An Act to recognize the oath provided in the Act respecting the National Assembly as the sole oath required in order to sit in the Assembly (, sometimes known as Bill 4) is an act of the National Assembly of Quebec which removed the requirement to swear an oath of allegiance to the Monarch of Canada to take a seat in the National Assembly.
Background.
In September 2022, Queen Elizabeth passed away, making King Charles the monarch of Canada. Previously, there had been calls to change the oath. Previously, there were two oaths that members of the Assembly had to swear: one to the King and one to the people of Quebec.
The 2022 Quebec general election was held on October 3, 2022. Quebec Solidaire's 11-member caucus all refused to swear to swear an oath of allegiance to the Monarch of Canada, but eventually relented, taking the oath in private. Three members of Parti Québécois also refused to swear the oath of allegiance so they were barred from sitting by the President of the National Assembly.
In October 2022, the leader of Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, referred to the monarchy as “incredibly racist” and “slave-driven”, said King Charles was a "foreigner who knows nothing about Canada" and would struggle to pass a citizenship test, and urged Canada to end its ties to the monarchy. He described oaths of allegiance to the monarchy taken by some Québécois polliticians as insincere.
Provision.
The bill is a constitutional amendment. The bill means the only oath of allegiance necessary to take a seat in the National Assembly is the oath to the people of Quebec, though an oath to the King remains optional.
The act makes the only necessary oath to take a seat in the Assembly the one described in the "Act respecting the National Assembly".
Reception.
Certain constitutional experts have questioned the legality of the act due to the lack of approval of the federal parliament, but it has been supported by Patrick Taillon of Université Laval.
Further developments.
A similar bill was introduced by New Brunswick Liberal MP, Rene Arsenault, in the Parliament of Canada as a private member's bill. The bill would have allowed federal MPs and senators to take their seats with the oath, "I … do swear that I will carry out my duties in the best interest of Canada while upholding its Constitution" and given pre-approval for provincial legislatures to do the same. The bill would have still allowed MPs and senators to take their seats if they sweared allegiance to the King. While it did receive support from the Bloc Québécois, the New Democratic Party, the Green Party, and several individual MPs in the Liberal and Conservative parties, the bill was defeated with a voting tally of 113-197.