The idea of abolishing the obligatory oath to the king for those who sit in Ottawa has resurfaced where it was least expected: through the mouth of a Liberal MP.
Acadian MP René Arseneault has made the abolition of the oath a personal matter for a long time.
But his party and especially its leader, Justin Trudeau, are the first to find it ridiculous that we are focusing on it.
Every time the Constitution is discussed in any way, the Prime Minister breaks out in hives.
In this matter, Justin Trudeau’s logic is a little twisted.
When Quebec was debating the abolition of the obligatory oath to the monarchy, the Prime Minister warned “that there is not a Quebecer who wants us to reopen the Constitution.”
As if it were the only way. The argument goes that by uttering the word “Constitution”, we magically make a debate disappear.
In the end, the stubbornness of Paul St-Pierre Plamondon forced the National Assembly to pass a simple bill to abolish the obligatory oath. The country did not collapse, however.
René Arsenault thinks Ottawa can do the same.
An old fight
His fight, as a proud Acadian, is not new.
To his knowledge, he is the first Canadian lawyer, and “certainly from New Brunswick”, to have passed the bar without taking an oath to royalty.
It was in 1993.
“The planet has not stopped turning since then,” he told Parliament in the last days, presenting his bill which aims to abolish the obligatory oath to the king to be sworn in as a deputy or senator.
He proposes that deputies and senators have the option of taking an oath according to this formulation: “I, AB, I swear that I will exercise my functions in the best interests of Canada and in accordance with its Constitution. »
The Acadian MP wants, in the name of “inclusion”, to offer the possibility of taking an oath differently.
It will be interesting to see how the Liberal MPs will vote on the bill of one of their own, they who make inclusion a mantra.
René Arsenault recalled in his passionate speech the fundamentally racist origins of the oath of allegiance to the British Crown.
The Acadian does not beat around the bush.
Inclusion
It was to keep out Catholics and Jews that the British Crown introduced the oath four centuries ago.
The practice was in force in Canada before 1867, to “prevent Catholics and Jews from voting or running for office.”
Nowadays, the scope of the oath has changed, but René Arseneault insists: “England carries today and always on its shoulders the odiousness of the deportation of the Acadians, my ancestors and those of so many colleagues here who sit in this Parliament. »
He sees in Quebec’s decision a welcome and inclusive development respecting everyone’s conscience, religion and ethnic origin.
Justin Trudeau was far from having such kind words for the elected representatives of the National Assembly.
Let’s see if the Prime Minister will agree with his own MP who wants to modernize the oath, in the name of inclusion.