personal library I have a copy of the June 1959 issue of The National Geographic Magazine which my parents received when I was a small child. In that issue is a colourful article, titled "Queen of Canada," written by journalist Phyllis Wilson with photographs by Kathleen Revis. It recounts the visit of her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to Ottawa in 1957. The final photograph in this article is of the Queen and her consort Prince Philip seated on their red thrones in the Senate chamber as she reads the Speech from the Throne. Seated to her right is Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, who had only recently been elected as head of a minority Conservative government. The Queen would repeat this event in 1977 on the occasion of her silver jubilee.

This week her son King Charles III was in Ottawa to read the Throne Speech opening the 45th Parliament in the Senate's temporary facilities in the Senate of Canada Building at 2 Rideau Street. Suffice it to say that, although the monarch is entitled to read the Throne Speech and perform any number of monarchical duties relevant to Canada, most of these functions are handled by his Governor General, currently Her Excellency Mary Simon.

Recent activities for May 2025

I have now posted my Global Scholars Canada newsletter for May 2025. Included are two podcast interviews, a Canadian election postmortem, my initial thoughts on the new pope, and a board meeting in suburban Washington, DC. Thank you for your support for my work!

Canada votes 2025

Canadians went to the polls on monday, 28 April in the 45th federal election since Confederation in 1867. The final results were not unexpected, but they nevertheless represented a stunning turnaround from where we thought a few months ago we would be today. Under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Party had become hugely unpopular, with pundits predicting an easy victory by Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives in the election expected sometime this year. Throughout most of the life of the 44th Parliament, the Liberals ruled as a minority government, a supply and confidence agreement with Jagmeet Singh's New Democrats keeping them in power.

Late last year, it became clear that the New Democrats had wearied of this arrangement and threatened to pull the plug on the government. For readers unfamiliar with Canadian politics, parties with only a plurality of the seats in the House of Commons rarely form coalition governments with other parties. The closest we have come to this at the federal level was the Union Government of Sir Robert Borden formed during the Great War between the ruling Conservatives and dissident Liberals outside Québec. It is exceedingly rare for a party to receive a majority of votes cast, and in recent years it has become difficult for a single party to obtain a majority of Commons seats as well. In many other democracies, a party lacking majority support would negotiate with other parties to form a multiparty coalition government. But not in Canada.

Pope Leo XIV

Now that our daughter is married as of last saturday, I will be gradually getting through a backlog of items that have accumulated during the period of preparation for this event. These include the recent Canadian election, on which I will shortly publish my thoughts; the political chaos south of the border; and the new pope. In many ways, the third item is more readily addressed than the first two, so I begin with that.

I have now lived through eight papacies. Given that successive conclaves of cardinals generally choose older men to fill the office, the length of a particular papacy is typically fairly short. Pope John XXIII reigned for only five years, yet his legacy has endured in the form of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). The recently departed Pope Francis was on the papal throne for a dozen years. John Paul II reigned for an unusually long 27 years, during which he managed to contribute to the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and its bloc of client states, including his native Poland. In the 19th century, Pius IX broke the record for length of tenure, reigning for 31 years, during which he convened the First Vatican Council (1869-1870), setting the agenda for the Roman Catholic Church into the mid 20th century.

God's Story Podcast interview 2

Earlier this year I was privileged to talk for a second time with Brent Siddall on his God's Story Podcast. Here is the new interview, which is now posted: David Koyzis — Political Visions and Illusions. I would love one day to travel to Brent's native New Zealand (Aotearoa) and spend some time taking in the spectacular scenery of this stunning if remote Commonwealth realm.