QUEBEC CITY — A Quebec Superior Court application is seeking an emergency order that would require newly elected members of the National Assembly to swear allegiance to the King before taking their seats.

Lawyer Lawrence David and the Consumer Law Group want the court to suspend Quebec’s 2022 law making that oath optional until a broader constitutional challenge can be heard.

Application follows Monday’s election

The request comes after the Parti Québécois won a minority government in Monday’s provincial election. PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has said he will again refuse the oath and is examining ways to reduce the monarchy’s remaining role in Quebec institutions.

David argues that members who do not take the oath required by the Constitution Act, 1867, are not constitutionally qualified to sit and that their legislative votes would be invalid. That is the applicant’s legal position; the court has not accepted it.

Quebec changed its oath law in 2022

Quebec’s National Assembly unanimously adopted Bill 4 in December 2022 after PQ members were temporarily barred from sitting when they refused to swear allegiance to King Charles. The law recognizes the oath to the people of Quebec as the only oath required to sit.

The injunction application says Quebec could not make that constitutional change on its own and would need federal and provincial consent. David said a hearing date has not been set, but he will seek a ruling before the legislature reconvenes in mid-November.

Until the court rules, Quebec’s 2022 law remains in force. The application itself does not invalidate the election result or any future act of the National Assembly.

Sources: The Canadian Press via Global News, updated October 7; Quebec National Assembly record for Bill 4.

Lead image: flag of Quebec via Wikimedia Commons; not a photograph of the applicants, court or newly elected legislators.