Premier Jason Kenney in massive queue to pay respects to Queen Elizabeth
CBC
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has joined a queue with hundreds of thousands of people to pay his respects to Queen Elizabeth, whose coffin is to lie in state until her funeral.
Kenney posted a photo on Twitter Friday afternoon of a sign saying that the wait at his point of the line was more than 14 hours — adding that he was doing briefings and work calls from the queue.
Kenney said he paid for the trip to London himself.
The British government has warned that the waiting time to cover the eight kilometres from the start of the line has climbed to more than 24 hours.
"I promised myself a long time ago that I would do this when she passed away. I have always been a huge admirer of our head of state. I've always had a huge appreciation for the institution that she personified, the values that she represented," Kenney said.
"This is somebody who gave 70 years of selfless service to the Commonwealth, including Canada. She was our head of state for longer than the province of Alberta has existed. She was Canada's head of state for almost half of our existence as an independent country."
The temperature was around 10 C Friday — a little colder than Kenney had anticipated.
"I thought, 'oh, heck, I grew up with the Prairie winters. It's nothing. It's not gonna be a problem at London I don't need to bring a coat.' I'm regretting that decision. But in a way, everybody's out here keeping each other warm."
"It's obviously a very serious crowd, but a real conviviality, a real sense of fraternity, a shared purpose, and all of these people are out here from toddlers. With their parents to people in their eighties with the same purpose."
The Queen's body began lying in state at Westminster Hall on Wednesday and is expected to stay there for visitors until Monday morning, the day of her funeral.
Kenney said on social media that he would be back in Edmonton Monday for Alberta's memorial service for the Queen.
