Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has no intention of acceding to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s demand that Amira Elghawaby be stripped of her position as Canada’s special representative for the fight against Islamophobia.
The Trudeau government has been on the hot seat since it appointed activist and former journalist Amira Elghawaby to this new post on Thursday. An outcry followed in Quebec since she had written in 2019 in theottawa citizen that Quebecers seemed “influenced by anti-Muslim sentiment”.
In a video posted Friday on social networks, the leader of the official opposition, Pierre Poilievre, reproached Mme Elghawaby made “anti-Quebec” remarks, against the “Jewish people” and against “police officers”, and he demanded the withdrawal of his appointment to this “very important position in the government”.
“It is not by appointing such a person to a position that we will be able to unite the country”, he denounced.
Asked to react to the exit of his adversary on the sidelines of his caucus meeting on Saturday, Prime Minister Trudeau confined himself to saying that he was “looking forward to being with her tomorrow [dimanche] in Sainte-Foy. We deduce that the representative will participate in the ceremony to commemorate the attack on the great mosque of Quebec.
If several Quebec ministers like Pablo Rodriguez and François-Philippe Champagne have expressed their discomfort with the choice of Mme Elghawaby, some of their colleagues, particularly from Ontario, hailed him.
This is the case of the Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra. “The government selection process was to find the best person for the job. She has an impeccable CV […] so yeah, she’s incredibly skilled. And we have to give it a chance, ”he pleads in an interview.
“I know that in the past, she has said things that are difficult for Canada and Quebec to hear, continues the Ontario minister. But we must listen to the voices of those affected by Law 21 [Loi sur la laïcité de l’État] : there are consequences that many Quebecers have not thought about or that they do not take into account. »
The controversy continues
Affirming that he was “not in agreement with his remarks” on Quebecers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had invited Friday afternoon Mr.me Elghawaby to clarify his thinking. “I do not believe that Quebecers are Islamophobic,” said the main interested party on social networks shortly after.
The storm did not calm down on Saturday, however, when other politicians also spoke out on the issue.
The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, launched on Twitter: “We do not “retract” words – she said them – at best we admit to having been odious. In the process, he affirmed that this appointment had been made knowingly. “I do not believe for a moment that Justin Trudeau appointed her to such a sensitive position without checking her publications. Lets go ! »
A vision shared by the Bloc Québécois spokesperson on secularism, Martin Champoux. “If he [Justin Trudeau] wants to build bridges, why appoint someone who digs ditches? “, he wrote on Twitter.
The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Éric Duhaime, also joined in the debate. “In terms of discrimination, amalgamation and intolerance, Ms. Elghawaby is not a model, however, he tweeted. These anti-Quebec comments are totally unacceptable. A hurtful and baseless generalization. »
This controversy comes on the eve of the commemoration of the attack on the great mosque of Quebec, which left 6 dead, 8 injured and 17 orphans in 2017.