Below is statement re the incoming Quebec Premier and the monarchy that was sent to Monarchist League members:
In the final days of the Quebec provincial election campaign, the leader of the separatist Parti Québécois Paul St-Pierre Plamondon publicly mused about “abolishing the monarchy in Quebec.” It was meant mostly with shrugs. Chalk it up to anti-monarchy and anti-Canada rhetoric that appeals to a diminishing separatist base.
Now that M. St-Pierre Plamondon will become Quebec’s next premier, many are asking whether he will follow through on his campaign promise and if so, how. Let’s be clear on one thing right out of the gate. M. St-Pierre Plamondon cannot arbitrarily abolish the monarchy in Quebec. Neither can the cabinet. Nor the National Assembly.
To abolish the monarchy, which in this context presumably mostly means the office of the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, would require a constitutional amendment with the support of all ten provincial governments and the federal government. This is simply not going to happen.
Where M. St-Pierre Plamondon can effect change is purely on the symbolic side. For example, he could remove the crown and references to it from provincial symbols, institutions, and buildings. He could limit funding to the Lieutenant Governor. It’s the sort of thing that frustrates us monarchists while throwing a bone to his base. Ultimately, it doesn’t change the legal and political reality, though. Quebec is a constitutional monarchy. Full stop.
Having secured a minority government with less than a third of the popular vote and with support for separatism itself at historic lows, it is clear to me that M. St-Pierre Plamondon has no mandate whatsoever to pursue his republican fantasy. I’ve seen this game play out many times before. The result is always the same. In the end, long after Pierre St-Pierre Plamondon is no longer premier of Quebec the monarchy will still be there. Politicians come and go. The Crown endures.
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