PQ leader expels two candidates for anti-Muslim comments | Quebec 2022 elections

Its leader Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon announced in Tadoussac on Friday afternoon that the two candidates were being excluded due to anti-Muslim comments published on social networks in 2015 and 2016.

They are Pierre Vanier in Rousseau Riding and his spouse Catherine Provost in L’Assomption. They were excluded from the Parti Québécois candidate pool, and in any case they were excluded [ne] In the event of an election, the party can be part of the Québécois caucusThe chef decided.

This morning, Mr Vanier was suspended by his employer after the Facebook posts resurfaced Listen to it And Light the lamp On these statements. Let me talk to himMr. St-Pierre Plamondon asked journalists in the press as he disembarked from the Maten-Godbaut ferry on the North Shore.

So the PQ leader chose at the end of this conversation with his candidate Find a lineAlthough Mr. Vanier Sorry and deeply sorryLike his spouse, his publications came back into the limelight a second time. Madame Provost cried. It was very, very emotionalPaul Saint-Pierre Plamondon said.

” We cannot accept this kind of statement from the Parti Québécois. »

a cook with angerBut hopelessly

Mr Vanier’s comments reappeared on Friday on the website of Montreal JournalBut the publications in question were still on Facebook when Radio-Canada took an interest in the matter.

In 2015, he wrote for example: Give a Muslim a hammer and he will kill democracy.

That year, as well as the next, Mr. Vanier suggested that veiled women were unintelligent and English want kill Quebecois.

Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon said he read the publications on Friday morning. And, by his own admission, these statements put him with anger.

However, his options appear limited as both candidates have refused to withdraw. As a leader, I do not have the authority to withdraw the candidature. It is up to the candidate to take it [les mesures]said the PQ leader.

Quebec determines which election: We have not received any written confirmation of withdrawal of candidature [c]are candidatesspokesperson Gabriel Sauvé-Lesiège wrote in an email to Radio-Canada.

Only the candidate can withdraw his/her candidature. She can do so anytime before the poll closes. Further, the Electoral Act does not provide a mechanism to withdraw from a political party.Mr. Adds Sauvé-Lesiège.

Thus the names of Pierre Vanier and Catherine Provost will appear on Monday’s ballots next to the Parti Québécois logo. It is up to the people to chooseargued the chef.

” They argued that they had run a campaign since 2015 to deserve a decision other than the Facebook post. I understand that, but I have made the decision to exclude them from our staff. »

But certainly, this refusal is still allowed to be withdrawn from both candidates QP To collect the votes they are given, as well as the funds attached to them, the state pays $1.71 per vote to the party that gets it.

In other words, each elector who voted for Pierre Vanier or Catherine Provost would bring in $1.71. QP. In 2018, about 7,000 people voted for the Parti Québécois in Rousseau and 4,600 for L’Assomption, representing about $20,000.

However, the PQ leadership team confirmed to Radio-Canada that the party is committed to not touching the money generated by these votes. And if Elections Quebec is ever obliged to give him this amount, the party will try to return it in one way or another, for example to a charity.

Not a real decisionReply QS

So far only one person from the party representing the Parliament has withdrawn from the contest. That’s it Marie-Eve RancourtQuebec Solidaire (QS) chose to withdraw after it was filmed without her knowledge replacing a PQ leaflet in the mailbox of a voter from Camille-Laurin, Montreal.

Also co-representative QSGabriel Nadeau-Dubois was not impressed with the leadership of Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon about the exclusion of his two candidates. There are still many unanswered questionsHe fell. Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon says he does not want these people in his team, but he will collect their votes.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co-representative of Quebec Solidaire

Photo: Radio-Canada / Danny Pilot

” Mr. St-Pierre-Plamondon did not make a real decision. […] Leadership clearly tells you who you want on your team and who you don’t want on your team. Saying “I don’t want them, but I’m taking their votes” is absurd. »

Mr. Nadeau-Dubois counters the fact that what appears to be a formality actually has significant consequences. To decide between opposition groups in the National Assembly, the first criterion is the number of deputies, but the percentage of votes, the number of votes cast, is also counted.

The CAQ Well in the saddle on Rousseau and L’Assomption

The electoral division of Rousseau in the Lanaudière region covers the territories of the municipalities of Saint-Alexis, Saint-Calixte, Saint-Esprit, Saint-Jacques, Saint-Julien, Saint-Ligurie, Saint-Lin-Laurentides, Saint-Lin-Laurentides. Marie-Salome, Saint-Roch-de-l’Achigan and Saint-Roch-Ouest.

Since 2018, the riding has been represented in the National Assembly by outgoing MP Louis-Charles Thouin of the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) and according to the predictions of the Qc125 site, there is no indication that it is about to tip over.

The same scene of L’Assomption, which is actually a neighboring riding and, above all, François Legault. According to Qc125’s predictions, the outgoing Prime Minister is well in the saddle there.

Pierre Vanier is not particularly well known. We learn exclusively on the website of QP that he is a native of Montreal and that he is the father of four children; Until recently he was strategic advisor to the city of Saint-Lin-Laurentides; And he was already a political adviser to Rousseau’s former PQ MP Nicolas Marceau.

His spouse, Catherine Provost, also served as a political liaison for Nicholas Marceau. According to the website of QPShe is a native of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and has a long track record of commitment and volunteerism in the field of education.

Members of the pair were also in a television report last month, saying TVA was interested in them as they were candidates of the same party in two neighboring constituencies.