Faced with the risk of legal action, Prime Minister François Legault’s media relations director apologized on Tuesday to Quebec Solidaire (QS) MP Vincent Marissal.
Manuel Dionne admitted to having made a mistake in attacking Mr. Marissal, who published an open letter in which he revealed that he had been treated as a “national mud thrower” by Mr. Legault.
“Too often, I witness unjustified attacks on the integrity of our elected officials,” he wrote on X. “They leave painful marks on them and their families. Angered by these attacks, I made the same mistake. I would therefore like to apologize to Mr. Marissal. »
Too often, I witness unjustified attacks on the integrity of our elected officials. They leave painful marks on them and their families. Angered by these attacks, I made the same mistake. I would therefore like to apologize to Mr. Marissal
— Manuel Dionne (@manueldionne) February 13, 2024
On Monday, Mr. Marissal told the Duty that he did not rule out legal proceedings for defamation against Mr. Dionne because of his comments on his career as a journalist.
In a post on social media on Friday, Mr. Dionne also referred to an episode where Mr. Marissal contradicted himself regarding his exchanges with the Liberal Party of Canada (PLC) before being a candidate for QS in 2018.
“Vincent Marissal, the guy who entered politics on a lie. The one who, “according to my sources”, cut corners quite a bit when he was a journalist,” he wrote before deleting his publication.
On Monday, QS co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois demanded an apology for Mr. Marissal because of this “defamatory tweet.”
“There are limits that must not be crossed,” he wrote. I do not accept that a member of the solidarity caucus is dragged through the mud when he has done nothing other than his job. »
Mr. Nadeau-Dubois also indicated that no recourse was excluded.
Monday, in an interview with DutyMr. Dionne had given no indication that he was prepared to apologize.
In recent weeks, Vincent Marissal asked the Ethics Commissioner of the National Assembly to investigate the political financing activities of four CAQ deputies. Commissioner Ariane Mignolet followed up on two of his requests and rejected two.