A policeman prevents three deputies from entering the Quebec National Assembly after they refuse to take the oath of allegiance to King Charles III.
-
National Assembly of Quebec
Three deputies were denied entry to parliament in Quebec on Thursday after… They refused to take an oath of allegiance To King Charles III, Head of State of Canada, as required by the Constitution.
The Canadian constitution requires all elected members of parliament at the federal and provincial levels to take an oath of allegiance to the British monarchy to hold office.
In images broadcast on television, a policeman guarding the closed door of the Quebec National Assembly denied entry to elected officials of the Quebec Party, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, Pascal Berupe and Joel Arsenault.
Party leader St. Pierre Plamondon expressed his disappointment during a press conference, stating: “Centuries have passed during which one must make a gesture of submission to the British crown to represent the people of Quebec, and at least decades during which we say things will change, but it doesn’t.”
He added that the matter has changed in recent weeks, speaking of “a consensus on this issue in the Assembly (…) This means that all the next generation of politicians will not have to make this offensive gesture”.
All parties adopted a motion indicating their desire to abolish the oath, and one of them, the Solidarity Quebec Party, introduced a bill to make it optional.
In context, Quebec Prime Minister Francois Legault told reporters, “I, for example, don’t like to swear to the king, so we all agreed to void the oath.”
This came before the announcement that his party, the Alliance for the Future of Quebec, will also table a bill next week.
At the end of October, the three Quebec Party deputies swore only to the people of Quebec, not to Charles III. Similarly, 11 deputies from “Solidarity Quebec” refused to take the oath, before definitively withdrawing their refusal.
For the first time in the country’s history, a small majority of Canadian citizens said in an opinion poll conducted last April that they wanted to get rid of the monarchy, whose role has become honorary.
