“In Britain, such openings [Throne Speeches] are preceded by a ceremonial inspection of Westminster Palace for explosives, a relic of the foiled 1605 Gunpowder Plot. A ceremonial hostage is taken by Buckingham Palace to ensure the safe return of the King. Perhaps most notably, before delivering the British speech from the throne, King Charles III is required to wait in a room that is specially decorated to warn him of the potentially fatal consequences of subverting Parliament. The official Robing Room in which the King dons his state crown before delivering the speech features a conspicuously framed copy of the death warrant of King Charles I. In the words of the BBC, ‘if ever there were a symbol to express the end of the divine right of kings and the limits of a constitutional monarchy, that document is it.’”

Tristin Hopper in National Post May 28, 2025 [and in my files under the heading “Say, Chuck, about your head…”

In my latest Epoch Times column I ask, with specific reference to the Canada Health Act, why mental paralysis is considered an elevated form of patriotism in this country.

In my latest Loonie Politics column I deplore the manner in which Liberal MPs, and even cabinet ministers, now simply cut and paste windy PMO banalities into their press releases word-for-word no longer even pretending to think for themselves about how to justify policy let alone about actual policy.

In my latest Epoch Times column I ask what this fabled “Major Projects Office” is even for, if the Prime Minister graciously anoints certain projects, we peasants know not how or why, before sending them to the MPO which has no legal capacity to sweep aside, for His Majesty’s favourites, the laws and regulations that make all other projects impossible.

In my latest Epoch Times column I say Canadians have prepared for the government to borrow itself and us into insolvency by borrowing to the brink of bankruptcy themselves, while electing politicians as insouciant about debt as they are.

In my latest Epoch Times column I say we won’t put out the fire in the public accounts until we agree on how much borrowing is sustainable and how much is not without first checking to see if it was their team or ours that did it.

In my latest National Post column I say the routinely grandiose rhetoric emanating from Prime Minister Mark Carney is a warning sign about the routinely grandiose way he thinks.

In my latest Epoch Times column I say from coast to coast Canada is turning away from trusting the people and abandoning self-government for meddlesome ineffective presumption.