Québec solidaire has lined up behind its deputy Haroun Bouazzi in the face of the “hate” received for his comments on racism in the National Assembly. Elected officials and activists, however, are largely divided on the merits of the issue.
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Québec solidaire has lined up behind its deputy Haroun Bouazzi in the face of the “hate” received for his comments on racism in the National Assembly. Elected officials and activists, however, are largely divided on the merits of the issue.
In response to a motion tabled by 13 associations to publicly support the member for Maurice-Richard, the party leadership presented its own wording on Sunday in order to find a way through, at the very end of a special congress held virtually .
According to the text adopted behind closed doors, the party “strongly condemns the threats, violence and the defamation campaign directed against MP Haroun Bouazzi and offers him its support in the face of these circumstances”. The members of the National Assembly, it is added, are not racist.
The formula allowed everyone to find what they wanted. Haroun Bouazzi saw this as “support” from the delegates, while Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois believes that this “chapter is now closed”.
However, the motion does not directly address the member’s statement that elected officials portray newcomer culture as “dangerous or inferior.”
Even after the adoption of the motion, Ruba Ghazal and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois maintained their disagreement expressed earlier this week. This statement was “clumsy and exaggerated”, they believe.
On Saturday, Étienne Grandmont, Sol Zanetti, Alexandra Zaga-Mendez and Manon Massé were in the same direction.
MP Vincent Marissal spoke outright of “discomfort within the caucus in relation to what was said”.
Female candidates
The controversy overshadowed a congress intended to reform the party’s statutes.
Delegates notably voted this weekend in favor of a measure to impose female candidates. From now on, the National Council will be able to “adopt criteria which determine the representativeness of people who can stand as candidates in general or partial elections”.
QS made the headlines last year when its president asked to favor a female candidate for the by-election in Jean-Talon, despite the presence in the ranks of a male candidate, Olivier Bolduc.
The party thus wanted to get closer to parity in its caucus, which has four women and eight men.
Ruba Ghazal elected
The congress was also an opportunity to elect Ruba Ghazal to the position of co-spokesperson, to succeed Émilie Lessard-Therrien who resigned with a bang last April. Without an opponent, Ms. Ghazal was elected with a score of just over 91%.
Patrick Bellerose
She will also replace Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois as parliamentary leader during his three-month paternity leave, which is due to begin next month.
On Saturday evening, the latter declared that the arrival of Ms. Ghazal risks changing the dynamic during the question period.
“I can’t wait to see how François Legault will respond to Ruba Ghazal. Mr. Legault never hesitates to attribute a whole series of problems in Quebec to immigrants. […] I can’t wait to see if he will dare to make comments like that when Ruba Ghazal speaks to him,” declared Mr. Nadeau-Dubois.
