“I, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III. » If it were up to the PQ leader, Quebecers would never hear those words.
In an interview on Radio-Canada radio on Tuesday, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon indicated that he wanted to “bypass” the oath to the British crown that all members of the National Assembly must take once elected. “I’ll find a way,” he later said in a scrum. “I want to speak with the people in charge of protocol and procedures at the National Assembly. »
According to the Constitution Act, 1867, a member elected to a provincial legislature must take the oath of the incumbent regent, in this case King Charles III. This had led members like those of Quebec solidaire to pronounce it away from the cameras in 2018 because of their opposition to this tradition.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon believes that to swear allegiance to the British crown is equivalent to “going through the twister”. “I think there is something absolutely unethical and acceptable in saying that an elected official who is the product of a vote — therefore who is democratically elected — becomes in Quebec automatically constrained to a foreign monarch,” s is he insurgent on Tuesday.
Asked about what would happen to an elected official who does not want to take the oath, the National Assembly affirmed on Tuesday that, “this situation never having occurred, [elle] has therefore never had to comment on this subject.
“PSPP” agrees that he would have an “obligation to those who elected him”. “If I have to go through the wringer, ultimately my first loyalty will be to the voters,” he admitted.
“I think there are resources and people bright enough to find something,” he added.