Photo: Adil Boukind Archives Le Devoir En mai 2022, l’élue solidaire Ruba Ghazal avait décoré l’ex-député québécois Yves Michaud de la médaille de l’Assemblée nationale.
After offering him the National Assembly medal in 2022, solidarity MP Ruba Ghazal wishes to “make a transpartisan gesture” to erase the blame placed on former Quebec MP Yves Michaud, who died last Tuesday.
“To allow us to properly mourn this great man, let us begin by repairing the error of 2000,” she wrote on Monday in a letter sent to her counterparts responsible for the French language in the National Assembly. The missive, addressed in particular to the Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, calls for “the opening of a dialogue […] so that we, members of the National Assembly, can close this dark chapter of the 'history of our institution'.
“I suggest that we meet in the coming days, in order to explore possible avenues,” suggested Ms. Ghazal, who is spokesperson for the second opposition group on French language matters. “The death of Mr. Yves Michaud, former MP for Gouin and great defender of the French language, should be an opportunity for us to try to repair the error committed to this great Quebecer almost 25 years ago. »
In May 2022, Ms. Ghazal decorated the “Robin of the banks” with the medal of the National Assembly, more than twenty years after he had been blamed for “unacceptable remarks […] to towards the Jewish community”.
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“Wounded” loved ones
In December 2000, the elected representatives of the Quebec Parliament adopted a motion of censure accusing Yves Michaud of having made anti-Semitic remarks during the Estates General hearings on French in Montreal. Elected officials like the prime minister at the time, Lucien Bouchard, and the current prime minister, François Legault, voted in favor that day. Yves Michaud has always denied having made any hostile statement towards the Jewish people.
In 2011, around fifty elected and former elected officials of the Parti Québécois expressed their regret over this motion of censure, but it was never withdrawn. Prime Minister Legault is one of only two MPs still in office who voted in favor of the motion. Last week, he refused to apologize for his actions. “I live well with my vote,” he said.
Ruba Ghazal claims to have spoken with “wounded” relatives of Yves Michaud after Mr. Legault made these comments. “I know that Mr. Michaud's family is angry at what the Prime Minister said,” she said in an interview with Devoir, Monday. “It hurts them deeply, especially after the death [of Mr. Michaud], that Mr. Legault continues. »
The member for Mercier, however, reaches out to the Legault government — first and foremost to Minister Roberge — to make an attempt at reparation. “It could be a letter from the current deputies so that we ourselves can apologize on behalf of the institution,” she suggested.
Last week, Parti Québécois MP Pascal Bérubé suggested that he would take “an action again soon, with the agreement of all political groups, to try to repair” the actions taken by the National Assembly. in December 2000. He was one of the recipients of the letter from his colleague Ghazal.
It was also he who presented a motion in 2020 to erase the blame placed on Yves Michaud. This was rejected by the Coalition Avenir Québec.