Quebec on Friday posed a “gesture of national affirmation” by unanimously adopting the CAQ bill aimed at making the oath to the king optional, launched Minister Jean-François Roberge. The elected members of the Parti Québécois will be able to sit at the start of the next period of parliamentary work.
“In Quebec, we are a people of democrats, not a people of monarchists”, underlined in a speech the Minister responsible for Democratic Institutions, who had tabled Bill 4 in the House on Tuesday “aiming to recognize the oath provided for by the Act respecting the National Assembly as the only obligatory oath to sit in it”.
This makes sure to indicate in the Constitution Act of 1867 that elected officials only have to swear allegiance to the people of Quebec — and not to the monarch of Canada — to exercise their functions. The three members of the Parti Québécois, who have pledged allegiance only to the people of Quebec, will be able to sit next January 31, because the law will have been sanctioned.
Further details will follow.
To see in video