QUEBEC — For the first time in history, Quebec’s lieutenant-governor will not be present for the swearing in of a new government cabinet.
Manon Jeannotte will not be there at the specific request of premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who promised during the Parti Québécois’s election campaign to rid Quebec’s institutions of the presence of the monarchy.
Acting on a statement he made the day after his election to the effect he would find a way to end the presence of the lieutenant-governor at ceremonial events, St-Pierre Plamondon wrote to Jeannotte on Monday.
He asked her to refrain from attending the swearing-in ceremony even if it remains legally required under the Constitution for her to sign his cabinet nominations.
In his letter, St-Pierre Plamondon proposes that the nomination decrees of the ministers be forwarded to Jeannotte’s office in the André Laurendeau building across the street from the legislature, where the ceremony takes place, for her to sign and make legal.
“In coherence with the commitments on which we were elected, we do not wish that the lieutenant-governor be present for the swearing-in ceremony of new ministers,” St-Pierre Plamondon wrote in the letter, released to the media late Monday evening.
He nevertheless asked Jeannotte to entrench, from a distance, his cabinet choices so the government can get to work. The actual ceremony would be supervised by the secretary-general of the National Assembly, Siegfried Peters.
“It remains necessary for the nomination decrees to carry your signature as the holder of the great seal of Quebec, so they will be transmitted to you so you can simultaneously sign the oaths,” the letter says.
The letter notes the position of the PQ is in no way a criticism of Jeannotte personally, but of the institution she represents.
According to PQ officials, Jeannotte accepted the conditions and agreed to follow the proceedings via a televised feed.
Her decision ends speculation about how exactly the PQ intends to swear in the cabinet legally while fighting the existence of royal institutions in Quebec.
When he was elected, St-Pierre Plamondon told reporters he intended to seek a legal opinion on how to block the presence of the lieutenant-governor.
In his letter to Jeannotte, St-Pierre Plamondon repeats his “firm intention” to abolish the monarchy in Quebec.
“We obviously consider that the legitimacy of political and government actions stems from the people of Quebec and the democratic expression of the democratic will (of the people) through the National Assembly and not from the permission that could be granted to us by a sovereign stranger who has no democratic legitimacy.”
It is not included in the letter, but St-Pierre Plamondon also does not want Jeannotte to be present when he reads his inaugural address to the legislature, probably on Nov. 24, a week later than originally anticipated.
All the MNAs elected on Oct. 5 who have been sworn into office so far over the last week have taken the oath to be true to the Quebec people, not the king.