China News Service, Toronto, April 21. On the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II's 96th birthday, a survey released on April 21 by the Angus Reid Institute, a Canadian polling agency, showed that more than half of the people who Canadian respondents believe that the country should not maintain its current constitutional monarchy in the future, but should secede from the Commonwealth.
The sample survey was conducted in early April, and a representative sample of 1,607 Canadian adults was surveyed online.
Some 58% of respondents believed that Barbados had left the Commonwealth and that Jamaica was seeking to leave the Commonwealth was the right decision.
About 51% of respondents believe Canada should remain a constitutional monarchy for generations to come; about 26% believe the status quo should remain; and about 24% are noncommittal.
Quebec had the highest percentage of respondents in favor of abandoning the constitutional monarchy, at 71 per cent.
Still, 55% of respondents favoured maintaining a constitutional monarchy under the Queen.
But under the premise of "King Charles", that fell to 34%.
When asked what values the royal family represents, 49% of respondents thought it was outdated; only about 5% thought it was still modern.
About half of the respondents felt the royal family had nothing to do with them, 23% felt as relevant as in the past and 2% felt more relevant.
As a Commonwealth of Nations, Canada's head of state is the Queen of England, but the Governor-General nominated by the Canadian Prime Minister and appointed by the Queen of England acts on his behalf.
The Canadian government has announced that the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall will visit Canada in May this year.
The visit will be part of Canada's year-long celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne.