Quebec Assembly adopts bill making oath of allegiance to King Charles optional

Montreal: The legislature in Quebec province adopted a bill Friday making optional the oath of allegiance to Britain´s King Charles III, Canada´s head of state.

From now on, only the oath of allegiance to the people of Quebec will be mandatory to sit in the chamber.

"This is a great moment for Quebec democracy. One more step towards the emancipation of the Quebec people from British colonialism, towards normality," said Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the leader of the separatist Parti Quebecois, on Twitter.

"Things that we take for granted, that we think immutable" can change in "just 12 minutes," he added, in reference to the adoption of the bill proposed by the ruling Coalition Avenir Qu©bec (CAQ) party.

Last week, at the opening of the parliamentary session following the October elections, St-Pierre Plamondon and the two other elected members of his party were turned away from the doors of the Assembly for not having taken the oath to the king, as the constitution required.

Lawmakers then moved to end the mandatory nature of the tradition.

In a poll last April, for the first time in Canada´s history, a small majority of Canadian citizens said they wanted to put an end to royalty in their country, whose role today is largely ceremonial.

That percentage hit 71% in Quebec.