SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 117 - Oct/25/22

Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval (Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, BQ)

Oct/25/22 12:22:01 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, since this morning, we have been hearing the Conservatives and Liberals basically singing the same tune, one after the other. They are wondering how the Bloc Québécois could have chosen such an unimportant subject when there are so many more important things to talk about than the monarchy. However, the monarchy is the head of state, the person at the very top of the pyramid. Is that not important? We are talking about the person under whose authority we vote on all of our laws. Is that not important? I would like to know what my colleague thinks about what those two parties are saying on this subject and, more importantly, what that means. Does this not mean that that they are unable to defend their position because it is not really defensible?

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Context: House Hansard - 117 - Oct/25/22

Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval (Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, BQ)

Oct/25/22 12:39:12 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Longueuil—Saint‑Hubert for his passionate speech, above all a speech full of conviction. It is good to be shaken up once in a while, to have someone who speaks their mind, lays it all out on the table and tells it like it is. Some members seem to be promoting the status quo, the old British Crown colonialism, with its symbols and history that is fraught with horror stories. Those members pretend that nothing is the matter, that there is no problem. They behave as if everything is fine. After all, they do not think about the monarchy every morning as they get up. We have a historic opportunity to change that and we are not doing it. Does my colleague not think that there is something that members are not aware of, something that is perhaps in their subconscious? One of the big differences between Canada and the United States is that the very foundation of Canada is the attachment to the monarchy. At the end of the day, is there not a little bit of that in the fact that they do not want to get rid of it? I wonder, because I cannot think of any other reason.

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Context: House Hansard - 117 - Oct/25/22

Mr. Xavier Barsalou-Duval (Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, BQ)

Oct/25/22 1:58:15 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, for me, being a royal subject is not part of my identity that I am proud of. In fact, I would say that it is almost shameful. I might add that, unlike others here, I did not have a book of condolences for the Queen on my desk for people to sign, although anyone who wanted to was quite free to do so. That said, I listened to the monarchical plea of my colleague across the way. I strongly disagree with her, as members might have guessed. Perhaps this particular thought might elicit an interesting response from her. Monarchy is imposed. However, we live in a democracy. As people elected by the public, we have the power to decide to free ourselves from the monarchy and emancipate ourselves. A majority of the population, both in Quebec and in Canada, would like to see us cut ties with the monarchy. I would like to know if my colleague across the way, whose feelings for democracy must be quite strong, thinks it is important that the will of the people be reflected in the decisions of their elected representatives.

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