The death of Queen Elizabeth II opens the door to a collective reflection on the Crown’s roles and functions within the political institutions of Canada and Quebec. Canada and Québec, it should be remembered, are headed by a head of state who no longer corresponds to the spirit of the times and who symbolizes, even naturalises, the colonial era with everything that goes with it: genocide of Aborigines and Métis, deportation of Acadians and systematic Oppression of French Canadians across Canada, particularly in Quebec.
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Despite its anachronism, the Canadian crown is maintained without too much difficulty due to the historical ties between Canada and the United Kingdom, the relative indifference of the populace to the issue and, above all, the lack of will on the part of governments to open the constitutional “vault”. .
Indeed, regime change necessarily implies a review of the architecture of Canada’s political system, heralding the resumption of other, much more delicate projects: Senate reform, the equality review, the recognition of Indigenous people in Canada, and Quebec’s place in the federal space.
While Quebec’s Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is currently struggling to avoid taking the oath to the crown, the Bloc Québécois appears reluctant to make the issue a priority.
However, the bloc could seize an opportunity to stand out as all other political parties on the federal stage have announced they do not want to review the constitutional monarchy.
Justin Trudeau even went so far as to say without a shudder that Elizabeth II was “one of my favorite people in the world”.
Why doesn’t the Bloc Québécois take the lead on this issue, vigorously opposing monarchism and standing up for the Republic of Canada and Quebec? While we await a very hypothetical referendum, this is a raison d’être that aligns perfectly with defending Quebec’s interests at the federal level because, recall, Quebecers are largely in favor of abolishing the monarchy.
That Duceppe years
Originally, the Bloc Québécois was intended to be a temporary party whose main objective was to defend Quebec’s interests after a successful referendum. After losing the 1995 referendum and with the arrival of Gilles Duceppe, the bloc reinvented itself defending broader goals such as defending Quebec’s values, protecting Quebec’s political weight in Canada, or health transfers.
If this expansion allowed the bloc to rule Quebec and play a major role in Ottawa until the orange wave of 2011, it risked, on the contrary, turning it into a federalist party like the others. In other words, despite their excellent work, the members of the bloc have unknowingly become mere civil servants paid by the Canadian Crown.
To avoid this relapse, the bloc must regain the initiative because, with the erosion of power, it will no longer be able to count on the nationalism of the Coalition avenir Québec to increase its support. The fight against the monarchy offers an interesting and challenging opportunity. Can he pull it off?
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