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During a hearing Tuesday, a constitutional lawyer argued that laws passed by Quebec’s next legislature will be illegitimate so long as a majority of MNAs refuse to take the Oath of Allegiance.
Lawrence David, the founder of the Public Interest Litigation Institute (PILI), said Quebec’s Bill 4, which abolished the requirement to pledge allegiance to the King, creates a situation where MNAs would be sitting inside the National Assembly unlawfully.
“Politicians who do not take the oath are not legally entitled to sit in the National Assembly, to participate in parliamentary activities, to vote on bills,” he told reporters outside the Quebec Superior Court.
David and PILI are seeking to have Bill 4, passed unanimously in 2022, declared unconstitutional. In the interim, they’re asking the court to issue a stay and force MNAs to take the oath between now and Nov. 17, when the National Assembly is expected to reconvene.
Quebec’s lawyers told the court the government is mulling pushing that date to Nov. 24.
Just under 100 MNAs were sworn in over the last week, and they all renounced the oath. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the incoming premier, has also asked that the lieutenant-governor — a representative of the monarchy — not preside over the swearing-in ceremony of his cabinet on Wednesday.
David says the events of the last week and St-Pierre Plamondon’s stated plans to sever all ties with the monarchy undermine the “status and role of the King,” and “invite disrespect to his office, his powers and legitimacy.”
Failure to take the oath, he said, would also affect the lieutenant-governor’s power of royal assent — the final approval the monarch or their representative gives to bills so they become law.
“This court challenge is not about monarchy versus republicanism. It’s about respect for the constitution,” David said.
He says there are other avenues if Canada wants to secede from the monarchy, and those require consent from the other provincial legislatures.
Lawyers for the Attorney General of Quebec argue there’s no urgency to resolve the constitutionality of Bill 4 before the National Assembly reconvenes. They pointed out that the law has been in place since 2022, and the legislature has continued to function and pass laws without any problems.
At the time, the PQ’s three MNAs had been barred from sitting at the National Assembly’s Blue Room until the law passed because of their refusal to pledge allegiance to the King.
The law adds to the Constitution Act of 1867 a section exempting Quebec from the application of the section that requires the oath.
Judge Demers will take time to consider the arguments and come up with a decision sometime before the session begins next month.
