National Assembly staff say the Parti Quebecois will need majority support from the floor in order to permanently remove the Canadian flag.

The National Assembly's legal experts have reviewed the statutes and precedents, and now say the decision lies with Quebec's 125 MNAs.

The Parti Quebecois would, therefore, need the support of either the CAQ or the Liberals to remove the flag.

Administrative committee does not decide

The PQ holds the majority of seats on an administrative committee, known as the "BAN."

In 1991, when the Equality party wanted to place the Canadian flag in another room, the blue room, the speaker asked the committee to make a decision on the matter.

Later MNAs moved to give the BAN authority on the issue.

However, according the National Assembly's information officer Jean-Philippe Laprise, the 1991 motion only referred to the blue room, and not the red room, which is the site currently under debate.

According the National Assembly's experts, there is no precedent or motion referring to flags in the red room, so any future decision belongs to the assembly floor.

photo of: flags in the red room