A room full of Parti Québécois supporters chanted “Quebec, a country” as the party’s 59 elected officials lined up to get sworn in at the Quebec City legislature on Wednesday.
PQ leader and premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon had tears in his eyes as the new and returning members of the national assembly each swore their oath to the people of Quebec.
St-Pierre Plamondon said in his speech that it marked the first year a governing party did not swear an oath to the monarchy.
“We will work for Quebec and only for Quebec,” he said.
Members of the national assembly are no longer required to swear an oath to the King since the legislature changed its rules in 2022, when PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon refused to pledge his allegiance to the reigning monarch of Canada.
St-Pierre Plamondon noted how a number of MNAs previously swore the oath to the monarch with their fingers crossed behind their backs, or mumbled through it, before the change.
“Behind closed doors, everyone was criticizing and calling out the odious nature of the process,” he said.
The new MNAs instead swore to uphold the laws of Quebec.
St-Pierre Plamondon has promised to hold a referendum on Quebec sovereignty after 2029, when U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the White House.
The sovereigntist party fell short of the 64 seats needed to form a majority in the Oct. 5 election, but could get closer to that threshold after requesting recounts in two ridings where it came second.
St-Pierre Plamondon reminded the party rank-and-file that after the 2022 election, only three PQ members were sworn in. The party won four more seats in subsequent byelections before forming a minority government.
“We will be masters in our own home … as is our destiny,” St-Pierre Plamondon said.
Most the officials sworn in have no experience at the national assembly.
St-Pierre Plamondon emphasized the importance of a strong government and said former premier Pauline Marois and Jean Royer, previously a chief of staff to former premier Jacques Parizeau, would help train the new MNAs.
The party has some returning veterans. Joël Arseneau and Pascal Bérubé, both re-elected, held the PQ’s two other seats after the 2022 election. Nicolas Marceau, who won his seat in the Marie-Victorin riding in the Montérégie, served as finance minister under Marois. Alain Therrien is also returning to the national assembly after serving as a member of Parliament for the Bloc Québécois.
St-Pierre Plamondon said his government would work to ensure it can keep its promises — which includes cutting government spending, tackling the cost of living, improving the education system and protecting Quebec culture — despite its minority.
“We’re going to reach out to the opposition because Quebecers want their legislature to work,” he said.
Liberal, Conservative and Québec solidaire representatives will be sworn in next week.
Liberal Leader Charles Milliard said in a radio interview on Tuesday that he has “no intention” to swear an oath to the King.
St-Pierre Plamondon is scheduled to unveil his cabinet and officially form a government on Oct. 21.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2026.
