Prince William and his wife, Kate, are not exactly lollygagging or lording it over the less fortunate, says the Herald editorial board after a Quebec politician called them “parasites.”Photograph by: PAUL ELLIS, AFP/Getty

Maybe when you’re the lone member of your fringe party who, by some cosmic twist of fate has been catapulted into a seat in your provincial legislature, you want to do something to make a splash.
Unfortunately, Amir Khadir has chosen a crass way to do it.
Khadir, head of the left-wing Quebec Solidaire party, says that Prince William and his wife, Kate, are “parasites” and circus freaks, and that Canadian taxpayers shouldn’t be footing any bills for their upcoming visit to this side of the pond. Quebec’s Liberal government has labelled his behaviour as coarse and called on him to apologize.
Khadir stands quite alone on this one; not even the separatist Parti Quebecois has a quibble with the royal visit. Nor does the Action democratique du Quebec have a beef with the Canadian public’s expenditures for Kate and Will’s inaugural visit to this country.
Khadir should be careful how he throws around the word “parasites.” It is customary for politicians to travel on the taxpayers’ tab when they get their rumps off the backbenches and visit areas of their riding, or when they get chosen to go along on trade missions and other junkets.
Besides, Will and Kate are not exactly lollygagging or lording it over the less fortunate. Will is a helicopter pilot specializing in sea rescues and Kate comes from a hard-working family of commoners; she’s worked in website design, photography, marketing and party and events organizing. Moreover, the couple, ever conscious of the image of wealth and excess that can surround the monarchy, made a point of saying they preferred charitable donations to gifts at their April wedding. The new face of royalty is hardly one that can be branded with the label of parasitism.
Khadir has indicated that as a separatist, on principle he’s not a monarchist. But that’s not an excuse for bad manners. As a politician, he’s expected to be gracious when the occasion calls for it, and a royal visit definitely calls for it. Never mind though; Khadir may be doing us a favour. If the royals feel turned off by his less-than-warm welcome to Quebec, we’d be thrilled if they altered their schedule to leave la belle province early to spend an extra day instead in Calgary.
Their visit is going to be great for the Stampede and wonderful for Calgary.
Welcome, Kate and Will! We’re looking forward to having you here.