On the question of the oath to King Charles III. a compromise seems to be emerging in the National Assembly. On Wednesday, Coalition avenir Québec parliamentary leader Simon Jolin-Barrette said he was ready to pass legislation that would allow Quebec lawmakers to opt out.
“The government is ready to move forward quickly with the presentation of a draft law,” Mr Jolin-Barrette said after meeting his opposition counterparts.
However, this opening did not change much the position of the Parti Québécois (PQ), which maintains that legislative action is not necessary. For its part, Québec solidaire (QS) welcomed the emergence of this path: it is “a new element, an important element”, stressed the parliamentary leader of the party, Alexandre Leduc.
It remains to be seen how this scenario might develop. Would the solidarity MPs be willing to abstain from the session until the law is passed? Or could they agree to take an oath one last time to vote on the bill? Mr Leduc didn’t want to say it: “I have to discuss all this with my team. »
On Tuesday, outgoing President of the National Assembly François Paradis told elected officials who had not taken the oath to the king that they risked being expelled from the Blue Room.
negotiations begin
The parliamentary leaders of the four political parties represented in the National Assembly met for the first time on Wednesday to prepare for the resumption of work planned for November 29. At the heart of the exchange: the space given to each of the opposition parties.
The discussions are only just beginning, it was said at the end of the meeting. “We want to go there gradually,” said the parliamentary leader of the PQ, Madelinot MP Joël Arseneau.
Recall that the day after the election, Liberal leader Dominique Anglade was reluctant to grant the QS and PQ parliamentary group status, as was the case in the previous legislature. It then allowed them a parliamentary chair, offices and more speaking time during the work of the National Assembly.
Without him, the 14 PQ or Solidarity MPs would be treated more like independent elected representatives.
The Quebec Liberal Party received just over 14% of the vote and had 21 MNAs elected as of October 3, while QS and PQ received a comparable share of the vote but have only 11 and 3 MNAs, respectively. To automatically gain political group status in the National Assembly, a party must have 12 MPs or have received 20% of the votes in the last election. Otherwise, he can only obtain it by agreement with the other parties present.