(Quebec) The government asked for a sanction and the official opposition for an apology from Québec solidaire (QS) on Thursday after MP Sol Zanetti inflated and deflated a balloon during question period to try to illustrate the collapse of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ).
Liberal MP Frantz Benjamin, who chaired the proceedings in place of Nathalie Roy, clearly lost control of the House and had to suspend the proceedings for many minutes.
Mr. Zanetti started the scandal by denouncing the nationalism of the CAQ which according to him does not live up to expectations. He inflated a blue balloon and then released it so that it deflated.
“There are not many words that can describe the deflation of CAQ nationalism, but perhaps this image could help,” he then declared, while the elected officials of his political party laughed.
“You know that what you have just done is not permitted,” said President Frantz Benjamin, recalling that objects of this type cannot be used in the Chamber.
It was then that the leader of the government in the House, Simon Jolin-Barrette, jumped to demand tougher action against the QS MP.
Mr. Benjamin maintained that he had rendered his decision and issued his call to order, which displeased Mr. Jolin-Barrette.
Faced with the disorder, the president had to interrupt the question period and, therefore, its television broadcast for a good fifteen minutes.
Work has resumed, but the president did not accept the government leader’s proposal to sanction the QS deputy.
Shortly after, the interim leader of the official opposition, Marc Tanguay, made a written statement on the X network, formerly Twitter.
“The gesture made by Sol Zanetti at the Salon Bleu is unacceptable within our institution, our National Assembly,” he declared. [Le chef parlementaire] Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois must apologize on behalf of his political party. »