The Parti Québécois (PQ) has barely won an election and is already training its fire on the Crown. Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has vowed to defund the office of the lieutenant governor, said he will seek legal advice on keeping the Crown's representative out of the opening of the legislature and has promised to cut Quebec's ties to the monarchy. Constitutional experts rightly note that abolishing the office unilaterally is nearly impossible, since the amending formula requires the consent of every province. But the legal wall is not the whole story. An institution can survive on paper and still wither in public esteem. That is the real danger in Quebec, and Ottawa needs to answer it with its most underused tool: the power to choose who wears the office. Read More