The leader of the Parti Québécois acknowledged that his statement on the flag of Quebec, which should not be at half mast for the death of Queen Elizabeth II, according to him, was “too spontaneous” and that the moment was “poorly chosen”.
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Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s comment, posted on Twitter in the hours following the announcement of the Queen’s death, also instructed the Prime Minister, François Legault, not to treat “the Queen of England as Head of State Quebec nor lend credibility to an illegitimate British colonial regime in Quebec”.
“I agree that I had too spontaneous a reaction and that I chose the wrong moment, but in my mind, at the time, I was addressing the Government of Quebec, he said Friday in Montreal, on the sidelines of an announcement on dilapidated schools. If it offended people, that was not my intention.
He recalls that his very first statement yesterday was to offer his condolences to the royal family and the English people. He adds that a discussion on the institution that is the British Crown will have to take place during the election campaign, but not today. “Let’s agree that today, that’s not what we’re going to talk about,” he said.
He nevertheless clarified that his opinion on the matter did not change. “Me, I would not have taken the decision taken by François Legault and the government of Quebec. If I'[avais été] PM [premier ministre]it goes without saying that I would have sent someone to the funeral […]but I wouldn’t have lowered the flag.”
The flag on the central tower of the National Assembly was lowered this year for the deaths of hockey players Mike Bossy and Guy Lafleur as well as for the National Day of Remembrance in memory of the victims of COVID-19.
This was also the case with the death of foreign heads of state, such as that of the former President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac, in 2019, or that of the former Prime Minister of Canada John Turner, in 2020.
Questioned by a journalist about Bernard Landry, former PQ Premier, who had lowered the flag for the death of the Queen Mother and the Queen’s sister in 2002, he replied: “I never discussed with Bernard Landry of the reasoning that had led him to do that”.