Quebec adopts law making oath to King optional for elected members

Quebec’s legislature has passed a law putting an end to the requirement that members swear an oath to the King.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec government had tabled a bill on Tuesday making the oath to the monarch optional after three members of the opposition Parti Quebecois refused to swear the oath and were barred from sitting.

The law adds to the Constitution Act of 1867 a section exempting Quebec from the application of the section that requires the oath.

Constitutional scholars differ on whether the Quebec legislature has the power to allow members to participate in legislative debates and votes without taking the oath.

Previously, Quebec members of the legislature had to swear two oaths – one to the people of Quebec and one to the Crown.

The bill was fast-tracked this week after all parties waived consultations in order to have it adopted quickly.

It’s a practice that has also been questioned in Ontario by NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa. When he was sworn in as an MPP in June of this year, Mamakwa said, “I question it because I see how First Nations people are treated. I saw even during the campaign when you see children with skin conditions because of a lack of access to clean drinking water. I see it.”

“It was hard. It’s the process. It’s the law. Without doing it, I wouldn’t be an MPP if I didn’t say those words,” said Mamakwa.

He declined to participate, along with multiple other NDP MPPs, in an oath to King Charles III at Queen’s Park earlier this year, but it was optional as it was just a reaffirmation after Queen Elizabeth II died so it did not impact his standing in the legislature.

Pledging to the monarch is unnecessary for a municipal setting and other provinces, including Alberta, have also removed the requirement.