Grey Cup champion Alouettes honoured at National Assembly
Posted December 6, 2023 11:14 am.
Last Updated December 6, 2023 11:16 am.
The Parti Québécois took advantage of a tribute to the Grey Cup champion Montreal Alouettes Tuesday to present Marc-Antoine Dequoy with a t-shirt with the words “keep your English.”
The PQ wanted to highlight the viral words of Dequoy who, during an interview after the Nov. 19 victory, delivered a fiery speech about the place of French in the Canadian Football League final in Hamilton.
“It will be OK, there will be no outcries from the heart today,” said a smiling Dequoy during the ceremony alongside his teammates, party leaders, several MNAs and Alouettes owner Pierre Karl Péladeau.
After Montreal’s 28-24 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Hamilton, Dequoy said: “They never believed in us. You look everywhere, it’s written in English. Even on the TSN guide, it said Argos versus Blue Bombers.
“But you know what? Keep your English because we won this Cup and then we’re going to bring it back to Montreal, Quebec. Because we’re [expletive] champions.”
“You were right to show off, you said out loud what Quebecers are thinking,” said PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
“It is not for nothing that we experienced a great collective thrill,” added Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire.
“It is a very, very great source of pride for Quebec that a team from our region, that good people from our region accomplished a feat like yours and for many, with French tattooed on their hearts,” said president of the National Assembly, Nathalie Roy.
She recalled that at the start of the season, predictions placed the Alouettes in last place in the East Division.
“Nobody believed in the chances of this team,” said St-Pierre Plamondon in his speech.
“Your belonging to Montreal and to all of Quebec touched us.”
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
