Ten members of the sovereigntist left-wing party, Quebec solidaire who were elected Oct. 1 as Members of the National Assembly, refused to swear allegiance to the Queen Publicly on Wednesday, October the 17^th, as they were sworn into the National Assembly.

They denounced the oath as archaic and chose to take theirs indoors where they would not be seen by friends and family present at the ceremony. In public, they only took the second part of the oath which required them to swear loyalty to the Quebec people.

According to CTV News, the party’s co-spokesperson referred to the oath to the Queen as “an archaic and, frankly, unpleasant ritual.”

She explained that the choice to make the declaration away from public view was made as a means to show respect for members’ sovereigntist convictions.

Party member, Sol Zanetti, described the oat as “humiliating” due to the fact that it clashed with his personal convictions.

The party which prides itself in being different from other political parties hopes to introduce legislation that would get rid of the oath to the Queen. Other priorities for the party as highlighted by CBC News, include:

• Economy and Public Finance

The party plans to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour, extend minimum vacation from two to four weeks and end forced overtime.

Possibly nationalize natural resources in the province, including the mining and forestry industries.

• Immigration

Create a network of resource centres for immigrants, in order to provide easier access to information about jobs and French lessons, among other things.

• Healthcare

Prevent doctors from incorporating and limit fee-for-service billing.

Force family medicine groups (GMFs) to register as non-profits in order to receive public funds. The party maintains the vast majority of GMFs are for-profit enterprises.

• Education

Provide free education for everyone living in the province, from daycare through to graduate university programs, at a cost of $2.5 billion.

• Childcare and families

Proposes free daycare as part of its plan to offer free education from birth.

• Identity, Diversity and Secularism

Opposes the wearing of religious symbols, including the hijab, by police officers and others who hold coercive state power.

• Sovereignty

Advocates independence. A QS government would organize elections for a constituent assembly, which would draft a constitution for an independent Quebec. That constitution would be put to a referendum.

Would ask the Finance Ministry to come up with a non-partisan budget analysis for the first years of an independent Quebec.

• Environment

Would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 95 percent in the next 30 years. It would require that all vehicles sold in Quebec by 2030 must be electric or hybrid and would ban the sale of gasoline-fuelled cars by 2050.

• Transit

Put forward a $25-billion public transit plan that would deliver 38 new Metro stations by 2030.

• Electoral Reform

Would establish proportional representation where 60 percent of candidates would be elected to represent a riding and the other 40 percent would be spread throughout the regions.