Three members of Parti Quebecois, who were elected into the province’s legislature were banned entry into the assembly for refusing to swear an oath of loyalty to King Charles III.
PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and the two other members of his caucus were followed by journalists up to the doors of the legislature chamber — known as the Blue Room — and were blocked from entering by the sergeant-at-arms.
To sit in the legislature, elected Quebec MNAs must take two oaths of loyalty: one to the Quebec people and another — as required by the Canadian Constitution — to the King.
In November, outgoing speaker François Paradis ruled that all elected members must take the oath to the King or risk expulsion from the legislature.
Inside the chamber, Speaker Nathalie Roy told the other members — all of whom swore allegiance to King Charles III after the Oct. 3 provincial election — that her decision to forbid the PQ from entering was final and could not be appealed.
St-Pierre Plamondon has said that swearing an oath of office to the “King of England” is humiliating.
Quebec Premier François Legault told reporters earlier Thursday that his government would table a motion next week to abolish the oath to the King.
