By Bob Hepburn Editorial Page - Back in 1982 when I was the Star's bureau chief in Ottawa, I met Lord Moran, who then was the British high commissioner to Canada.
Our meeting was cordial, but I got the distinct impression that Lord Moran, whose real name is John Wilson, was completely bored with our session, as well as with Ottawa, Canada and Canadians as a whole.
From his pompous attitude, which stuffy Brits like Lord Moran carry off so well, it was clear he saw most Canadians as inferior colonials with limited talents and even less curiosity.
Turns out my first impression was right, as evidenced by a 1984 dispatch that Lord Moran, who was high commissioner from 1981 to 1984, sent to London on his departure from Ottawa.
The letter, obtained by the BBC from the British Foreign Office under Freedom of Information legislation and made public earlier this week, trashes Canadians in general, our politicians, especially the late Pierre Trudeau, our writers, actors and even our skiers.
Reading the six-page letter, titled "Final Impressions of Canada," reminded me of that meeting with Lord Moran.
It also made me wonder why, if top British diplomats like him hold us in such low esteem, Canada continues to cling to its British colonial roots, complete with having us acknowledge Queen Elizabeth as "the Queen of Canada."
It's a question Canadians should be asking during the coming 11-day visit to Canada by Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, which starts Nov. 2.
When his 83-year-old mother eventually dies, Charles will become "the King of Canada."
Now, Charles may be a decent guy on some level, but I doubt many Canadians want him as our "king."
Those who do are likely part of the tiny pro-monarchist set who see everything British, especially culture and royalty, as superior.
For them, Wilson, now 85, could be a poster boy.
Born into an aristocratic family, he is still a member of the House of Lords. But this is a lord with an attitude of superiority all too pervasive among British upper classes.
In his final letter, Lord Moran wrote dismissively of Canadians, all the while boasting of how much better life was in the homeland.
"One does not encounter here the ferocious competition of talent that takes place in the United Kingdom ... Anyone who is even moderately good at what they do – in literature, the theatre, skiing or whatever – tends to become a national figure, and anyone who stands out at all from the crowd tends to be praised to the skies and given the Order of Canada at once."
Did his lordship never read a book by Margaret Atwood? Or see a play with Christopher Plummer?
To the delight of today's right-wing bloggers, he hated Trudeau.
"He has never entirely shaken off his past as a well-to-do hippie and draft dodger," Wilson wrote. "He is an odd fish and his own worst enemy, and on the whole I think his influence on Canada in the past 16 years has been detrimental."
He said the level of debate in the Commons was terrible and added that "the majority of Canadian ministers are unimpressive and a few we have found frankly bizarre."
And he tut-tutted that the Canadian public "tends to shrug its shoulders when the press or television report yet another scandal."
I hope Lord Moran was properly outraged by the scandals that rocked Britain this year when dozens of MPs were found to have used public money for their personal expenses, such as cleaning their moats.
Lord Moran was partly correct, though, when he said Canadians are sensitive to "any expressed or implied British sneers about Canada as `boring,' and perhaps somewhat lacking in self-confidence."
That's because many Canadians are indeed offended when snobbish, class-ridden British nobility tell us folks in "the colonies" that we aren't up to their standards.
We don't need to take any lessons from silly British diplomats.
What we do need is mutual respect from Britain and its official representatives. That's the minimum we should expect from London in return for having Canadians pledge allegiance to their Queen.
If we can't get even that, then we should tell the Queen and Prince Charles that we are cutting all our outdated colonial ties to the monarchy and Britain, and that we will start acting like a fully independent country in the 21st century.
Bob Hepburn's column appears Thursdays. bhepburn@thestar.ca