Monarchy in Alberta - History

History

A request was made by Premier Ralph Klein for the Queen of Canada to give royal assent to a bill in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in May of 2005. This request was turned down by the Office of the Governor General "for two reasons: such an unprecedented ceremony would hinder ability to 'Canadianize' the Crown and the constitution specifically assigns to the Lieutenant-Governor the function of giving royal assent to provincial bills." That assertion, however, was contested by Professor and Senior Director of Interdisciplinary Programs at the University of Alberta, Kenneth Munro.

Though Queen Elizabeth II did not tour any part of the province during her Golden Jubilee royal tour in 2002, the legislative assembly and government introduced a number of events and initiatives to mark the anniversary. More than 4,000 Albertans attended the Lieutenant Governor's Jubilee Levée on 23 June, where Lois Hole stated: "what we want to realize is how important the monarchy is to Canada and certainly to Alberta." Three years later, the Queen was in Alberta to mark the province's 100th anniversary of entry into Confederation, where she attended, along with an audience of 25,000, a kick-off concert at Commonwealth Stadium and addressed the legislative assembly, becoming the first reigning monarch to do so. At the same time, the Ministry of Learning encouraged teachers to focus education on the monarchy and to organize field trips for their students to see the Queen and her consort, or to watch the events on television.