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A royal visit at a time of reckoning: Will Prince Charles and Camilla connect with Canadians?

Kyle Empringham doesn't follow the royals and wasn't initially aware there was a royal visit to Canada coming up this week.

Still, after he found out, the co-founder of The Starfish Canada, a group that supports young people in their environmental careers, saw potential for some "optimistic skepticism" about what might flow environmentally from the visit by Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, that kicks off Tuesday in St. John's.

Environmental issues are on the agenda during the three-day trip, including when Charles meets with local experts to discuss the impact of climate change in the Northwest Territories, and Indigenous-led efforts to address it.

Empringham, who co-founded Starfish as a 20-year-old in 2010, said he was glad to hear that Charles is visiting the North, and that he would be engaging with Indigenous communities. 

"Then next thing I'd want to hear is … the actionable pieces; that it's not just a visit for a photo," Empringham said in an interview.

What Prince Charles and Camilla say and do over the next three days will be under scrutiny as the couple make their first visit to Canada in five years, carrying out the first official visit by a member of the Royal Family to the country since a greater societal reckoning with our past and our institutions has taken hold.

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Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.