Letter from Paul St-Pierre Plamondon to François Legault
Montreal, October 17, 2022
Mr. François Legault
Premier of Quebec
premierministre@quebec.ca
Dear Premier,
I am seeking your collaboration in the matter of the oath to the King provided for in the Canadian Constitution of 1867.
As you know, I have notified the National Assembly of my intention not to swear allegiance to the King of England and to only swear the oath to the people of Quebec as provided for in Section 15 of the Act respecting the National Assembly.
Since I have made this intention known publicly, many voices have been raised from within civil society calling on all elected members to follow suit and put an end to this humiliating charade by themselves refusing to swear an oath to the King. Many legal and constitutional experts have also spoken out to say that they do not believe that the National Assembly has an obligation to penalize an elected member who refuses to take the oath to the King of England by preventing him or her from taking their seat. Last Thursday, unfortunately, I received a preliminary response from the Secretary General of the Assembly, which you will find attached. It is understood from this reply that the Secretary General does not consider himself authorized to change the practice of the two oaths in force, nor the interpretation of his predecessors indicating that the plurality of the oaths is a condition for taking one's seat in the Blue Room.
The Secretary General does however note that things could be different if "an act" of the National Assembly were to clarify things and specify the will of elected members on this subject. This would undoubtedly recognize the sovereignty of the National Assembly in this matter, as well as the possibility for the Assembly to formally confirm the interpretation adopted by several jurists to the effect that, if the elected representatives clearly expressed their will in this regard, the refusal to swear the oath to the King of England should not prevent an elected member from taking their seat.
I therefore formally request your collaboration in initiating, as Premier, a motion upon Parliament resuming, to the effect that failure to swear the oath to the King should not prevent a democratically elected member of the National Assembly from sitting. I also ask that each of the newly elected members of the Coalition Avenir Québec be given the free choice to lead by example and to hear the voices of many political analysts by themselves also refusing to swear allegiance to the King, so that our political will and solidarity in this matter is not left in doubt.
I also know that in your program, and this since 2015, the CAQ has committed to abolishing the British monarchy in Quebec. We are therefore in full agreement with regard to this trend. If the complete abolition of the monarchy in Quebec implies several complex steps, we have here before us an opportunity to make a simple and concrete gesture towards freeing ourselves of such archaic institutions and respect the freedom of conscience of each elected member. Moreover, the gesture required on your part involves a simple vote in favour of a motion that will take about fifteen minutes at most.
Having no doubt as to your willingness to collaborate on this issue and thanking you in advance for the follow-up you will be giving to this letter, please accept, Premier, the assurance of my highest regards,
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon
Member of the National Assembly for Camille-Laurin
Leader of the Parti Québécois
Attached file: Letter from the Secretary General dated October 13, 2022
cc:
Mr. Martin Koskinen
Chief of Staff
mkoskinen_mce@mce.gouv.qc.ca
Mr. Sébastien Lauzon
Political Advisor and Executive Assistant
sebastien.lauzon@mce.gouv.qc.ca
(Transcribed from the copy of the original letter and translated from the original french by TML)
This article was published in
Volume 52 Number 30 - October 18, 2022
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmld2022/Articles/D520306.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca