(Quebec) The state should not pay for drag queen activities, nor prevent children from working, said Éric Duhaime, during a two-part press conference on Thursday.
The Conservative leader was in Quebec to demand the withdrawal of Bill 19, which sets a minimum age of 14 to work in Quebec, and which imposes a limit on the hours that can be worked between 14 and 16 years old.
Parents are in the best position to guide their children as they enter the labor market, Duhaime argued, reiterating that the government is not a “govern-mommy”.
“Work is also learning, it is gaining experience, it is sometimes taking a child out of his isolation. We know that the last three years in Quebec have been particularly difficult, ”he pleaded.
Éric Duhaime was accompanied by a father, Frédéric Paré, whose 12-year-old daughter delivers meal trays to a residence for the elderly. Mr. Paré describes the bill as “liberticidal” and “totalitarian”.
“On September 1, she will lose her job. My daughter is not happy, she is definitely unhappy with what will happen, he said. She’s not in danger, and she’s going to lose her job.”
“What is she going to do?” She is condemned to “pitch” on her cursed “pitch”, that’s what she’s going to do. […] Work, it required him to leave the house, it required him to socialize,” he added.
Mr. Duhaime denounced the “unanimity” in the National Assembly, where the bill was well received, mainly for reasons of health and safety and school perseverance.
On another note, when asked about a National Assembly motion regarding drag queens, the Conservative leader said the state should not fund activities featuring them.
The motion stressed that drag queens should not, under any circumstances, face violent insults, intolerance and hatred for their participation in the reading of children’s stories.
Last Sunday, the City of Sainte-Catherine had to move the location of a reading of children’s stories, given by the drag queen Barbada, due to the presence of demonstrators who opposed such an activity.
According to Mr. Duhaime, the state simply should not “interfere” in this debate.
“It’s a question that is moral, it’s burlesque, it can even be vulgar, drag queens, in any case, me the shows I saw, that was it,” he said. affirmed.
Should activities featuring them be banned from public places? They can take place, as long as “people pay for it, it’s not taxpayers’ money that’s involved,” replies Éric Duhaime.
