Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is outraged by a cartoon published Tuesday in the daily The Gazette where we see a dog urinating on a picture of René Lévesque. “I would never let anyone urinate on the memory of independence,” launched the PQ leader, who asks other political leaders to denounce the illustration.
Posted at 12:07 p.m.
Updated at 12:44 p.m.
“We are celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the life of a great man who advocated that Quebec should decide for itself and finally become a normal democratic, linguistic and cultural society. And this caricature pisses on it, ”recounted the PQ leader with emotion on the sidelines of an announcement by his political formation on the environment and climate change.
The caricature by Boris depicts an old lady holding a small dog on a leash. The four-legged animal wears a jacket emblazoned with the Canadian flag. The latter then urinates on a poster placed on the wall, and underlining the 100e birthday of René Lévesque.
“My message to you today is that aplaventrism federalism works like this. Get on the ground, smash and they’ll pound you. Stand up straight and you’ll get respect. The only way that we will one day have respect as a normal society is when we are a country, when we are independent,” complained Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon.
Of course, René Lévesque is our heritage and it’s not normal, in a society like ours, that we… literally urinate on his memory.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Québécois
Some could see in the drawing the illustration of what the PQ leader describes, but for Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, it testifies to a deeper symptom. “It is the reflection of a larger phenomenon called Quebec bashingit is the reflection of what is written regularly in the media of the rest of Canada on the back, the account of Quebec and there, it is the memory of the founder of our party, ”he said.
I would never let anyone urinate on the memory of independence, on the legitimate approach, to finally want to become a country, which is normal on the democratic level.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Québécois
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon does not demand the withdrawal of the cartoon, calling himself a “fervent defender of freedom of expression”, but asks the leaders of other political parties to denounce it. “People have the right to draw what they want, but I too have freedom of expression and I will use it,” he added to journalists.