Parti Québécois caucus members swear allegiance to ‘the people of Quebec’ — not the King

Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon speaks to the press in Quebec City on Tuesday, October 6, 2026. Photo by Francis Vachon /Postmedia

Article content

OTTAWA — Quebec Premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and the 58 members of the Parti Québécois caucus did not swear allegiance to King Charles III at the swearing-in ceremony for the incoming PQ government on Thursday.

Article content

Instead, they pledged their loyalty to “the people of Quebec” — something that is technically possible to do under a law that was adopted four years ago in the National Assembly of Quebec, but that constitutional lawyers remain skeptical about.

Article content

Article content

Article content

St-Pierre Plamondon entered the red room of the legislature to thunderous applause from his caucus and guests who were chanting for Quebec to become a country only moments before. The premier-elect looked visibly emotional.

Article content

Article content

“I, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, solemnly declare that I will be loyal to the people of Quebec and that I will perform my duties as a Member of the National Assembly with honesty and justice, in accordance with the Constitution of Quebec,” he said.

Article content

One by one, members of his caucus repeated the same phrase to be sworn in as MNAs.

Article content

Quebec’s Lieutenant-Governor Manon Jeannotte was nowhere in sight during the swearing-in ceremony. St-Pierre Plamondon has vowed to strip her office’s funding, instead dedicating those funds to fight homelessness in the province.

Article content

The National Assembly adopted a law in December 2022 that made swearing an oath to the King optional after the PQ members — including St-Pierre Plamondon — were temporarily barred from taking their seats in the legislature for refusing to do just that.

Article content

Philippe Lagassé, a professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University who is an expert in the Westminster system, said the constitutionality of the act remains “unclear” but is being challenged in court.

Article content

Article content

Last week, Lawrence David, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s faculty of law and president and founder of the Public Interest Litigation Institute, filed an application in Quebec Superior Court for an injunction to force MNAs to swear the oath to the King.

Article content

David and the Public Interest Litigation Institute had already filed a lawsuit seeking to restore the oath in August. But given the urgency of the situation with a PQ government promising to abolish the monarchy, he sought an injunction the day after the election.

Article content

The hearing is expected to be held sometime between Oct. 19 and Nov. 9.

Article content

David claims that MNAs who do not take the oath to the King are not constitutionally authorized to sit in the National Assembly or to pass any laws.

Article content

Lagassé noted that the federal Department of Justice seems to have accepted the constitutionality of the Quebec law prima facie, as has its provincial government.

Article content

“However, we don’t know if that is the case yet, since it has not been tested before the courts. And I would say that there is a strong view amongst experts of the Constitution that this is likely not constitutional,” said the professor.