Quebec's National Assembly unanimously votes to break ties with the monarchy

Globe and Mail

6 days ago

Quebec's National Assembly had a parting gift for King Charles III on Tuesday: a unanimous motion to abolish the monarchy in Quebec.
Within hours of the sovereign leaving Canada after his brief visit to open Parliament and deliver the Throne Speech, the blue chamber of the provincial legislature voted 106-0 to cut all ties between the Crown and the province.
The motion does not bind the government to act, and constitutional experts agree that enacting it would be nearly impossible, but the gesture highlighted the stark difference in feeling toward all things regal in English and French Canada.
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The leader of the sovereigntist Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, put forward the motion, but every party in the legislature supported it, with no abstentions, including the governing Coalition Avenir Québec and the staunchly federalist Liberals.
The practical implications of the motion would include jettisoning Quebec's Lieutenant-Governor, the representative of the Crown in the province, who formally appoints ministers, signs laws and launches elections. The leftist Québec solidaire suggested replacing her with an 'administrator' until the province becomes independent, as QS would like.
'I have nothing against the English,' Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon said in a scrum Tuesday. 'It's just not my king. It's not my country. And I don't understand why we throw tens of thousands of dollars every year at these institutions. I find it unacceptable.'
Quebeckers have always had a complicated relationship with a monarchy that some still view as a symbol of conquest. Today, the overwhelming sentiment is one of crushing indifference: 87 per cent of respondents in a recent Léger poll said they felt no attachment to the Crown.
The Quebec government has taken steps in recent years to diminish the place of the monarchy in public life. In 2022 it scrapped the requirement for members of the National Assembly to pledge allegiance to the King, after a stand-off with deputies from the PQ who refused to do so. In 2023 the National Assembly approved a motion calling to abolish the role of lieutenant-governor.
But bringing this week's motion into force would require much more drastic action, said Jean-François Gaudreault-DesBiens, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Montreal.
To break with the monarchy in Quebec would require abolishing it across Canada, a step that would involve constitutional reform agreed to by all the provinces and the federal government.
'It's a bit of wishful thinking,' Prof. Gaudreault-DesBiens said. 'As long as Quebec wants to remain within the constitutional order of Canada – so unless it achieves independence – it has to play by the rules.'
The PQ, currently leading in the polls, has promised a referendum on independence during its first mandate if elected. But despite the party's popularity, support for Quebec sovereignty is hovering around a historic low amidst U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to annex Canada.
The office of Premier François Legault declined to say Wednesday whether it would take steps to abolish the monarchy in Quebec, but spokesperson Ewan Sauves defended the government's support for the motion.
'We are a nationalist government,' he said in a statement. 'We are responding above all to the people of Quebec. It's clear for us that a majority of Quebeckers don't recognize themselves in the monarchy. And remember: Quebec is a distinct nation within Canada. The motion adopted yesterday is in that spirit.'
With reports from The Canadian Press