The Parliament of Canada on Wednesday rejected a proposal by sovereignists in the province of Quebec for the country to cut ties with the British monarchy, after the Bloc Québécois party called the institution “racist”, “archaic”, “almost archaeological” and “humiliating”.

With 266 votes against and only 44 votes for, the request by the State of Canada to sever its relationship with King Charles III was rejected, although the proposal won the support of several members of the New Democratic Social Party. Democrat (NDP) and the Liberal Party, as reported by the House of Commons of Canada.

Among the reasons given by MPs who rejected the measure were that the motion would serve to ensure that Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet “get relevance and attention from the headlines” and to highlight highlight the most important issues. for Canadians, according to CTV News.

Similarly, they would have added that the citizens of Canada “are much more concerned about other issues, including the economy, the climate and health care”, more questioning whether a separatist party should have a say in decide who symbolically rules the country.

Blanchet, for his part, accused the new monarch of the United Kingdom of being a “foreigner who knows nothing of Canada” and who would have “difficulty passing the country’s citizenship test”, collected the CBC network.

“They tell us that we are a secular democratic country, but they protect a king who is at the head of a Church (…). It’s archaic. It’s from the past, it’s almost archaeological. It’s “It’s humiliating. It’s completely illogical to have this monarchy. You have to get out of this monarchy because it’s important to do so,” Blanchet said Tuesday when tabling the motion in parliament.