(Quebec) The Parti Québécois (PQ) accuses the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) of having lacked “class and respect”, Tuesday, in the adoption of a unanimous motion paying tribute to Yves Michaud, journalist, independence activist , companion of René Lévesque and diplomat who died last week.
PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon tabled this motion to rehabilitate the memory of the deceased, almost 24 years after another motion which had then unanimously condemned him in December 2000 for controversial remarks deemed anti-Semitic.
The elected representatives of the CAQ consented to the PQ motion provided that it did not include an apology from Parliament, but they did not applaud during the debate and did not stand up.
“It really lacks class, it really lacks respect,” lamented Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, in a press scrum after the adoption of the motion.
Last week, the day after Mr. Michaud’s death, the CAQ government opposed the Assembly presenting its apologies.
Prime Minister François Legault, who had voted at the time in 2000 in favor of the motion which blamed Mr. Michaud, had clarified that he lived well with his vote. He criticized Mr. Michaud for comments made on the radio which he considered “unacceptable”.
However, the statements for which Mr. Michaud was blamed in a Liberal Party motion in 2000 had been made in the Estates General on French. “There is an ethnic vote against the sovereignty of the Quebec people,” he said. If we do not ensure that we integrate our immigrants and assimilate them, well, we will enter the slope of the Louisianaization, of the folklorization of our society. »
Mr. Michaud subsequently fought all his life against this blame and for the Assembly to repair what he considered to be an error.
Several parliamentarians subsequently regretted having voted for the motion and asked that the fault be recognized and repaired, without success.
Tuesday morning, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said that his party had spoken to the family of the deceased in recent days and that they wanted a motion that paid tribute in due form, and not another motion which could end in “another injustice”.
The PQ leader has pledged to repair what he considers to be a mistake if he forms the next government in 2026.
“This Assembly falsely accused him of having made anti-Semitic remarks,” declared Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon during the debate. This sad and unfair episode in his life affected him seriously for several years. But I am certain that we will have the opportunity in the coming years to do it justice. »