Québec Solidaire members have voted to show support MNA Haroun Bouazzi amid backlash over his claims that he regularly sees his colleagues at the National Assembly portray certain cultural groups negatively.
QS members overwhelmingly adopted an emergency motion behind closed doors Sunday evening, the final day of the party’s virtual weekend policy congress, which was dominated by the controversy.
Last week, Bouazzi delivered a speech before Fondation Club Avenir, a community group that works with immigrants.
During the speech, he said: “God knows I see this in the National Assembly every day, the construction of this other, this other who is North African, who is Muslim, who is Black, who is Indigenous and whose culture, by definition, would be dangerous or inferior.”
Other MNAs said Bouazzi’s comments amount to an accusation that members of the National Assembly are racist and undermine the institution’s integrity. There have been calls for him to be sanctioned.
Bouazzi, who is the MNA for the Maurice-Richard riding in Montreal, has been adamant that he never called anyone racist.
He did single out members of the governing Coalition Avenir Québec and the opposition Parti Québécois (PQ). He used Health Minister Christian Dubé and Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant as examples, saying they’ve blamed immigration for problems like surgery delays or issues plaguing the province’s youth protection system.
Both ministers have since come out saying those claims were false and unacceptable.
Quebec Premier François Legault has often said the high number of temporary immigrants coming into the province is the reason for its housing crisis.
Ruba Ghazal’s introduction as the newest female spokesperson for Québec Solidaire was overshadowed by the controversy. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)
Controversy not going away anytime soon
“In the end, the party will not demand an apology from Mr. Bouazzi,” said QS co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois following the vote Sunday evening.
“We are, last time I checked, in a society of free expression.”
Earlier this week, Nadeau-Dubois and Ruba Ghazal — who was officially introduced as female party spokesperson this weekend — described Bouazzi’s comments as clumsy, exaggerated and polarizing.
Over the weekend, some party members put forward an emergency motion calling for the party to show public support for Bouazzi.
The adopted motion reaffirmed the party’s commitment to fighting systemic racism and denounced what is described as the unjustified use of immigrants as scapegoats during debates on the housing crisis, employment, access to public services and the vitality of the French language in Quebec.
It also “strongly” condemned the threats and “defamation campaign” against Bouazzi, offering him support, while also clarifying that the party does not, and has never, claimed that the National Assembly or its members are racist.
In a post on X Sunday night, Bouazzi thanked party members for adopting the motion and condemning the “smear campaign against me.”
“I’ve been moved and energized by the spontaneous support I’ve received from members and the way they’ve rallied to find the best way to express their support over the last few days,” he wrote.
Pascal Bérubé, a PQ MNA, also took to X, criticizing QS’s position.
“Not only does Québec Solidaire fail to condemn its MNA’s remarks, it supports him more than ever and he comes out of this feeling ‘energized’,” Bérubé wrote.
“Haroun Bouazzi’s insulting remarks aren’t sitting well and we’ll get back to them Tuesday when we return to the National Assembly.”