Quebec lawmakers refuse to swear oath to King Charles III
Several newly elected Quebec opposition lawmakers on Wednesday declared they would not swear an oath to Canada's head of state, King Charles III, as required by the constitution.
The 11 Quebec solidaire party members elected on October 3 joined three members of the Parti Quebecois who last week said they, too, would refuse to take the oath.
They chose instead to swear loyalty only to the people of Quebec, but it is unclear if that will be enough for them to take their seats in the province's National Assembly.
Swearing allegiance to the Crown has always been contentious in mostly French-speaking Quebec, which held two failed referendums in 1980 and 1995 to split from the rest of Canada.
Reacting to the controversy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa it was up to the Quebec legislature "to decide how they want to organize their swearing-in process."
Reacting to the controversy, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa it was up to the Quebec legislature "to decide how they want to organize their swearing-in process."
Constitutional experts offered mixed views.
Laval University constitutional expert Patrick Taillon opined that the Quebec legislature could simply pass a motion, a law or a regulation doing away with the need to swear allegiance to the Crown.
"The procedural solutions are numerous," he said in a series of Twitter messages, "but they have limits."
He also noted that "jurisprudence has established an equivalence between the monarchy, the state, its institutions and its laws. This is a margin of interpretation that [the National Assembly] could exploit."
The 11 Quebec solidaire party members elected on October 3 joined three members of the Parti Quebecois who last week said they, too, would refuse to take the oath.
They chose instead to swear loyalty only to the people of Quebec, but it is unclear if that will be enough for them to take their seats in the province's National Assembly.
Swearing allegiance to the Crown has always been contentious in mostly French-speaking Quebec, which held two failed referendums in 1980 and 1995 to split from the rest of Canada.
Reacting to the controversy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa it was up to the Quebec legislature "to decide how they want to organize their swearing-in process."
Reacting to the controversy, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa it was up to the Quebec legislature "to decide how they want to organize their swearing-in process."
Constitutional experts offered mixed views.
Laval University constitutional expert Patrick Taillon opined that the Quebec legislature could simply pass a motion, a law or a regulation doing away with the need to swear allegiance to the Crown.
"The procedural solutions are numerous," he said in a series of Twitter messages, "but they have limits."
He also noted that "jurisprudence has established an equivalence between the monarchy, the state, its institutions and its laws. This is a margin of interpretation that [the National Assembly] could exploit."
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