No official tributes to Queen in Quebec
As nine other provincial legislatures prepare to commemorate the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday, the Quebec government has said it will not be holding any official tributes.
“Effectively, there won't be a commemoration on Quebec's side,” a spokesperson for Quebec Premier François Legault said.
Canada has sent a delegation including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to attend the royal funeral. In Ottawa, there will be a memorial parade and a national commemorative ceremony on Monday, while the other nine provinces will hold their own commemoration services that day.
Legault, currently running for re-election to government as leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec, lowered the flags at the Quebec legislature following the Queen's death on Sept. 8. The leader of the Parti Québécois objected to that, saying Legault “should not treat the Queen of England as head of the Quebec state, nor give credibility to an illegitimate British colonial regime in Quebec.”
Mcgill University political science professor Daniel Béland said that being in the middle of an election campaign means Legault must be particularly careful given that attitudes toward the monarchy in the province differ from the rest of Canada.
“There is controversy surrounding the monarchy here that's much stronger than what you see in any other province,” he said.
Sovereigntists are “among the most vocal critics of the monarchy, but you don't need to be a sovereignist in Quebec to oppose the monarchy,” Béland explained.
Those individuals “see the queen or the monarchy as something that is external to the Quebec nation. So either something that was imposed historically, through the conquest (of New France by Great Britain), or something that they don't really identify with.” There are also Quebecers who might be simply indifferent to the monarchy, and some who support it, he added.
There will be two memorial services in Quebec organized by the Anglican Church over the weekend. Quebec Lieutenant Governor Michel Doyon will attend both, as well as the national service in Ottawa on Monday, his office confirmed.
Legault's 11-year-old Coalition Avenir Québec had gained popularity in recent years by drawing voters from both the Liberal Party of Quebec and the Parti Québécois, which puts Legault in a tricky political position.
“On the monarchy I think he has to be careful,” he said. The Parti Québécois is the second choice of many of Legault's supporters, Béland said, and so Legault needs to ensure he doesn't give them a reason to vote PQ.