Of Polls and Accuracy

Posted by Marquis Black (Poll Article)

In keeping with a recent comment I read while viewing the article regarding the return of Her Majesty's portrait to the B.C. Ferries, I decided to do some research into the mentioned Angus Reid polls that were referred to in the Times Colonist.

I have, in fact, found them, and can present only the following:

53% of polled Canadians declared that they thought Canada should cut ties to the British monarchy. When asked whether this cut should happen if Charles took the throne, that percentage rose to 55%.

Yet, given the option to choose the next monarch, this percentage seems to have been thrown out the window, or else another audience was polled, because the numbers did not match up.

When the polled audience was asked which Royal Family member should become King, 20% supported Charles, 35% supported William, and only 29% said that there should be no monarch. Now, I've not been known for my astounding mathematical skills, but simple arithmetic seems to indicate that the support for the monarchy is larger than sentiment against it.

But going back to the original polls, I would like to point out a seemingly trivial, and yet still vital mistake performed by the polling staff. First of all, they predisposed their audience to vote against the monarchy by identifying it as British, ergo alien, despite the fact that the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act of 1927 clearly marked the beginning of His Majesty's, King George V, reign as King of Canada, as opposed to King of the British Empire. By this Act, as well as the following Statute of Westminster and the Canada Act of 1982, the monarchy ceased to be British and began to be patriated.

Now, as a staunch monarchist, I can say that I would hold no objections to a monarchical attachment to the United Kingdom, but the law is clear on this in Canada, at the very least. The Monarchy in Canada is Canadian, even if the present Monarch is not Canadian in nationality. For this reason, I accuse the polling staff of being misleading in nature, and thus an unreliable measurement of the feelings of the Canadian people towards their beloved monarch, who has constantly identified Canada as a second home to her.

Let the facts be presented as they are, not as individuals wish them to be, and then perhaps the answers given may vary quite wildly.

God Save the Queen and Her Heirs!