Stay informed with the LNN Daily Newsletter

Quebec votes: Liberal blames Quebec Conservative leader’s rhetoric for rising threats

Sep 1, 2022 | 10:01 AM

SHERBROOKE, Que. — Liberal candidate Marwah Rizqy is blaming Conservative Party of Quebec Leader Éric Duhaime for the highly charged political climate.

Rizqy says she has been receiving deaths threats and that last week a man called police to tell them he had murdered her.

And on Tuesday, the Montreal riding office of Liberal Enrico Ciccone was vandalized and robbed.

She told reporters in Sherbrooke, Que., that Duhaime is to blame for the violent political environment because he said last June that his party’s objective was to bring voters’ discontent into the legislature.

Later in Montreal, Duhaime said he was disappointed by Rizqy’s comments, adding that his party’s volunteers have also been threatened and that politicians of all stripes are facing hatred.

Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault says he asked Quebec provincial police to make themselves available to candidates who feel threatened or concerned about safety.

Rizqy says people aspiring to elected office should want to use their ideas to affect change.

“If your democratic legacy is to channel hatred, anger, it’s a very bad legacy; maybe you have to reconsider the reasons you want to enter the legislature,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2022.

The Canadian Press