A few days before the coronation of King Charles III, a Liberal MP indicates that the idea of making the oath of allegiance to the British Crown optional for Canadian elected officials is gaining ground within the Liberal caucus.
“I would tell you that it’s starting to boil a little bit,” said Acadian MP René Arseneault on Wednesday, meaning that the debate was gaining in importance.
He clarified that he did not use the word “boil” in the sense of becoming “enraged”. “Boiling in the sense that it starts to be a file that takes over. We talk about it, ”added the one who had refused, in 1992, to take the oath to Queen Elizabeth II to be admitted to the Bar of New Brunswick.
Mr. Arseneault said he was “hopeful” that the oath of allegiance that elected members of the House of Commons must take to be sworn in will one day be optional.
Last October, he even signaled that he would be ready to “work” on a motion making the exercise optional. On Wednesday, he mentioned that there are “certainly” other supporters of this avenue among his Liberal colleagues. However, he did not want to name which ones.
Another Acadian deputy, Darrell Samson, did not hide his interest in the idea. “It’s inclusive, so it’s definitely a way to go,” he said as he arrived for the weekly Liberal caucus meeting.
He admitted that he found it “difficult” as an Acadian to swear allegiance to the British Crown. “But we swear allegiance to the country. Me, I see it like that, ”he nuanced.
If he wants the obligatory nature of the oath to be removed, Mr. Arsenault does not agree to outright cut ties with the British monarchy, as the Bloc Québécois demands.
Nevertheless, the Bloc leader, Yves-François Blanchet, is delighted to have the support of the Liberals concerning the oath to the king.
“There is a set of things. That is one that we welcome positively, especially since it is happening within the very heart of the Liberal caucus, to all sin, mercy, ”he said before going to question period. .
According to Mr. Blanchet, more and more Liberals are beginning to be irritated that their party is positioned at odds with a majority of Canadians who have no attachment to the British monarchy.
Results of an Angus Reid poll released last week indicate that 60% of Canadians oppose recognizing King Charles III and its implications, such as swearing an oath to him. In Quebec, this opposition reaches 76%.
The Bloc Québécois also protests that Ottawa’s recognition of King Charles III was included by Justin Trudeau’s government in the bill implementing its 2023 budget.
Bloc House leader Alain Therrien wrote to his Liberal counterpart, Mark Holland, asking him to split the bill. “Obviously, this act of monarchical recognition has no place in a budget bill and should, in our view, be the subject of a separate bill which would be debated by the deputies of the House,” he pleaded.
Mr. Holland replied that this portion of the C-47 is only there for administrative purposes since Charles III succeeded Elizabeth II after her death.
New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh declined to say how he stands on whether or not to make the oath of allegiance to the British Crown optional. He sidestepped several questions about it in the scrum, arguing that it was not a priority issue.
Last fall, the Conservatives also pleaded that the monarchy was not a priority, just like the Liberals. The question then arose because the Bloc Québécois had forced a vote in the House of Commons on a motion that proposed to cut the cord between Canada and the British monarchy.