Québec solidaire, this party which proclaims itself “feminist”, is currently passing a fascinating test: that of the salary of its new co-spokesperson Émilise Lessard-Therrien.
So far, what we are hearing is astonishing.
First from “ELT” itself. In her eyes, she does not deserve a “MP salary”. Unconsciously, she found herself agreeing with François Legault, 11 years later! In 2012, in a heated exchange on Twitter, the CAQ leader drew boos with his “girls attach less importance to salary than boys”.
Funny fact: Legault was bickering with a columnist from The PressVincent Marissal, today deputy of QS (and sole ELT support in the caucus, in the race for co-spokesperson).
- Listen to the political meeting between Antoine Robitaille and Benoit Dutrizac via QUB radio :
The Legault-Marissal shock focused on a proposal from the CAQ: increase teachers’ salaries from 10% to 30% in exchange for tightening admission requirements into education “facs”. (Times are changing!) The lack of importance given to salary by “girls” explained why the profession was mainly female, said Legault. The columnist Marissal was indignant: “So, girls go there because they were born for a little bread?”
Mme Does Lessard-Therrien believe she was “born for a little bread”? She refuses a deputy’s salary. “It’s not the same work” as that of GND, she wrote on X on Wednesday.
However, precedents abound: male extra-parliamentary leaders like Philippe Couillard, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, Éric Duhaime, etc. demanded and obtained from their party remuneration equivalent to that of elected officials burdened with parliamentary tasks! No outcry was raised.
Ghazal skates
On Wednesday, a reporter asked Qsist Ruba Ghazal the question. Mme Shouldn’t Lessard-Therrien get “the same salary as the male co-spokesperson”? Mme Ghazal then said: “It’s an administrative question” which will be resolved with the party. Obviously, she continued, everything depends on “the state of the party’s finances”. (QS will, however, receive “a total amount of $1,770,519.71 in allocation in 2023” from Élections Québec. To which is added $195,635 in donations.)
In any case, insisted Mme Ghazal, the remuneration of the co-spokesperson “has absolutely nothing to do with the question of parity or feminism”.
Archive photo, QMI Agency
Ah good? We are far from the rhetorical flights without nuance (even abusive) of another Qsist MP, Christine Labrie, who, the day before, argued that refusing to “increase public sector salaries at the top of inflation [comme le ferait la CAQ], it’s economic violence against women”! Does refusing ELT a salary at least equivalent to GND border on a kind of “economic violence”? I will abstain…
The fact remains that once again, QS seems tempted to compromise with its values. His female spokesperson will take office with a lower salary than her male counterpart. And what’s more, by seeing herself forced to stifle her position in favor of boycotting the web thug, Facebook. The same day Google reached an agreement with Ottawa. We bet that some will see this as a sort of “patriarchal violence”.