Oath to King Charles for sitting in National Assembly
2022.11.01 21:26
Oath to King Charles for sitting in National Assembly
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – On Tuesday, the speaker of the Quebec National Assembly ruled that all elected members in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province must swear an oath not only to the people of Quebec but also to Britain’s King Charles in order to carry out their responsibilities.
In his ruling, Speaker Francois Paradis wrote, “As the law currently stands, this oath is not optional.” He added that a member who does not take the oath cannot take his seat in the Assembly.
When his mother, Queen Elizabeth, died on Sept. 8, Charles, 73, was made king of the United Kingdom and head of 14 other realms, including Canada.
According to CBC News, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Quebecois, made a statement shortly after an election on Oct. 3 that he and the two other elected members of his party would not swear an oath to the King. Eleven elected members of Quebec Solidaire then made the same statement. Both parties support Quebec’s independence from Canada.
According to CBC, co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois of Quebec Solidaire referred to the oath to the King as “colonial, archaic, and outdated.”
Bloc Quebecois, a separatist party, also called on the federal government to break off ties with the British monarchy last month, claiming that the recent crown transfer to King Charles was an opportunity to do so.
Canada became a colony of Britain in the late 1500s and remained a part of the British empire until 1982. It is now a Commonwealth member, which is mostly made up of countries that were part of the British empire and still have the British monarch as their head of state.
