MONTREAL – The parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire (QS), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, is calling for calm, after his MP Haroun Bouazzi received, on Friday, a “surge of hateful and violent messages”.
“Mr. Bouazzi made the decision, during the day, to ask his constituency staff to go home, (…) because the influx of hateful, threatening and violent calls was too great,” he said. he reported during a press briefing just before the opening of the QS virtual congress.
“I have never seen in my political career what I saw in the last hours, and I think I have a responsibility to call for calm,” he added.
Haroun Bouazzi is at the center of a controversy because of the remarks he made at the Club Avenir Foundation gala on the debates in the National Assembly which would contribute, according to him, to the “construction of this Other, of this Other who is North African, who is Muslim, who is black, who is indigenous, and of his culture which, by definition, would be dangerous or inferior.
The controversy gained momentum Friday morning after an interview on - where Mr. Bouazzi more particularly targeted the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) and the Parti Québécois (PQ), ignoring the call to order from the two solidarity spokespersons, who deplored “polarizing” remarks.
At the microphone of host Patrick Masbourian, the supportive MP persisted and signed. He asserted that the fact that the CAQ regularly pointed to immigration as responsible for problems in public services contributed to creating “the Other as a danger for Quebec.”
During the interview, he notably targeted the Minister of Social Services, Lionel Carmant. “Mr. Carmant explains to us, to a question in the Blue Room about workers at the DPJ who slept with minors, and he ends up telling us: “it’s the immigrants’ fault,” he said.
On October 30, Minister Carmant responded to a question from Liberal MP Brigitte Garceau about sexual scandals at the DPJ. He took up Prime Minister François Legault's argument that the number of temporary immigrants puts pressure on the services of the DPJ.
“The impact of newcomers plays a role in all of the services we offer. You know that to my great despair, there are people who leave from South America, the Caribbean, who cross the United States on foot, with their children, who arrive in Quebec and because of their condition, the DPJ is called and must intervene,” declared Mr. Carmant.
“What I asked is that we intervene with social services, with community organizations, that we change the way we intervene to ensure that these children can stay with their families. (…) What we want is for people who arrive in Quebec to contribute to Quebec society as best as possible, and that is by offering them the best welcome and the best possible services, including youth services. continued the minister.
Lionel Carmant's reaction to Mr. Bouazzi's comments was not long in coming. “I will never accept being accused of fueling racism. I am a proud Quebecer of Haitian origin. Haroun Bouazzi goes beyond the limits. Québec solidaire must immediately react,” Mr. Carmant wrote on the social network X.
According to Mr. Bouazzi, his comments were “distorted”. He says he does “pedagogy” and affirms that it takes “courage” to speak against racism. Friday evening, Mr. Nadeau-Dubois affirmed that no discussion had taken place to exclude Mr. Bouazzi from the solidarity caucus. He won't ask her to apologize either.
“This is completely unacceptable”
During the interview with -, the solidarity MP also pointed out the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé. “Mr. Dubé is asked about the waiting lists which are only growing – and he has been there for six years – about the people who are going to have surgery and he says: “it’s the fault of the immigrants”,” he said. -he argued.
“I have never said anything like that. It is completely unacceptable to imply otherwise. Mr. Bouazzi is looking for other culprits for the regrettable comments he himself made, he must retract,” the Minister of Health wrote on X.
In the interview, Haroun Bouazzi defended himself from having treated his colleagues in the National Assembly as racist. “I don’t consider these comments to be particularly racist. I think these are words that construct the Other as a danger. And indeed, in our society, when the Other becomes a danger, racism is created,” he explained.
“If they think what they say is racist and they feel judged, that’s their problem. That’s not what I’m saying,” added the supportive MP.
“Great replacement”
During the interview on Friday morning, Haroun Bouazzi also criticized the PQ.
“Mr. (Paul) St-Pierre Plamondon explained to us that, if we do not create sovereignty, we will disappear. There are 9 million of us! If we disappear, it's because we're being replaced. Replacing 9 million (people), it’s not a small replacement, it’s a big replacement,” he explained, thus wanting to associate the PQ with the conspiracy and far-right theory of the big replacement.
“Not only does (Haroun Bouazzi) not apologize, he fully accepts his comments and adds more. Québec solidaire will have to make a decision. Quickly. It is the integrity of the National Assembly of Quebec that is at stake,” wrote PQ MP Pascal Bérubé, also on X.
On Thursday, Mr. Bouazzi's comments triggered a host of reactions against him. The party's two spokespersons, Ruba Ghazal and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, publicly rebuked him, saying “that his comments were frankly clumsy and exaggerated.”
During the radio interview, Mr. Bouazzi said that he respected the position taken by the two united spokespersons. “I can understand that, in terms of form, there may be some discomfort,” he said.
Even the organization which invited the solidarity deputy distanced itself from his remarks by affirming that each elected official invited to its platform must “bank on cohesive and inclusive speeches” and that Haroun Bouazzi’s speech, “unfortunately did not not adhere to this principle.
QS will be in virtual congress until Sunday.
