Outgoing Coalition Avenir Québec MP Mathieu Lemay filed a complaint after being robbed 275 leaflets in mailboxes. A member of the Parti Québécois team in Mason is targeted in this case and admitted to having committed the act.
• Read also: Filmed removing a leaflet from the PQ, the QS candidate withdraws
“We confirm that Mr. Lemay filed a complaint with the Mascouche police. We consider this to be vandalism and a completely deplorable and undemocratic maneuver,” said CAQ spokesperson Rosalie Tremblay-Cloutier.
In a video obtained by the Journal, we can observe a volunteer from the PQ team Stéphane Handfield in the Mascouche sector, removing flyers from mailboxes.
Photo Nicolas Lachance
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon found his candidate in the riding of Masson, Stéphane Handfield, Tuesday morning. A candidate’s volunteer admitted that he had stolen CAQ leaflets from mailboxes. Mr. Handfield apologized on behalf of the volunteer who was excluded.
This morning, Stéphane Handfield apologized on behalf of his volunteer. The latter was also excluded last week after admitting the facts.
“I apologize for the gesture of my volunteer, it is unacceptable,” he confirmed.
“Immoral”
The day before, his leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, had declared that stealing leaflets was an “anti-democratic” and “immoral” gesture.
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On Monday, the leader said that, to his knowledge, no one in the Parti Québécois had used this tactic and stolen leaflets from other parties.
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, had declared that stealing leaflets was an “anti-democratic” and “immoral” gesture.
His united opponent in Camille-Laurin, Marie-Ève Rancourt, had just admitted to having withdrawn leaflets from the PQ, after a video exposing his gesture appeared on social networks.
Mme Rancourt ultimately withdrew his candidacy after a discussion with QS co-spokespersons Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and Manon Massé.
“It’s the signal that we can cheat and prevent each party from addressing citizens (…) It’s the kind of tactical politics that discourages everyone from politics,” said the leader of the PQ , Paul St-Pierre-Plamondon.
Difference
This morning, Paul St-Pierre-Plamondon said there was a difference between a candidate and a volunteer.
“From the day a Stéphane Handfield asked for the withdrawal of this person. He also spoke to Mathieu Lemay the same day to tell him, I have nothing to do with it, ”he said, assuring that he was not aware. “There are 125 constituencies, there are 3,000 or 4,000 volunteers (…) There are people who arrive, there may be mental health issues. There are people who can be too partisan and it becomes an issue. When you have thousands of volunteers, there are all kinds of situations that can arise.