Québec solidaire rejects motion condemning Jacques-Cartier Bridge blockage

Posted October 30, 2024 11:41 am.
Québec solidaire (QS) refused to allow members in the National Assembly to debate a motion on Tuesday from the Parti Québécois (PQ) to condemn the environmental activists who blocked the Jacques-Cartier Bridge in Montreal last week.
QS argued that the motion was inadmissible under a rule about pending court cases and how they cannot be debated in the National Assembly.
Two activists, Olivier Huard and Jacob Pirro, were arrested and charged with mischief and willful resistance or obstruction of a peace officer last Tuesday in connection to the blockage.
Another activist, Michèle Lavoie, is facing mischief charge, for “preventing, interrupting or hindering a person in the legitimate use, enjoyment or exploitation of property” worth more than $5,000.
Pirro and Lavoie were released on bail, but Huard remains detained, with a hearing set for Thursday.
Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said the motion was admissible, and that QS was only looking to protect its former candidate, Huard.
PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon added that political members had every right to decide in this matter.
However, National Assembly Vice-President Frantz Benjamin decided otherwise and declared the motion inadmissible.
PQ MNA for Jean-Talon, Pascal Paradis, said that freedom of expression must be exercised without putting public safety at risk.
He also stated that the CHUM had to cancel a total of 437 medical appointments due to the bridge closure.
The motion recalled that “the legitimate application of democratically adopted laws in penal and criminal matters cannot be described as political repression” – echoing the words of one of the activists who claimed to be a victim of “repression.”
“We just had a clear statement from Québec solidaire (QS), they are in favour of civil disobedience, they are radicals, they are doing everything to block a motion that denounces the fact that someone blocked the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, because it is their former candidate,” said Jolin-Barrette.
He argued that the QS was seeking to “prevent the assembly from exercising its sovereignty” to protect one of its active members.
“The question was never to protect anyone, the only thing we wanted to protect was the separation of powers, parliament has no place interfering in the affairs of a court and the presidency has completely ruled in our favor,” wrote QS MNA for Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Alexandre Leduc in a written statement. “We have said it several times: we do not support blocking the bridge, that is not how we do things at Québec solidaire.”
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews