Displaying items by tag: Quebec

On October 26th Canadian parliamentarians voted no to severing ties with the monarchy, after Yves-Francois Blanchet introduced a motion that sparked conversation in the House of Commons about the monarchy. His move follows 14 recently elected Quebec politicians refusing to recite an oath of allegiance to the King as required by Canadian law. Many Quebecers are in favour of Canada being a republic rather than a constitutional monarchy - a sentiment that is tied to the province's history of being a French-speaking region that was once under British colonial rule. Over the years Quebec politicians have continued to put forward policies that seek to define the province as distinct from English Canada. When tabling his motion Mr Blanchet said Canada's tie to the British Crown is ‘archaic.’ Opinion polls following Queen Elizabeth’s death found 79% of Quebec agreed they should sever their ties with the Crown.

On 24 April, prime minister Justin Trudeau visited a flood evacuation centre in Quebec where 300+ people were sheltering from floodwaters caused by spring rains and a thaw which affected thousands of homes in the province. Authorities are monitoring water levels as rain continues, and water levels across the region are not expected to peak until 26-27 April. Soldiers stacked sandbags and built dykes as floodwaters kept rising from 22 April onwards. Roads were closed as rivers expanded. Premier François Legault indicated that Quebec may offer incentives for people to move out of areas that flood every year permanently. ‘If we have to force people to move, we will have to do it.’ The Canadian Red Cross has a disaster relief fund to help residents rebuild their homes. The provinces of New Brunswick and Ontario are also waterlogged. Soldiers have been deployed to help with sandbagging in communities affected along the St John River. 55 roads and bridges are affected, with 36 of them either closed or partially closed. See