How much does the Crown cost Canadians?

For Canadian’s the monarchy costs each person as little as $1.53 a year(94p), which is about as expensive as a small cup of coffee at the Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons. The $1.53 doesn’t just cover the Canadian Governor General, who is their representative for the monarchy in Canada. The $1.53 also covers all official residences, staff, administration, travel, security and on top of all of that, office supplies. This $1.53 is a lot less than the Senate’s $2.38 per person, or the House of Commons $11.78. In fact, the cost of the Monarchy costs just a little bit more than the Canadian Library of Parliament, which comes in at $1.16 per person.

The $1.53 doesn’t just cover the Canadian Governor General, who is their representative for the monarchy in Canada. The $1.53 also covers all official residences, staff, administration, travel, security and on top of all of that, office supplies. This $1.53 is a lot less than the Senate’s $2.38 per person, or the House of Commons $11.78. In fact, the cost of the Monarchy costs just a little bit more than the Canadian Library of Parliament, which comes in at $1.16 per person.

The cost does not cover any operations in other countries. For example, Buckingham Palace and the work of The Queen in the UK is not covered under the cost, a fact that the Monarchist League says comes as a surprise to many people.

The data on the cost of the monarchy comes from the Monarchist League of  Canada who sought out to counter the claims that the monarchy was an expensive burden.

Robert Finch, the Monarchist League’s Dominion Chairman said that “Usually, I get comments such as ‘Wow, that’s pretty cheap,’ or, ‘ I thought the monarchy cost so much more'”.

The majority of the $55 million total goes to the Office of the Governor General and Lieutenant-Governors. Who, all together, undertook over 4000 official engagements last year.

Personally, I feel paying $1.53 for the crown is more than worth it. In fact, if it was necessary, I’d happily pay more. The Royal Family provides a sense of history, culture and in a time where politics is seen as being turbulent, a sense of stability. You might hate the current government, or the past one, or a future one; the Royal Family provides us with an unopinionated and unpoliticized head of state that everyone can gather round and support.