Prince Charles Breaks Tradition, Sounds a Call for Canadian Unity

KINGSTON, Canada — Britain’s Prince Charles, breaking a royal tradition of avoiding touchy political issues, has urged Canadians to overcome their constitutional crisis in a plea for national unity.

Members of the British Royal Family rarely enter sensitive political debates, and Prince Charles admitted that it is “risky business” to wade into Canada’s affairs. But in a speech Monday at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, the prince said he was moved to make an exception, because “the issues are of such importance and Canada’s future is a matter of such universal concern,” the Canadian Press news agency reported.

Canada’s Conservative government unveiled plans last month that it hopes will stop the French-speaking province of Quebec from separating by giving it greater powers to protect its language and culture. The plans have drawn heavy criticism from other provinces, which say that all Canadians should be treated equally.

“Cultural, linguistic and ethnic differences can inevitably produce all sorts of human tensions and passions, but under the protection of a well-tried system of law, they have the potential to be far more a source of enrichment and strength than of weakness and division,” Charles said after receiving an honorary law degree.