Quebec Solidaire: Haroun Bouazzi’s return after controversial remarks

Québec solidaire (QS) members are meeting in caucus on Thursday in Quebec City to prepare for the parliamentary session on Jan. 28.

This event also marks the return of Maurice-Richard MNA Haroun Bouazzi, who was absent at the end of the last parliamentary session after making controversial remarks.

“It is time for everyone to move on,” said Bouazzi when speaking to media in Quebec on Thursday morning. “In any case, I am quite ready to move on.”

The year 2024 has not been easy for the left-wing political party. Internal crises have disrupted the message that the Solidaire caucus wanted to convey to the National Assembly.

First, the resignation of co-spokesperson Émilise Lessard-Therrien last April has shaken the party and called into question the leadership of parliamentary leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. He is then advocating for QS to become a “party of government.”

Nadeau-Dubois then managed to have the Saguenay Declaration adopted, thus confirming his “pragmatic” shift at a National Council in Jonquière in May.

But the party’s troubles were not over: in November, shortly before the election of its new co-spokesperson, Ruba Ghazal, Haroun Bouazzi lit the fuse by stating that he saw “every day” in the National Assembly “the construction of this Other” whose culture “would be dangerous or inferior”.

The MNA for Maurice-Richard then refused to apologize, and added fuel to the fire during an interview on Radio-Canada radio. The controversy caused divisions among party activists and significant unease among the Solidarity MNAs. Haroun Bouazzi finally makes an act of contrition on the social network X.

“It was indeed difficult,” said Bouazzi. “It was also difficult for my loved ones.”

“It was difficult for my mental health,” he added. “Now, I reiterate that I am really ready (to move on).”

With the polls needle moving little for the left-wing party, QS now hopes that the internal crises are behind it so that it can concentrate on its proposals and ideas. A task that will be all the more difficult since Donald Trump’s tariff threats will continue to generate a lot of ink.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews