Pro-sovereignty party reluctant about pledging allegiance to the Queen
RHÉAL SÉGUIN
Globe and Mail
December 18, 2008
QUEBEC — A new pro-sovereignty left-wing party made its official entrance to the legislature yesterday and what an entrance it was for Québec solidaire’s first and only elected member, Amir Khadir.
Mr. Khadir resented having to pledge allegiance to the Queen, calling the tradition a “remnant of the archaic British monarchy,” during his swearing-in as a member of the National Assembly.
His loyalty, Mr. Khadir professed, rested exclusively with the people of Quebec and their quest for social justice and political independence.
“Until Quebec becomes a modern and democratic republic, I have to pledge allegiance to the duly constituted authority, the Queen. However my duty as an MNA and my ultimate allegiance … is to the people of Quebec,” Mr. Khadir said while promising to stand up for the poor, the ill and the disenfranchised.
Still on the fringes of the political spectrum, the left-wing party, which was founded less than three years ago, is taking aim at what Mr. Khadir called “the right-wing ideologues” with free-wheeling policies that have created social inequality and economic uncertainty.
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