Quebec Candidate Apologizes For Comment Perceived as Anti-Semitic
Standing By: Quebec Premier Pauline Marois supported Parti Quebecois minister Louise Mailloux despite her comments, perceived as anti-Semitic. Image by Getty Images
A candidate in Quebec’s provincial election accused of spreading views seen as anti-Semitic, but a leading Jewish group rejected the apology.
On Saturday, Louise Mailloux, a Parti Quebecois candidate running in a Montreal district, said her past statements that baptism and circumcision amounted to “rape” and that kosher products are a hidden “tax” intended to fund “religious wars” were not intended to offend.
“I never wanted to offend or hurt anyone,” Mailloux said in a release issued by the Parti Quebecois. “If that has happened, I very sincerely apologize.”
On Sunday, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs called the apology “meaningless” and renewed its called on the Parti Quebecois and its separatist premier, Pauline Marois, to “assume responsibility to categorically deny this anti-Semitic conspiracy theory peddled by their candidate.”
In previous writings, Mailloux, who teaches philosophy at a Montreal college, called kosher certification “robbery,” a “rip-off” and a hidden “tax” paid “directly … to the synagogue.” She had also called for a ban on kosher and halal food products.
Mailloux in an interview published Thursday said she “absolutely” stood by her views.
Marois, informed of her candidate’s comments on the same day, backed Mailloux.
“She supports our secular charter [that would ban religious symbols worn by public employees] and I appreciate her support,” said Marois, who added that Mailloux “is an eloquent writer” and “I respect her point of view.”
Marois said the Parti Quebecois is “not an anti-Semitic party.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said Mailloux’s remarks echoed a conspiracy created and spread by the Ku Klux Klan, “and championed by many other racist and neo-Nazi groups.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
