Opinion Martin Regg Cohn: Move over, Doug Ford — King Charles could be the catalyst for Canada’s next constitutional crisis
The pledge of allegiance to Queen Victoria — specified by name — is still etched in Canada’s Constitution, 121 years after her death:To this day, every Canadian parliamentarian must submit to this timeless Victorian tradition — albeit with special provision in the Constitution to swap in the names of her successors: “the King or Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland” .
Now, diehard Quebec separatists are leading the charge to distance themselves from a British-based monarch. Parti Québécois politicians are standing by their campaign promise to refuse any pledge of allegiance — even if it means they can’t take their seats in the province’s National Assembly when it resumes on Nov. 29.
“I had no choice but to pledge allegiance to the Queen,” Sol Mamakwa told me in an interview. “I would not be an MPP without saying those words.” All parliamentarians, in Ottawa and the provinces, are required by Section 128 of the Constitution Act, 1867, to swear the oath . Rewriting an oath is no easy feat. While most scholars believe Ottawa and the other provinces must agree, one possibility is that Quebec would try to amend its own constitutional provisions , but it’s unclear if that would pass legal scrutiny.
Should anyone be surprised or scandalized by his confession of insincerity ? When first elected in 1976, PQ politicians described the oaths as a meaningless “legal fiction” — a formality forced upon them if they wanted to take their seats.
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