A constitutional lawyer has filed an emergency injunction in Quebec Superior Court to compel the incoming Parti Québécois government to swear allegiance to King Charles. The legal move follows Monday’s election victory by the sovereignist Parti Québécois. Lawrence David, founder of the Public Interest Litigation Institute and a law professor at the University of Ottawa, brought forward the application for an interim stay. David stated that political parties are not free to disregard laws governing Canadian democratic institutions, emphasizing that legal channels must ensure governments respect applicable rules. The emergency request asks the court to immediately suspend a 2022 provincial law that made the oath to the monarch optional for members of the National Assembly. David had previously filed a related lawsuit concerning the same matter in August. Following the election, Premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon pledged to cut funding to the office of Quebec’s lieutenant-governor within his first 100 days in office as part of a broader effort to abolish the monarchy in the province. The new legal filing contends that if newly elected members refuse to take the oath to the King, they lack the constitutional qualifications to sit in the legislature. Furthermore, the lawsuit warns that any legislation enacted by an unlawfully assembled body, particularly a measure seeking to abolish the lieutenant-governor, would be rendered void and trigger an unprecedented legal crisis. The request is scheduled to be presented in a Montreal courtroom on Friday morning. If the court grants the stay, members of the National Assembly will be legally mandated to take the oath before occupying their seats. The provincial legislature is currently scheduled to reconvene on November 17. Karine Millaire, a constitutional law expert and associate professor at the Université de Montréal, noted that the injunction was anticipated given the ongoing constitutional challenge against the 2022 statute. Millaire explained that the applicants bear the burden of proving their case rests on serious legal foundations, while warning that these ongoing debates concerning the monarchy risk sparking an undesirable constitutional crisis.
Source: cbc.ca
