Graeme Hamilton: Can Kate and William dazzle Quebec?

Life as a passionate monarchist in 21st-century Canada is not easy. The young Ottawa man on CBC declaring he is “pumped up” about this week’s visit to the capital of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (aka William and Kate) surely earned himself a little teasing at the office.
But he’s got it easy compared with Étienne Boisvert. Mr. Boisvert, a graduate student in political science at the Université de Sherbrooke, is the Quebec spokesman for the Monarchist League of Canada, charged with selling the monarchy to residents of Canada’s most anti-Royal province.

In Quebec’ City’s Le Soleil Monday, Mr. Boisvert said the visit of William and Kate is an opportunity to rebuild the image of the Royal family in Quebec, where as far back as 1964 separatists were turning out to protest a visit by Queen Elizabeth (and getting whacked about as the police moved in.)Mr. Boisvert feels it is time  for Quebec to move beyond reflexive antagonism toward the Royals. “Prince William will come to infuse new blood into the British monarchy. Every generation brings something new, showing that the royal family is constantly evolving,” he said. He is confident the young couple’s star power will overpower the small “marginalized” protesters hoping to disrupt their time on Quebec soil. “All the young girls adore William, and Kate has also managed to charm the public,” he continued. “That gives the monarchy a glamorous, rock-star side.”

Unfortunately, we may never know whether the couple hold the power to win over Quebec because of the timid nature of the official itinerary. They hit Montreal on July 2, after celebrating Canada Day on Parliament Hill, but have no public events planned in the country’s second largest city. They visit a pediatric hospital and a cooking and tourism college before sailing for Quebec City aboard a navy frigate. In the Quebec City region, public events are planned July 3 at city hall and across the river in Lévis.
The small but noisy separatist group Réseau de Résistance du Québécois is promising to do its best to disrupt the couple’s city hall appearance. “Rest assured we will do everything in our power to make his stay with us as disagreeable as possible,” the group declared on its web site, which has adopted the slogan “William go away!” The same group staged a protest when Prince Charles visited Montreal in 2009, forcing him to enter an event at a downtown armoury through the back door.
As Mr. Boisvert said, these protesters represent a radical fringe, but they wield influence far beyond their numbers. Their threats succeeded in scuttling a planned re-enactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 2009, and they likely played a part in keeping William and Kate’s visit to Montreal low profile. Letter writers to Montreal’s The Gazette were not impressed.
“Instead of a ceremony on the balcony at Montreal’s city hall or, better still, a ceremony on the plaza of the Mount Royal chalet overlooking our great city, the Royal couple will be hidden away in official and protective secrecy,” John Bray wrote Saturday.
“Why all the secrecy and lack of public display? It can only be from fear of protests and possible terrorism from local separatist radicals who have promised such demonstrations. Once again our authorities have backed down in the face of such threats and allowed these few to dictate to the many.”
National Post