(Godbout) PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon suspended the campaign of his candidate in Rousseau, Pierre Vanier, who shared numerous anti-Muslim messages on social media. He wants to have a conversation with him before making a final decision.
Posted at 11:16 a.m.
Updated at 11:48 a.m.
“The chances of him being a candidate in a Parti Québécois caucus are almost nil. But I am committed to doing things right and doing things fairly. I cannot dissociate myself more strongly from such remarks, ”said Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon during a press scrum on the North Shore on Friday.
The Journal of Montreal revealed Friday that Mr. Vanier, who notably held the position of political attaché to Nicolas Marceau, the former PQ deputy for Rousseau, made many other controversial remarks. “Why do Western women choose to wrap themselves in these accoutrements? As one of my colleagues said: they miss 15 minutes of not cooked in the noggin, ”he wrote in 2016.
“Give a hammer to a sovereigntist, he will build a country. Give a Muslim a hammer, he will kill democracy. Give a useful idiot a hammer, he will give it to a Muslim,” Vanier wrote in a post in 2015.
He also asserted that “Islam is Islam everywhere. It’s the same religion, the same laws, and the same goals. Dominate and crush the infidels”, still in 2016.
In a press briefing in Montreal, the co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire (QS), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, strongly denounced the comments made by the PQ candidate. According to him, if the leader of the PQ Paul St-Pierre Plamondon keeps Mr. Vanier in his team, it is because he endorses his anti-Muslim message.
“These are comments that clearly attack certain Quebecers because of their religion. It is clearly Islamophobic remarks, it is obvious. These are anti-Muslim comments, ”said Mr. Nadeau-Dubois.
“Quebec is a welcoming people and candidates like that do not represent the Quebec that I know. […] If Mr. Plamondon keeps that person on his team, that will mean that he finds it okay. It means he’s comfortable with it,” he added.
With Hugo Pilon-Larose