In a combative tone reminiscent of his father, Antoine Dionne Charest on Saturday called on the media to stop asking questions about the Quebec Liberal Party’s past funding.
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“We have to change the cassette. Honestly, I think we’ve shed light on everything here. The media must change its opinion on this,” said the son of former Prime Minister Jean Charest at the opening of the PLQ General Council in Drummondville.
He believes that journalists have discussed a lot about the allegations surrounding the financing of the Liberal Party under Jean Charest. “There we laid the foundation for the reconstruction of the party. We have to talk about that. As for the rest, you’ve talked about it a lot, I think we can move on. The party is ready to move on,” he said.
Antoine Dionne Charest, a member of the party’s revival committee, wants the debate to focus instead on the proposals contained in the roughly 80-page report tabled this week.
In particular, he cites the idea proposed by the Committee of adopting a law on interculturality in order to “establish the principles and conditions on which the integration of newcomers, the development of cultural diversity and coexistence are based”.
Attacks against the CAQ
“What is Quebec’s immigration policy? I don’t know, I don’t know. What is Quebec’s policy regarding the integration of newcomers?” he said, criticizing the CAQ government’s management in this area.
He argued that it was difficult to follow the Legault government on this issue. “We say we want to raise immigration thresholds, and on the other hand we say we want to lower them,” he continued.
In addition, Mr. Dionne Charest reiterated his desire to run for the PLQ at some point. But he closes the door on the idea of directing training.
“The head: no, no, no. I said that one day I would like to become an MP and run for the party,” he said, adding that he was present on Saturday mainly to promote the ideas contained in the Reconstruction Committee report.
More details to follow.
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