It was business as usual this Canada Day— July 1. “Queen Hails Canada’s Diversity,” said the headline in the Montreal Gazette. The Toronto Globe and Mail agreed: “Diversity of Country and People Amazing, Monarch Tells Ottawa Crowds.” Yes, indeed, as Her Majesty put it in her Canada Day address, “The diversity of the country and the people never fails to amaze me.”

She also said: “In that diversity lies much strength.”

And in case we still hadn’t got it: “Celebrate the unique Canadian ability to turn diversity to the common good.”

By this stage, a few of us were pining for a little more diversity in vocabulary—not the queen’s fault, but that of her Canadian ministers, who draft her speeches. It would be fun to sit in on their brainstorming sessions: “How about ‘Celebrate the diversity of our tolerance’?” “No, we did that last year ...

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