Haroun Bouazzi refused to apologize for his comments on racism in the National Assembly on Friday and accuses the CAQ of blaming immigration in a host of issues. Shocked, CAQ members asked Québec Solidaire to intervene.
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The deputy for Maurice-Richard tried at length to explain himself at the microphone of Patrick Masbourian, on the airwaves of 95.1FM, Friday morning. It was the only interview he would give, he said.
But his arguments did not please certain elected representatives of the National Assembly. The CAQ, he declared, blames mass immigration to explain its setbacks in several cases.
For example, in response to the sex scandal at the Cité-des-Prairies rehabilitation center, Lionel Carmant and François Legault pointed the finger at asylum seekers to explain that the Youth Protection Department is overwhelmed by requests, recalled Mr. Bouazzi.
In addition, the CAQ and the PQ were concerned about the massive influx of immigrants following the election of Donald Trump, he pointed out.
Outraged elected officials
Immediately after the interview, the minister responsible for Social Services denounced the shortcut on the X platform. “I will never accept being accused of fueling racism. I am a proud Quebecer of Haitian origin. @HarounBouazzi goes beyond the limits. Québec solidaire must immediately react,” wrote Lionel Carmant.
The parliamentary leader of the Legault government added: “So not only does MP @HarounBouazzi refuse to apologize for his radical remarks, but he adds to it by gratuitously attacking several of my colleagues. @QuebecSolidaire cannot condone this type of comment within its caucus,” says Simon Jolin-Barrette on X.
Same story with the PQ, where MP Pascal Bérubé writes: “Not only does he not apologize, he fully accepts his comments and adds more. @QuebecSolidaire
will have to make a decision. Quickly. It’s the integrity of @AssnatQc that is at stake.”
Since yesterday, Québec solidaire and Mr. Bouazzi have defended themselves by asserting that the MP did not say that the elected representatives of the National Assembly are racist, during his speech to the Club Avenir Foundation.
Rather, he asserted that the National Assembly constructs an image of the immigrant as having a “dangerous” and “inferior” culture.
Indeed, after having praised the work of the organization “to break the construction of these mechanisms of racism”, he added: “It is all the more important, today, that we unfortunately see – and God knows that I see this in the National Assembly every day – the construction of this Other, of this Other who is North African, who is Muslim, who is Black or Indigenous, and of his culture which, by definition, would be dangerous or inferior” .
In reaction, Québec solidaire described the comments as “frankly clumsy and exaggerated”.
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