(Quebec) The day after the appointment of the first Indigenous person to occupy the position of lieutenant governor in Quebec, the National Assembly voted unanimously for the abolition of this office.
Mi’kmaq administrator and former leader Manon Jeannotte therefore receives a clear message upon her arrival in office, barely 24 hours after being appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to replace J. Michel Doyon.
“The function of lieutenant governor has no democratic legitimacy,” says the motion tabled and read Friday by MP Sol Zanetti, of Québec solidaire (QS).
“Its origins remind us of a colonial period in our history which no longer has any anchor in modern Quebec,” he continued, specifying that it is “with all respect for the person who occupies this position” .
The wording also highlights the “weak attachment” of Quebecers to monarchical institutions.
Finally, Parliament calls for the replacement of this function by a democratic institution.
The 100 MPs from all parties present at that moment in the House, after the question period, all voted in favor of the motion, without abstention, without debate.
QS and the Parti Québécois (PQ), the two independence parties, of course voted in favor, as did the CAQ, but even the Liberals, although federalists, voted for.
The role of lieutenant governor is largely symbolic these days. He is the representative of King Charles III in Quebec.
Among other things, it is he who is called upon to dissolve Parliament, at the request of the government, to call elections, and to sanction the bills, so that they officially come into force.
In addition, it is he who officially appoints the Prime Minister, but also his ministers, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.