At the heart of a debate on gender identity, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, announced Wednesday the establishment of a scientific committee on this issue, while the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St- Pierre Plamondon, has undertaken to “qualify” his position in a letter which he will publish shortly.
“I’m going to go there in writing, I’m going to publish a letter, then that will allow me to provide the nuances that I want to provide,” launched the PQ leader in the morning.
The day before, he responded to a question on gender identity by mentioning the arrival of “radical left” ideologies in the education network. He listed some topics imposed by this fringe: “white privilege, the effective abolition of borders, systemic racism, inclusive writing”.
Although he said he stood by his comments, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon clarified that in his opinion the subject requires caution. And which radical left was he talking about? “My next step is to provide nuances and clarify the position of the Parti Québécois in a letter that I will publish very soon,” he simply replied.
A committee of wise men
After him, Minister Drainville appeared before journalists to announce the creation of a scientific committee, or “committee of wise people”, to reflect on the question of gender identity and formulate “observations” on this subject. .
“We will not go to a parliamentary committee on this,” he said, rejecting the PQ’s request to this effect. “The reason is simple: we do not want this issue, which is very sensitive, to be used for partisan purposes. »
The minister said he hoped the committee would take action before Christmas, to “make a proposal to Quebec society” within a few weeks. “Thinking, getting the facts, doing a rational scientific analysis of these issues, I think that’s the way to go,” he said. “It touches us in our deep values and this is precisely why we need to think carefully. »
According to Mr. Drainville, the “temptation to politicize” this issue is very real. “In the United States, there are politicians who have made their careers on this. I don’t want us to go there, to Quebec,” also said Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, of Québec solidaire.
Before Minister Drainville announced the establishment of a committee, Liberal André Fortin, for his part, suggested that elected officials look into questions that appear more urgent to him, notably problems of access to the system. health by trans and non-binary people.