King’s Speech: In fractured world, Charles seeks to reassure Canadians amid unprecedented challenges

King’s Speech: In fractured world, Charles seeks to reassure Canadians amid unprecedented challenges

You’re used to seeing an session of the UK Parliament opened by the monarch. It’s an annual tradition. Much rarer is when the same monarch who’s head of the Commonwealth crosses the Atlantic and uh makes that uh speech uh before the Canadian Parliament. Uh Charles doing so, the first since his mother did it in 1977. reading the words of the new prime minister Mark Carney uh Charles with his presence uh already uh denoting uh the distinction between Canada and its neighbor to the south in times where Donald Trump has taken aim uh at the Canadians. Many Canadians are feeling anxious and worried about the drastically changing world around them. Fundamental change is always unsettling. Yet, this moment is also an incredible opportunity, an opportunity for renewal, an opportunity to think big and to act bigger, an opportunity for Canada to embark on the largest transformation of its economy since the Second World War. Well, for more, let’s go to Toronto. Adam Chapnik is uh a foreign and public policy analyst, professor of defense studies at the Royal Military College of Canada. Thank you for being with us here on France 24. My pleasure. Thank you for having me. There we saw uh Charles reading uh that speech uh with uh and in the frame you saw the author, the new prime minister Mark Carney. uh your thoughts first of all on just the fact that Charles is in Ottawa. Well, there are a few things going on there. Mr. Carney is trying to demonstrate both to Canadians and and to those who didn’t vote for him that he is he has connections to the world that when he speaks to international leaders, they respond. He invited the king to come give this speech in Canada. The king’s health is not great. It’s a big trip for less than 48 hours and yet the king came. So, it’s it’s a demonstration there that the prime minister himself has influence in the world and it’s also it’s a reminder to President Trump that the king of Canada is someone that the president actually admires quite a bit. Uh it’s a reminder to Canadians about their history. I think it it ticks a lot of boxes for Prime Minister Carney all at the same time. All right. And the speech read out, the speech written by the the new uh prime minister. Adam, let me ask you as king of Canada, is it a request Mark Carney poses directly to Charles or does he have to go through Kier Starmer? He does not have to go through Kier Starmer, but he does have to go through the palace in the United Kingdom. And a good ally would of course let the eur the British government know what was going on. My sense is that the British government was not nearly as excited about the king coming as Canadians were. uh the British government has his own challenges with the United States and uh doesn’t and has every reason to worry about what it can’t control when the king comes to Canada. At the same time, the king has quite a fondness for Canada. He even mentioned that in his speech uh because the king does get to write a few lines at the beginning and at the end. And I believe the king did want to come and to show some support for Canada at a time when many Canadians as you suggested and the speech suggested are feeling quite threatened by the state of the world today. Feeling quite threatened. Was it watching the spectacle unfold a moment of unity? I think for a brief moment it probably was. You weren’t actually allowed to clap and applaud during a throne speech. And yet there was some applause towards the end when the king spoke about a strong and a strong and free Canada. So I think there was at least a moment where Canadians were uh joining together in support of the the sovereignty and the the unity of our state. We have some challenges here on on all of those fronts, but we had at least a moment there where we stood together. And uh the uh king uh who uh also in that speech uh talking up again the the issue of uh of values, talking about the rights of uh of welcoming immigrants. Uh again, all these seem to be uh illusions to Donald Trump. Uh how will it go when uh Trump confers with Mark Carney? We don’t know yet what if is there confirmation or not if Trump is coming to Alberta for the G7. From what we’ve been told uh the most re most recently the president will indeed come to Alberta for the G7 uh summit. So that seems to be at least for now on which is good news. I don’t think there was anything in this speech to cause President Trump to take real offense. uh there were certainly illusions made, but the words themselves spoke about Canada and Canada’s resilience, Canada’s strengths. If someone chooses to make comparisons to read in comparisons to the United States, they can. But there was no deliberate provoking of the bear or poking of the bear taking place here. So I I I don’t see this speech as risky in any way, particularly since the president likes the monarchy and is probably more inclined to give the king the benefit of the doubt in a situation like this. Please stay with us, Adam. We’re going to cross over to Ottawa and our correspondent uh Christopher Gully. Uh Christopher again 1977 the last time that uh the king made the trip to the building behind you. Well, it wasn’t the king. It was his mom, Queen Elizabeth II. And the previous time was in 57. So she she read the the throne speech twice within 20 years. But you’re right, the last time was se 1977. There’s never been a king who has read the the speech from the throne. And it was an interesting speech because he began very personal and he cleverly masterfully slid into the government’s agenda uh without skipping a beat. Um it was interesting also that he ended on a personal note. There’s great affection. And there was a round of applause when when he said at the end uh that Canada has shown that it’s the true north strong and free. And uh Christopher when we listened in earlier in the newsroom we noted that uh and we know this from before uh you know when it’s c it’s Canada it’s bilingual you have to read in both French and English and his French is def he definitely knows what he’s reading. He is good at speaking French. Yeah absolutely. His mom was was quite fluent as well and I just I was watching him read the speech and it was he was like he was casually like flipping through a catalog. He I think he almost memorized it because there were times when he was turning the page and he was still speaking and there was no teleprompter. So, um I I think that the speech was although crafted by the prime minister’s office in Canada, I’m almost certain that King Charles had a hand in it at the end that he signed off on it and added as I mentioned certainly the the front end of the speech and the back end. Adam Chapnik was mentioning to us how uh he’s not been in good health of late, reminding us of that. How did he seem to you, Christopher? Yeah, I was sitting with some colleagues from from the UK uh who traveled with him and will be returning with him. Uh yes, he is suffering from cancer. Uh he his gate is a little awkward. Uh it’s a remark performance for someone who’s essentially on a 25 24-hour trip. Like he arrived in Ottawa on Monday at 1:00 our time. He will be leaving Ottawa 1:00 our time today. So 24 hours. And in that during that time, he’s gone to Landsdown Park, this public space, met a lot of people, uh planted a tree at uh the residence of the governor general, his representative in Canada. The throne speech, as I speak to you, he’s at the war memorial. Uh so for for a fellow who’s 76 years old who suffers from cancer it’s showing physically just by his gate his posture but you try to keep up with that stamina plus there’s jet lag. I mean there were young journalists who are suffering from jet lag who are half his age. Let me turn to Adam Chapnik because uh for Mark Carney it’s as you were saying at the outset Mark Adam a bit of a coup getting the monarch to return for the first time since 1977 with the trade tensions which once the plane is in the air again and Charles is back on route to London will still be there with the United States. How does he get from here to that G7? I think that it sounds like behind the scenes Americans and Canadians are now talking. I mean, the American ambassador to the United States has said that this whole idea of the 51st state is over. He said it repeatedly. He that doesn’t mean the president won’t bring it up again, but it means that Canadians have said we’re not interested and America recognizes that. which gives space to our dip the diplomats and officials on both sides to start talking about what some sort of bilateral agreement focused on both economics and defense might look like. Uh from where I sit my hope is that Mexico is somehow involved in this because uh two heads negotiating with the United States is usually usually better than one. Uh for now though, it seems that we are speaking to the Americans and as long as that there is no uh surprising eruption. Uh things should continue calmly as they’ve been for the last little while until that G7. Now admittedly, the president is quite unpredictable and you don’t know what he might say next, but there aren’t any obvious big roadblocks between now and that meeting in Alberta. And uh one final question, we we’ve talked about how the king is doing. Uh how about how the new prime minister is doing? Remember that Mark Carney, even though he’s a known figure, had been the governor of the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, this is his first elected office with with this recent election. The prime minister himself seems to be performing quite well. The challenge is that he has a new ministry. He has and he hasn’t managed to staff up the political officials around that ministry that quickly. So there have been some ministers who have made some comments not entirely consistent with the government line that’s taken the government away from its key message. Uh there the prime minister has had challenges finding a permanent chief of staff which he’s now put off until the summer. So he’s had some of these problems that you tend to have when you’re not experienced in politics, but his ability to govern and to lead seems to be uh on on schedule and proceeding as planned right now. Adam Chapman, I want to thank you so much for being with us from Toronto. Christopher Gully, our correspondent covering that King’s speech, the opening of the Canadian Parliament uh from Ottawa. Thank you for being with us here.

King Charles III said Canada is facing unprecedented challenges in a world that’s never been more dangerous as he opened the Canadian Parliament with a speech widely viewed as a show of support in the face of annexation threats by US President Donald Trump. The king is the head of state in Canada, which is a member of the Commonwealth of former colonies. Trump’s repeated suggestion that Canada become the 51st state prompted Prime Minister Mark Carney to invite Charles to give a speech from the throne outlining the Liberal government’s priorities for the new session of Parliament. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24’s François Picard welcomes Dr. Adam Chapnick, Author, Deputy Director of Education at Canadian Forces College and Professor of Defence Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC).
#Canada #KingCharlesIII #Commonwealth

🔔 Subscribe to France 24 now: https://f24.my/YTen
🔴 LIVE – Watch FRANCE 24 English 24/7 here: https://f24.my/YTliveEN

🌍 Read the latest International News and Top Stories: https://www.france24.com/en/

Like us on Facebook: https://f24.my/FBen
Follow us on X: https://f24.my/Xen
Bluesky: https://f24.my/BSen and Threads: https://f24.my/THen
Browse the news in pictures on Instagram: https://f24.my/IGen
Discover our TikTok videos: https://f24.my/TKen
Get the latest top stories on Telegram: https://f24.my/TGen