(Quebec) PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon met “by far” his most hostile audience during his tour of Europe, which officially ends on Saturday.
In front of a British audience, he tackled the saga of the end of the compulsory oath to King Charles III for elected members of the National Assembly and it was not easy, he concluded in an interview with The Canadian Press released on Saturday.
The leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ) indeed went to deliver a speech at Nuffield College at Oxford University, where he once studied, in the United Kingdom.
“I can’t say the reception was warm,” he said, holding back his laughter.
It was by far the most hostile forum I’ve encountered, but still intellectually high, so the questions pointed to criticism of my political action, but still respectful, intelligent, so it honestly provoked good discussions.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the PQ
The same issue aroused a lot of interest and curiosity in Scotland, a region of the United Kingdom governed by an independentist government where Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon also made a stop during his tour.
Members of the Scottish Parliament must swear an oath to the monarch once elected – just as those elected to the National Assembly had to until December.
“In Scotland there was a passion for the question of the oath to the king, explained Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon who granted interviews to three of the four major newspapers in Scotland. Really, it took as much place as independence in the journalists’ discussions. »
The three Parti Québécois (PQ) deputies had refused to take the compulsory oath after the October elections and the presidency had therefore barred them from sitting, until the other parties passed a law in December making the oath optional.