Vincent Boulay was expelled from the PQ political commission

Photo: Evan Buhler Archives The Canadian Press Vincent Boulay was expelled from the PQ's political commission on Friday. He remains a member of the party, however. Pictured is a speech by the leader of the political party, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, in 2022.

Benoit Valois-Nadeau and François Carabin

Published at 3:49 PM Updated at 5:30 PM

• Québec

The Parti Québécois has finally taken action against activist Vincent Boulay, who was accused of violating the party’s code of ethics and communications policy.

Following a complaint to the party’s National Executive Council (NEC), Mr. Boulay was expelled from the PQ’s political commission on Friday. He remains a member of the sovereignist party, however.

“The CEN has therefore noted substantial breaches of the duty of loyalty and a breach of confidentiality that is incumbent on elected members of the Parti Québécois,” wrote Camille Pellerin-Forget, chair of the political committee and member of the National Executive Council, in a statement published Friday.

“Vincent Boulay retains his status as a member of the Parti Québécois, but will no longer sit in the elective capacity of member of the political committee. He was reminded to respect the party's rules going forward.”

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In a confidential letter dated November 1, of which several media outlets obtained a copy, the PQ's national secretary criticized Vincent Boulay for having transmitted confidential party information to a radio columnist.

The CEN also attributes several failings to Mr. Boulay concerning the party's communications policy and even having contravened several articles of the PQ's code of ethics, notably through his “communications on social networks.”

Little room for “dissent”

Despite the reprimand, the person concerned says he accepts the sanctions and says he wants to remain in the ranks of the Parti Québécois.

“I remain a sovereignist first and foremost. The ideas that I advocate and that I try to make heard in the party are shared by several people and unfortunately, for reasons that I cannot explain, we have difficulty expressing them internally, he explained to Devoir.

“If I were alone with these ideas, I would have left because I would have the feeling that I do not belong. But on the contrary, I have the feeling that I do belong. But unfortunately, there are people who do not tolerate dissent. »

According to him, it is “extremely dangerous that a party currently leading in the polls has a leader who tolerates dissent so little that it leads to the exclusion of a long-time activist from all elective positions.”

In the past, Mr. Boulay has notably deplored, through open letters and interventions on social media, the position of the PQ and its leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon on immigration and secularism.

In a letter published in Le Journal de MontréalOn October 24, he wrote that “we cannot argue that we are witnessing the ‘Islamization of public schools’ or ‘religious infiltration’” into the school system.

A few days earlier, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon argued the opposite during a press briefing, deploring “Islamist infiltration” into Bedford School.

“When we talk about immigration, we must do so with dignity and respect for the people targeted by the remarks. In my opinion, we may have failed at this level, with alarmist remarks,” Vincent Boulay said in an interview.