Quebec's government will introduce a law next week abolishing the mandatory oath of office for elected officials to the British King Charles III, as pressure builds in the Canadian province to sever such ties to the monarchy, Reuters reports.

Quebec Prime Minister Francois Legault said the new law would follow a separate bill that would allow elected officials to simply take the oath of office to the people of Quebec. "It is a relic from the past," Quebec Solidaire spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said of the oath to King Charles. "I think there is strong support in Quebec to modernize our institutions, to make sure that the representatives of the people are not forced in 2022 to swear an oath to a foreign king."

Queen Elizabeth's death in September revived a debate among Canadians about whether the country should retain the decades-old British monarchy system.

Canada is a member of the Commonwealth, composed mainly of countries of the former British Empire in which the British monarch was or is head of state.