As I explained on Tuesday, the Bouazzi “affair” is a fragmentation bomb, the fragments of which have not finished damaging the already damaged veneer of Québec solidaire.
The other parties are sharpening their weapons against MP Haroun Bouazzi for having accused the entire National Assembly of racism.
On a partisan level, the bone to pick is tempting. Fundamentally, there is nevertheless an essential element in this story that we would be wrong to ignore.
If the anger of several elected officials is also felt, it is not only because Mr. Bouazzi’s comments are fallacious. It is also because the “r” word, when it takes the form of an accusation, provokes in Quebec an immediate reaction of exasperation and above all injustice.
Not that Quebec is exempt from manifestations of racism and xenophobia. No company, unfortunately, is.
The real problem is the extreme ease with which Quebec as a society is often accused of atavistic intolerance towards linguistic, cultural, ethnic or religious minorities.
For decades, this false representation came mainly from the ROC and part of the Anglo-Quebec community.
Suspected of the worst
Repeatedly portrayed as xenophobic, Quebec society has often taken a hit in other legislatures and the English-language media.
Even the minister responsible for the adoption of Law 101, Dr Camille Laurin was compared to Joseph Goebbels, the infamous propaganda minister of Nazi Germany. That’s to say.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau, always quick to attribute to Quebec the darkest intentions towards minorities, also contributed greatly to shaping the image of a society that should be protected from its own base instincts.
Whether we like it or not, over time, the entire work has left traces in the memories, even buried ones, of many Quebecers.
If the outraged reaction to the Bouazzi “affair” is so rapid and the feeling of injustice so strong, it is precisely because the dishonest words of the supportive MP have reopened these same scars.
Worse still, this time, the anathema is launched by an elected representative of the National Assembly against it and all its members.
The damage is done
It is true that Philippe Couillard, when he was prime minister, accused the CAQ of “blowing on the embers of intolerance.” However, Haroun Bouazzi went much further by pointing to Parliament as a whole.
That such an affront does not pass must necessarily make sense. This is why, even if the ultimate urgency is to repair our seriously broken public services, the Bouazzi “affair” is no less significant.
Ditto for the worrying inclination of the CAQ government, in its eternal one-upmanship on so-called identity issues, to blame immigration for all the crises that it itself cannot manage.
Inevitably, this makes the immigration debate much more difficult. As elsewhere, including recently at the federal level, we must nevertheless debate it in a calm, documented and human manner.
As for Québec solidaire, with apologies in the extremes of his deputy Bazzoui who, to tell the truth, are not, the damage is done. Point.
