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QUEBEC – The Parti Québécois wants to make another attempt at having the National Assembly apologize for adopting a motion of censure in 2000 against former MNA Yves Michaud for remarks perceived to be antisemitic.
But one of the MNAs in the legislature at the time, François Legault, now premier of Quebec, says he is at ease with his original vote.
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The comment appears to scuttle the PQ’s attempt to have the house apologize posthumously to Michaud, who died Wednesday at age 94.
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“I am comfortable with my vote,” Legault told reporters arriving for daily question period in the legislature.
He made no further comment.
Legault was one of the MNAs — at the time, a Parti Québécois cabinet minister in former premier Lucien Bouchard’s government — to vote in favour of the controversial, Liberal-sponsored motion.
It read MNAs condemn the “inappropriate remarks” Michaud made, in several forums, about the Jewish community.
Legault followed the party line on the issue. Unlike some of the MNAs of the day, he has never apologized for the vote. He is one of only two MNAs from those days still in the legislature. The other is Jean-François Simard.
Until his dying day, Michaud denied making such remarks and hoped to see the legislature apologize. MNAs passed the motion in question within minutes, without debate. Michaud complained he was never given a chance to reply to the accusations.
On Thursday, PQ MNA Pascal Bérubé floated the idea of MNAs adopting a motion of apology to Michaud, a former journalist, MNA and devoted supporter of Quebec independence, as well as his surviving family.
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“We will soon pose another gesture, with the agreement of all the political parties … to try and repair (what happened),” Bérubé said at a morning news conference.
Bérubé made a similar attempt in 2020, but the motion of apology was rejected by the Coalition Avenir Québec government.
On Thursday, the only political party to endorse his idea was Québec solidaire.
Quebec’s Liberals, however, said they would have to discuss the matter in caucus and see the actual wording of the motion before deciding anything.
“I will limit my comments to expressing my sincere condolences,” Liberal house leader Monsef Derraji told reporters.
On his way into question period, CAQ house leader Simon Jolin-Barrette was noncommittal.
“We will pay tribute to Yves Michaud,” he said. “We offer all our sympathy to his family. It’s a loss for Quebec. He is someone who served Quebec in several roles.”
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