Insulting each other in the National Assembly is common, you might say.
• See also: “F**k you, Simon!”: solidarity Alexandre Leduc insults Jolin-Barrette… and apologizes
Indeed, the double “Fuck You” of the Qsist parliamentary leader Alexandre Leduc towards his opposite number Simon Jolin-Barrette is part of a sad series of absolutely deplorable precedents.
Previous
•2005: Jean Charest, stung by a question from Elsie Lefebvre (regarding a voluntary activity of his wife Michèle Dionne), belches, regarding the young PQ MP: “Osti de female dog.”
•2011: Norm Macmillan, Minister for Transport at the time, exasperated by ADQ Sylvie Roy’s questions on the dubious awarding of public contracts, shouts: “You should find out before you speak… Big noise .”
•2013: Christine St-Pierre, outraged by a question about potential political interference at the Council on the Status of Women, insults PQ leader Pauline Marois. “The versions differ as to the terms used, some observers having heard the MP describe Mme Marois “cow”,” subtly sneers Canadian Press reporter Martin Ouellet. But quickly a consensus formed: what St-Pierre said to Marois was more of a loud “screw it”.
- Listen to the political meeting between Antoine Robitaille and Benoit Dutrizac via QUB radio :
In French!
First observation: the decline of French can be seen even in the exchanges of insults at the Salon bleu. In the past, we insulted each other in French! It was a good time!
I’m kidding, obviously. Impossible to force our elected officials to respect, even in their anger, the official language of Quebec. Still, we should perhaps remind them of the rich Quebec lexicon in this area. Example among many others, which could undoubtedly merit designation, by the Ministry of Culture, as an irreplaceable element of “intangible heritage”: “Eat don’ d’la marde!”
Apologies
Like Charest, Macmillan and St-Pierre, Alexandre Leduc quickly offered his apologies to the insulted party. Modern, deeply qsist, Leduc did it on a web giant, the platform now designated as [sic] unacceptable remarks towards Jolin-Barrette. His words would have “gone beyond” his thoughts! “He is a colleague that I appreciate and I will manage my emotions better in the future. My apologies also to the president.”
SCREENSHOT / VAT NEWS / QMI AGENCY
The trouble, when you are a parliamentary leader, is that you have to have emotion, but know how to balance it. In 18 years in parliament, I have seen many clashes between leaders in Assnat, but rarely, if ever, such direct and personal insults. Tensions between leaders are common, obviously, but they have so much to negotiate between them that they are doomed to put up with each other.
In parliament, it is said that the Orange parliamentary leader’s immoderate transports of emotion come from the fact that he was defending his colleague and partner Christine Labrie. In fact, he was trying to overturn President Nathalie Roy’s decision to prohibit an expression used by Labrie last week: “exploiting women”.
Insult your counterpart. Not respecting a presidential decision… Is Leduc in his place as leader? The question is valid.