Milliard says no to a referendum, in every way he can.

There are oaths sworn to crowns and oaths sworn to peoples, and in Quebec's National Assembly this week, the distinction carried more weight than usual. The 39 Liberal MNAs elected earlier this month stood in the historic Red Room and swore their allegiance not to King Charles III but to the people of Quebec, a choice that echoed the 57 Parti Québécois members who had done the same the week before . In the quiet after the ceremony, Liberal Leader Charles Milliard made clear that his party's willingness to cooperate with the incoming minority PQ government had a boundary, and that boundary was the question of another independence referendum.

"We will oppose this in every way possible," Milliard told reporters. "Remember, it is Article 1 of the current minority government, so we will be totally intransigent on this" . The language was firm but not heated, the tone of a leader who has decided where his line is and sees no reason to blur it.

The political arithmetic gives Milliard's position its weight. The Liberals more than doubled their seat count from 18 to 40, becoming the official opposition . The PQ, led by premier-elect Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, formed a minority government. A minority government in Quebec typically lasts eighteen months to two years, and Plamondon has promised not to hold a referendum until U.S. President Donald Trump is no longer in power in 2029 . Those two facts together suggest the window for a referendum is narrow, and Milliard has said as much.

Milliard's remarks came after Plamondon extended an olive branch of cooperation. The Liberal leader accepted it in principle: "When the government presents useful measures and solutions which respond to the needs of citizens, it will be able to count on our co-operation" . But he framed that cooperation as conditional, bounded by Liberal convictions. "We will not compromise our values. Ever" .

The ceremony itself carried symbolic weight. Swearing allegiance to the Quebec people rather than the Crown is not new, but the uniformity of the choice across both parties gave it a particular resonance this year. Milliard, in his speech, invoked the fleur-de-lis and the maple leaf together, describing the Liberal vision of Quebec within Canada as a political choice assumed with profound conviction. "We are proud of the lily and we find it even more dazzling next to the Maple Leaf," he said .

There is a practical question beneath the rhetoric. Milliard has not ruled out triggering another election to stop a referendum bid, though he has not explicitly threatened it either . The Liberals' path to opposition was built on gains in regions outside Montreal, including Laval, the Eastern Townships, Outaouais, and Quebec City, where the party had struggled in recent years . Whether that reconstruction can translate into a credible challenge to the PQ depends on how the minority government governs and how Milliard positions himself in the months ahead.

For now, the oath has been sworn and the line has been drawn. A minority government will test the patience of its opponents, and an opposition leader has said, in plain terms, where his patience ends. The referendum, if it comes, will find the Liberals waiting.

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Sources: Toronto Sun, Montreal Gazette, The Canadian Press