It is great news that King Charles III will open Parliament and deliver the Throne Speech this year. As Prince of Wales, he toured Canada every few years, but this will be his first visit as King. But here's a question. In November 1999, Australia held a referendum on whether the country should become a republic. Voters decided in favour of the status quo. With the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, discussions about republicanism in Australia were rekindled. Yet, neither Her Majesty the Queen nor Prince Charles visited Australia in 1999, and King Charles III has not visited Australia since his coronation. The question is: Why is His Majesty visiting Canada now?Of course, one can only speculate on His Majesty’s motives. However, a considered deduction would be that this visit is a marketing ploy aimed at Alberta and Saskatchewan primarily. .Think about it. The Liberal Party's usual ploy when its policies and practices prove too controversial or unpopular is not to change the policy or practice, but just to change the marketing. Prime Minister Carney did just that with the carbon tax. The tax was not ended; he just made a big deal of removing the consumer tax, then hid it in the corporate tax structure. Canadians will still be paying it. This was only a change in marketing.With serious debate in the Saskatchewan legislature and protests and organizational meetings in Alberta all dealing with independence, the marketing from Ottawa is “Be patriotic, the king is coming.” Secondly, there might also be a reminder for President Trump on Canadian sovereignty, but only if people are foolish enough to believe the president actually wanted to annex Canada..To this point, there were some interesting items in the Prime Minister Carney’s victory speech last Monday.He said that he would “do his best to represent everyone who calls Canada home.” Some might say that would exclude himself, as Canada was not his home for at least a decade. Indeed, he has publicly called himself a European.He claimed that Canadian values are humility, ambition, and unity.But it's all a matter of interpretation, isn't it? A number of times the humility part seemed missing, as he was prickly when questioned. Unity seems to mean comfort with top-down mandates from the ruling party, rather than Ottawa heeding the people's voice in a democracy..He further talked about nation-building investments and transforming the economy. It seems he meant a nationwide effort to achieve net zero by borrowing billions to make a grid of wind turbines and solar farms as well as ending ranching and the use of fossil fuel-derived fertilizers in farming.This will fail, as it did in Germany and devastate its manufacturing base. These ideas are currently having a similar effect in the UK and recently, there were blackouts in Spain and Portugal, in no small part due to these ideas. Sri Lanka implemented the changes in its agricultural sector as recommended by the UN, removing the use of fossil fuel-derived fertilizers. It went from a food-exporting nation to not being able to feed its own people. The citizens rose up, stormed the president’s residence, and the president fled the country..Further, it is generally recommended that the nation’s debt-to-GDP should be under 60%, though some economists, swayed by political pressures, admit a higher percentage. Investors generally use the figure of government debt as a percent of GDP, a figure that affects the country’s cost-of-borrowing and bond yields. In 2023, Canada’s gross debt-to-GDP was 107.50% according to Trading Economics.In order for Prime Minister Carney to bring his dream to life, he is going to borrow large sums of money, and you, your children, and grandchildren are going to pay for his failure.It is very doubtful that Mr. Carney cares much about individual Canadians. He does not come across as an empathetic person. If he is concerned with all voters as he stated, he would encourage Alberta and Saskatchewan to prosper in the manner they decide.What he does care about is transforming Canada by effecting his net zero plans. He can then get a pat on the back from his elite friends in Europe and help them make millions on managing Canada’s decline.Dr. A.W. Barber is the former Director of Asian Studies at the University of Calgary. He is internationally active and has wide-ranging interests.
