Canada has found itself in the headlines this year for reasons the nation would rather avoid. President Trump mocked then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling him “the governor of America’s 51st state.” He floated the idea of annexing the country as recently as May 27 in connection with the proposed Golden Dome anti-ballistic system. Trump has also imposed tariffs on Canadian products, deepening tensions, particularly with Alberta, a western province long at odds with the capital of Ottawa.

But these tensions go beyond cross-border provocations from Trump. They expose deeper fractures within Canada’s political framework — cracks in a federal system increasingly strained by regional discontent, constitutional ambiguity and competing visions of national identity.

Canada’s governing structure is further complicated by the fact that it is a constitutional monarchy within the British Commonwealth. Though fully sovereign, Canada still recognizes King Charles III as its head of state — a connection many now view as........

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