(Montreal) François Legault’s Easter holiday came to an abrupt end on Monday morning, when a post by the Prime Minister on Twitter caused a strong reaction.
“Catholicism has also engendered in us a culture of solidarity that sets us apart on a continental scale,” wrote Mr. Legault, sharing a column by Mathieu Bock-Côté published on the Journal de Montréal website. Note that the tweet of the chosen one is a quote taken from the said column.
Posted shortly before 6:30 a.m. Monday morning, the message had been seen by more than 238,000 social network users five hours later. The missive had been shared or reposted nearly 250 times and received nearly 500 responses, most of them negative.
Liberal MP and official opposition spokesperson for education, Marwah Rizqy, for her part challenged the Prime Minister, reminding him of his “duty of reserve and neutrality as PM of all Quebecers in our secular state.
“Mr. Prime Minister, all of us do tweets that we regret. Not many people will mind you to remove this one before it [parte] in a spin, ”she published in the middle of the morning.
This publication was shared by his colleague from Westmount-Saint-Louis, Jennifer Maccarone, then by the former Liberal minister Christine St-Pierre, who challenged the Prime Minister.
“Ask yourself, Mr. Legault, about equality [woman/man] within Catholicism! Seems to me to be food for thought,” she wrote.
Gregory Kelley, Liberal MP for Jacques-Cartier, simply shared the Prime Minister’s tweet with the words “I’m not Catholic” and a gif from the movie Happy Gilmore in which the main character is said, in English : ” better luck next time “.
Liberal MP for Nelligan, Monsef Derraji, for his part called the tweet of Mr. Legault, “a prime minister who supposedly advocates the secularism of [the state]” a “lack of judgment”.
Former candidate for the Bloc Québécois and Québec solidaire, Shophika Vaithyanathasarma denounced the variable geometry secularism of the Prime Minister, who “draws this line [between State and religion] only when it is not Catholic. Secularism when it tempts us…”
“The cassock exceeds,” was content to write the NDP deputy for the federal riding of Rosemont-La Petite Patrie, Alexandre Boulerice.
Many Internet users also reacted negatively to the Prime Minister’s message, which comes just days after the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, called certain schools to order by prohibiting them from setting up premises to allow the prayer at school. The National Assembly had unanimously adopted a motion on this subject.
Businessman Mitch Garber recalled that “we have lived in a secular society for many years, with freedom of religion. The Church, and no other religion, has had any influence over our children, courts or our police. That era is long gone. And it’s not because of Bill 21.”
Comedian Sugar Sammy joked about the controversy, tweeting that “secularism matters, except once on Twitter.”
