A member of the Political Commission of the Parti Québécois (PQ) since 2018 is threatened with expulsion, following the publication of an open letter in The Journallast October.
• Also read: On the question of identity, moderation tastes much better
Vincent Boulay’s letter, which is entitled “On the question of identity, moderation tastes much better”, addressed the disturbing revelations of the situation at the Bedford school by criticizing certain comments made by the leader of the PQ, Paul St- Pierre-Plamondon.
Here is an excerpt from his letter published on October 24:
“In the last week, following the disturbing revelations of the situation at the Bedford school, many took the opportunity to describe Bill 21 as a failure. In doing so, we fall into the same trap as those who claim that we are assailed on all sides by an Islamist threat. […] Thus, in the same way that we cannot argue that we are witnessing the “Islamization of public schools” or “religious entryism”, we cannot qualify Law 21 as a failure. Nuance sometimes gives way to sensationalism and we must denounce it when the whole thing concerns subjects as sensitive as identity.”
A call for nuance
In interview at TVA NewsVincent Boulay defends himself by specifying that this letter was not intended “to denounce the positions of the Parti Québécois”, but rather was intended in response to an editorial by The Press a you Montreal Journal.
“This text, basically, aimed precisely to call for nuance in debates on identity and immigration, debates which are necessary, but which, sometimes, through the clip reproduced in the media, we unfortunately seems to be drifting towards increasingly shocking comments,” says the lawyer.
Mr. Boulay, who was threatened with expulsion in a letter sent by the PQ last Friday, specifies that he is accused of having revealed that the PQ was “not very fond of the idea of him publishing this letter-there,” in an interview with political columnist Jonathan Trudeau.
The member of the PQ Political Commission was also criticized by the national executive council for having engaged in “behavior on the media which would be contrary to PQ policy in terms of social media,” he explains. .
“I was very surprised”
Vincent Boulay says he is very “astonished” and “very surprised” to have received these reproaches from his party, for which he has been involved since 2018.
“I have been a Parti Québécois activist for a very long time and I admit that I never thought or expected to have this kind of reproach from the national executive,” he underlines.
The lawyer specifies that he had 24 to 48 hours upon receipt of the confidential letter to plead in writing or plead before the national executive council of the PQ. “I chose to go in writing after asking for detailed reasons because the letter itself remains quite vague,” he comments. I managed to get a little more detail about what I was accused of.”
He is now awaiting a verdict from the national executive since Saturday afternoon.
Vincent Boulay intends to “fight” to remain within the PQ Political Commission.
The activist does not hide the possibility of running in the next elections, noting that he “hopes” that this threat of expulsion does not harm him.
See the full interview with Vincent Boulay above.
