Stung to the quick by revelations about one of his candidates, Éric Duhaime accused the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) of intimidating and pointed the finger at Deputy Prime Minister Geneviève Guilbault because she did not wore the mask on a plane recently.
“The CAQ’s smear campaign is enough! thundered the Conservative leader at the end of the day. “It’s not true that they’re coming to wipe their feet on us today!” Mr. Duhaime was reacting to the publication in a local Beauceron newspaper of a potentially embarrassing article for his candidate in Beauce-Nord, Olivier Dumais, who is now leading the electoral race there, according to a poll published in the morning.
In a podcast broadcast in July, the candidate said he broke the rules in the red zone to go to a chalet with friends. He later claims to have lied to his fellow mayors about it, the online media reported. my beauty.
Asked about this, Éric Duhaime responded by attacking. “Mme [la vice-première ministre Geneviève] Guilbault, three days ago, she was on a plane, no mask against government instructions, ”he thundered.
“They’re digging through the trash of a guy who did something months ago. At some point, the double standard will do! I’m sorry, but the caquistes, we have no lessons to receive from them. […] Today, we will not accept being intimidated by bullies that way. »
The Conservative leader further hinted that he was the victim of a double standard from journalists. “Did a journalist ask Mr. Legault a question about his own minister? […] Absolutely not ! »
Asked about the episode of the plane, the press officer of Mme Guilbault explained that during the flight in question his team asked the pilots “twice” if the mask was necessary. “We were told no,” replied Louis-Julien Drufresne.
Finally, with respect to Mr. Dumais, Mr. Duhaime said he “heard” that he had not defied the rules deliberately. “What I heard was that he forgot,” he said. “The context, the detail, I don’t know, but what I do know is that the CAQ is trying to use this when it doesn’t see the beam in its own eye. »