The Unintentional But Controversial “Like” of the Quebec Solidaire Candidate in Marie-Victorin

Another Solidarity candidate was in trouble this morning for an “unfortunate” and “really unintentional” “like” of a tweet that made racist comments toward Quebec and Quebecers.

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Marie-Victorin’s “like” on a controversial tweet by a candidate in solidarity with Shophika Vaityanathasharma has sparked the displeasure of many netizens.

In this tweet, user @maDuchesse, with 90 “likes” and 24 retweets since yesterday, describes “the possibility of a racial vote preventing the nation from making this beautiful province of racism”.

While this campaign has seen the positions taken on social networks like never before, the solidarity candidate and former Bloc Québécois candidate wanted to shed some light on the matter. This “will” is “absolutely and entirely involuntary”.

“I absolutely do not condone these racist and outrageous comments,” she explains.

“While scanning social networks yesterday, I accidentally clicked on this tweet to see the comments. This is where I accidentally hit the “like” button. I took it down and I don’t approve, but really not these outrageous comments and I apologize if this error has come as a shock,” she adds.

Contradictory approach

M^me Finally, Vaityanathasharma would like to point out that this kind of comment is completely against the campaign she is running in Marie-Victorin and her policy and the way she does politics.

“This kind of message is the opposite of the unifying discourse that I promote to the residents of the Marie-Victorin riding,” she explains.

Reached by telephone today, Quebec Solidaire also dissociated itself from the tweet’s comments and strongly supports its candidate’s interpretations.

“We immediately called her last night to inquire. She immediately assured us of her mistake and wrongdoing in handling the application,” the party said.

Quebec Solidaire wishes to emphasize the consequences of this incident. Because if there is a mistake, the party apologizes for the threatening and insulting comments from last night to the solidarity candidate, through the examples of the two tweets below.

“In a campaign marked by a brand of intimidation, this is scary,” adds the party.

Racist comments made headlines in the final week of the election campaign Candidate of the anti-Muslim Party Québécois And Controversial comments on Muslim religion and visible minoritiesand controversy Remarks by outgoing Minister of Labor Jean Boulet on immigration.

“The problem is that in order to make themselves known to other non-subscribers, users have to be very active. Imagine at the end of the campaign! It is demanding and mistakes are often made,” she adds.

Although a specialist wants to conclude in the case of M^me Vaityanathasharma, a certain racism may have colored consumer reactions.

“There is no shortage of misogyny and racism these days. Above all, we must remember that Vaityanathasharma is a woman of Sri Lankan origin,” she commented.