Lack of loyalty | The PQ expels a member of its political commission

(Quebec) The Parti Québécois (PQ) expels activist and lawyer Vincent Boulay from its political committee, accusing him of having lacked loyalty. He can remain a member of the sovereignist group.

The Press revealed on November 3 that the PQ is threatening to expel from the party Mr. Boulay who recently wrote an open letter criticizing in barely veiled words the remarks of leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. The PQ finally decided to exclude him from the political commission and to prohibit him from occupying any elective position within the party for two years. He considers that the activist failed in his obligations of loyalty and solidarity.

“It seems like a manhunt to me!” » launched Mr. Boulay on Friday, joined by The Press who had been informed in advance of the decision rendered by the PQ.

“I find it terribly disappointing and dangerous. This seems to me a major and significant attack on the rights to dissent,” he added.

The PQ believes that Vincent Boulay did not respect his obligation of loyalty and solidarity, which explains his sanction. The party criticized him for his “communications on the networks” and the transmission of confidential information to a columnist – he had told the latter that the PQ had reservations about publishing his letter.

On October 25, Jonathan Trudeau, political columnist for the show Bored in the morningon the air of 98.5, reported the content of an open letter from Vincent Boulay, published the day before in The Montreal Journal. His text is entitled “On the question of identity, moderation tastes much better”.

“In the last week, following the disturbing revelations of the situation at the Bedford school, many took the opportunity to qualify Bill 21 [Loi sur la laïcité de l’État] of 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,” he writes.

And above all, he adds: “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 ‘failure. Nuance sometimes gives way to sensationalism and we must denounce it when the whole thing concerns subjects as sensitive as identity. »

He does not name Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, but the link is obvious.

The PQ leader had made a notable outing a few days earlier denouncing “Islamist entryism” at the Bedford school. “What is entryism? “It’s when a handful of people take control of an entire institution and they create a climate of terror to impose their religion or ideology,” he said while reproaching the government for not “naming” the real problem in the history of the Bedford School.

On Tuesday, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon denied wanting to muzzle an activist. “This person published a large number of letters that contradicted the party, the same thing on his social media, and then nothing ever happened, there was never any reaction. We are not facing a debate on the divergence of points of view, we are facing a debate on alleged breaches of either the code of ethics or specific rules when we sit on the political committee,” he argued. .

In a publication on Facebook Friday, the president of the political commission Camille Pellerin-Forget maintains that the executive council of the PQ “has noted substantial breaches of the duty of loyalty and a breach of confidentiality which falls to the elected members of the Parti Québécois authorities” under the code of ethics and communications policy. “Vincent Boulay retains his status as a member of the Parti Québécois but will no longer sit in the elective capacity of member of the political commission. He was reminded to respect the party rules going forward. »