Thus, we learn that the new co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Émilise Lessard-Therrien will only receive a salary of $82,000well below what his colleague Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois earns.
Mme Lessard-Therrien, not being elected, will be paid directly by the political party rather than by the National Assembly. This is not a first, Éric Duhaime is currently in this situation, as are Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and Philippe Couillard before their election.
However, their political parties have decided to pay them a salary equivalent to that of an elected deputy. This indeed represents an acceptable standard allowing them to have the same conditions as their colleagues and their caucuses.
But not in the case of Québec solidaire. Mme Lessard-Therrien will not receive the equivalent of a deputy’s salary. She will receive less. Much less. It thus creates a new category, that of unelected female leaders.
We have to believe that in addition to being part-time in solidarity at Québec solidaire, we are feminists when it suits us. We remember that during strikes in the health and education sectors, solidarity workers criticized the government for attacking women, that we would not pay enough for the simple reason that they are women. . Christine Labrie, a solidarity MP, even criticized the government for “exploiting women”! Nothing less.
- Listen to the political meeting with Yasmine Abdelfadel and Marc-André Leclerc via QUB :
This declaration comes back today like a boomerang in the front of Québec solidaire. Can we therefore conclude, following their logic, that the activists have bought themselves a cheap boss that they will exploit to promote their ideology?
What would justify a woman, having the same title and the same functions as her male colleague, being able to receive less income? What justifies a party calling itself feminist being able to accept this salary disparity?
We will remember that during the same congress having elected Mme Lessard-Therrien as co-leader of the political party, a resolution banning men from running in any by-election in the coming months was passed… in the name of feminism. So, when it comes to excluding men, that’s feminism, and when it comes to paying women properly and fairly, that’s pragmatism?
This decision adds to the refusals to be united and united against web giants like META. Québec solidaire tells us, once again, that virtue is for others.