Once passed, this new law will allow three PQ MPs Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, Pascal Bérubé and Joël Arseneau – who refused to pledge allegiance to the king when they were sworn in – to sit in the National Assembly.
Since all parties in the National Assembly agree on the content, namely the abolition of the obligatory oath to the King of England, the passage of this legal text should go smoothly.
In doing so, Quebec is defying Section 128 of the Constitution Act of 1867, which makes this oath to the king an essential condition for a seat in Parliament. Bill 4 will determine that Section 128 does not apply in Quebec, based on Section 45 of the 1982 Constitution Act, which the government’s analysis authorizes it to do.
Very briefly – it has only one article – this bill stipulates that henceforth only the oath of allegiance to the people of Quebec is required and the only one is obligatory, making the other optional.
Last October, the three PQ-MNAs refused to take that oath and limited themselves to declaring their allegiance to the people of Quebec. The deputies of Solidarność initially refused to Charles III. to swear allegiance but ended up taking the unloved oath behind closed doors so they could sit and file a bill to make it optional.
On Thursday, December 1, the three PQ deputies were denied access to the Blue Room by Sergeant-at-Arms Véronique Michel. The previous request by the leader of the Parti Québécois to pass a motion that would allow an elected official to remain seated even if he or she refuses to take such an oath was not deemed sufficient by the government. A motion to amend the Constitution Act of 1867 does not have the force of law, MP Simon Jolin-Barrette said.
We are not monarchists, says Roberge
In a news conference, Minister Roberge said he did not expect any coldness between his government and Ottawa’s after his legislative gesture of a constitutional nature. And he’s not afraid of potential legal challenges.
We have the right to do what we do, he decided, saying he believed his text was very legally sound.
We are Democrats. We are not monarchists, he added, assuring that he made sure that Lieutenant Governor J. Michel Doyon, who represents the king in Quebec, could not oppose the sanctioning of Bill 4.
So far, elected officials have had to take two oaths: the first to the people of Quebec, the second to the British Crown. The latter had long caused unease among many MPs who were reluctant to take the oath.
For his part, it has always been a tough time to go through, commented Mr Roberge, who was sworn in to the British crown in 2014, 2018 and 2022.
PQ elected officials could sit on Thursday
In a press conference on Tuesday morning, Mr St-Pierre Plamondon said he hoped to have a seat in Parliament on Thursday if all MPs worked hard to speed up the bill’s passage.
Minister Roberge confirmed that if all goes according to plan, the law will be passed before the end of the week. The government has abandoned consultations and has chosen to put this law on the fast track.
However, the parliamentary session ends on Friday, leaving elected officials very little time – barely a few days – to analyze every word of the law’s text and take the document through all the steps that will lead to its adoption. If not, the elected PQ will have to wait for work to resume in February to hope to enter the Blue Room.
We will work together to ensure it passes on Friday, confirmed Liberal Party interim leader Marc Tanguay in a news conference, who eventually abandoned his original plan to seek consultations on the constitutionality of such a law, which would have lengthened the process. He also said that if re-elected, he would relinquish the oath to the king.
Last week, Québec solidaire introduced its bill to that effect, Bill 190, but the government preferred to introduce its own legislation.
An example for other provinces
According to Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, other provinces could follow the path Quebec has taken.
“It’s entirely possible that once Quebec abolishes the oath to the king, other Canadian provinces will do the same for the very simple reason that there is a consensus on the whole concept of decolonization or the end of colonialism. The essence of colonialism is that your elected officials cannot enter the Chamber without taking an oath to the King of England. »
— A quote from Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Québécois
For its part, the Monarchist League of Canada, which supports the Oath to the King, regrets having been shunned by the media on an issue that concerns them deeply.
In an interview on the program Tout un matin a few hours before the government bill was presented, spokesman Karim Al-Dahdah described the public debate as one-sided and stressed that the monarchist voice had been dismissed.