Under the government of Yves-François Blanchet, the Bloc Québécois is promoting a sovereignism that excludes immigrants, denounces the united deputy Ruba Ghazal.
• Also read: Race to be co-spokesperson for QS: Manon Massé invites non-binary people to come forward
• Also read: Québec solidaire: Émilise Lessard-Therrien could join the race to become co-spokesperson
“We need to stop pointing fingers at immigrants and return to the openness of the past,” the member hailed for Mercier on Wednesday, who even calls for a “speech of fear” against newcomers.
La solidaire used its platform in a debate on a PQ proposal calling for the public release of the Grenier Commission archives to respond to the bloc leader’s salvos. At the beginning of the week, Yves-François Blanchet questioned her sovereignist allegiance and even her political party because she had already voted for the New Democratic Party at the federal level.
“How can we unite when we attack people like me who want the independence movement to grow and spread everywhere in the population, (…) in all people, regardless of their origin and where they come from? How can we unite by to prosecute a child of Law 101 who loves Quebec?
Ruba Ghazal, who will be in the race to succeed Manon Massé as co-spokesperson for Quebec solidaire, delivered a spirited plea for Quebec sovereignty and lamented that the independence movement is divided into two camps.
“A polarization that often happens on the backs of immigrants and that hurts immigrants, but not only them, it also hurts all of Quebec, its reputation, this kind of speech, and it also hurts the independence movement and independence,” she insisted.
Not René-Lévesque’s Quebec
Member for Mercier gave the example of a controversial Bloc ad that compared Roxham Road to an all-inclusive.
“It is hurtful and it is not the Quebec of today, it is not the Quebec of René Lévesque, not the Quebec of Gérald Godin, to which I am heir”.
Ruba Ghazal said he voted for the Bloc Québécois for a long time when the party was led by Gilles Duceppe. At the time, political training was “progressive,” open to the world and open to immigrants, she continued.
She affirms that Québec solidaire is independent, but speaks “differently” about sovereignty, that is, “in a unifying way” “by having a speech about openness and generosity towards immigrants who choose Quebec”.
DGEQ invited to reveal its archives
The presentation did not please the PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon at all, who considers that the moment was very poorly chosen.
National Assembly deputies will vote tomorrow on the PQ proposal, but all indications are that Quebec’s elected officials will ask Quebec’s Chief Electoral Officer to publicly disclose the archives of the Grenier Commission, which investigated the financing of the “No” camp in the referendum in 1995, and which is subject to a publication ban.
