With elected officials deciding to take an oath to the King, only Parti Québécois MPs are now challenging Parliament and could attempt to sit in the Blue Room without proper oath-taking.
• Also read: The chosen ones of QS will swear an oath to the king, but won’t stop there
• Also read: Quebec could ‘quickly’ introduce bill to abolish oath-to-the-king
But the outgoing President of the National Assembly, François Paradis, has already warned them that the security chief, the Sergeant-at-Arms, has received orders to expel recalcitrant MPs.
Photos courtesy of the National Assembly
Here’s a quick rundown of this little-known post.
- Listen to Thomas Mulcair’s column on QUB radio :
Veronique Michael
- Sergeant-at-Arms since October 2021
- Second woman in this position in Quebec
- Former CEO of Surete du Québec
- Responsible for the protection of parliamentarians
- Guardian of the Fair
- Once a symbol of the crown, the mace now represents the authority of the National Assembly and its President.
FAMOUS SERGEANTS AT ARMS
In 1984, René Jalbert stood out for his courage and his calm during the shooting of the National Assembly, which left 3 dead and 13 wounded. He had managed to persuade attacker Denis Lortie to let those present in the Blue Room go before going to his office to negotiate his surrender.
Courtesy and archival photos
In 2014 in Ottawa, Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers shot gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau (inset), who had just killed himself before entering the House of Commons.
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