Québec solidaire will boycott Qub Radio

Québec solidaire co-spokesperson, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois./Josie Desmarais/Archives Métro

Québec solidaire (QS) will boycott Quebecor's web radio, Qub Radio, for airing “hateful and degrading” comments against solidarity, uttered by columnist Gilles Proulx.

The alleged facts date back to March 10 and 21. Insults to the left-wing party were hurled by Gilles Proulx on Richard Martineau's show.

QS leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois denounces these attacks on the dignity of members of his political party and calls for a public retraction and an apology. The solidarity benefited from the support of the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, who also condemned these various invectives.

“Bastards, gangrene, putassery »

In his column of March 10, Gilles Proulx took pains to qualify the deputies of Québec solidaire as “bastards“, “rubbish “, “gangrene” and “liars“, accusing them in the same vein of engaging in “putassery“. The columnist slipped a second time on March 21, saying this time, speaking of solidarity, “that we should finish them off once and for all, these thick ones.”

If Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois considers normal the fact that columnists can criticize the work of politicians in a democracy, he criticizes Gilles Proulx for having gone too far and the host of Qub Radio for not having reacted.

“In a democracy, it is normal and healthy for columnists to harshly criticize elected officials and their ideas. Here, we are dealing with violent, hateful and degrading remarks towards elected members of the National Assembly of Quebec, on the airwaves of a major media. The facilitator never intervened to rectify them. We cannot tolerate that and Qub radio should not have tolerated that”, deplores the solidarity leader, in a press release.

As long as this apology has not been made, no member of Québec solidaire will participate in Qub radio broadcasts

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, leader of Québec Solidaire

The figurehead des solidaires also claims to “examine the legal remedies available” to his party. 

“Dangerous” remarks

In a context where several elected officials were threatened during the last provincial election campaign, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois believes that everyone must assume their share of responsibility. He considers, in light of this context, that the comments made by Gilles Proulx are “dangerous for the social climate”, and likely to “endanger the safety of the elected representatives of Québec solidaire”. 

“During the last election campaign, threats to elected officials or candidates exploded. A record number of arrests have been made by police forces. The men and women who engage in politics or who speak publicly on a social issue expose themselves to a hostile and even sometimes violent climate on social networks,” underlines Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.

Affirming that the majority of columnists usually do their job with respect, the supportive leader says he holds Qub radio responsible insofar as the latter has chosen to “tolerate violent and degrading remarks on its airwaves “.

“We are human beings, we have families. There are limits”, recalls the solidarity.