The government of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) wants to make the oath to the king optional before December 9. He will table a bill “quickly”, as soon as the parliamentary session opens.
This was indicated by the leader of the government, Simon Jolin-Barrette, Tuesday afternoon, in the minutes preceding a meeting of the CAQ caucus. “We are ready to work to ensure that this requirement no longer exists,” he said in a press scrum. “It is our wish that[un projet de loi] be adopted before Christmas. »
In a duel that looks like a time trial, both the CAQ and Québec solidaire (QS) have made their intentions heard to introduce legislation at the start of the session on Tuesday. Solidarity co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said in the morning that theirs would arrive on Thursday. QS had already introduced a bill making the oath to the king optional in the last legislature.
In total, 122 of the 125 elected members of the National Assembly were sworn in. The leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ), Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, as well as MPs Pascal Bérubé and Joël Arseneau, have so far taken only one of the oaths required of them to sit. They could therefore be blocked at the doors of the Blue Room.
Because they did the exercise of taking the oath last week, despite their reluctance, the deputies of Québec solidaire, for their part, have the authorization to tread the carpets of the hall of the National Assembly. The party also says it is “open to filing a motion” to allow the PQ to send its elected officials to the Blue Room. “We are open to working on the wording with them if necessary. We are in mode, really, collaboration, “said Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Tuesday.
In a decision handed down in early November, the outgoing president of the National Assembly, François Paradis, maintained that the adoption of a motion would not offer unsworn deputies permission to go to the Blue Room. According to him, it is necessary to pass by the legislative way. Otherwise, “the Sergeant-at-Arms [pourra légitimement] expel” elected officials refusing to swear allegiance to the Crown.
With Alexandre Robillard
Further details will follow.