The debate over Roxham Road in Quebec is taking a worrying turn, according to Québec solidaire (QS) co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.

He denounced a Friday tweet from the Bloc Québécois that stated Quebec is not an "all-inclusive."

In recent weeks, the Parti Québécois has also suggested calling the police, distributing leaflets and creating an "enclave" to block the migrants' path.

"I'm worried about the one-upmanship we're seeing," Nadeau-Dubois said Sunday on the sidelines of the QS national council in Montreal.

"An all-inclusive is a place where we go to crash on the beach drinking margaritas. The people who enter Quebec to apply for asylum are people who are fleeing violence, exploitation, persecution. They are not people who want to take it easy," he added.

"These comparisons have no place."

The issue of Roxham Road was raised in a press conference following a speech by QS candidate for Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne, immigration lawyer Guillaume Cliche-Rivard.

He told QS delegates gathered at Collège Ahuntsic that talk of erecting "walls, police blockades" in 2023 made "no sense."

Last year, a record 39,171 asylum seekers were intercepted at Roxham Road, an unofficial border crossing in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Montérégie.

François Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec government is demanding Ottawa assume the costs involved and renegotiate the safe third country agreement with U.S. President Joe Biden's administration.

For its part, QS proposes suspending this agreement while it's renegotiated. This would allow people to claim asylum at any Canadian border entry point, according to Cliche-Rivard.

"They'll be able to go to Ontario or British Columbia if they want to. We're going to dilute the pressure and it's going to be good for everyone," he said.

THE ELGHAWABY AFFAIR

Earlier, QS members criticized the party for its handling of what is now known as the Elghawaby affair.

Canada's new special representative on islamophobia, Amira Elghawaby, once associated Quebecers with "anti-Muslim sentiment."

She has since apologized for the statement, but the Legault government continues to call for her resignation.

Before following the government's lead and calling for Amira Elghawaby's resignation, QS had rebuked its deputy Haroun Bouazzi, for whom this affair was a "diversion."

But for the delegate of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Julien Arsenault, Bouazzi's statement rings true.

"It was the very definition of diversion," he said Sunday. According to him, QS played the CAQ's game.

"Apologies from a Muslim woman these days, those are not accepted. Does a woman have to do more?" Laureline Manassero told The Canadian Press.

Annette Beauvais made the same analysis, while Florence Bourdeau argued in an interview that QS "handled it the best it could" by even asking to meet with Elghawaby, which was denied.

"She has to fight prejudice, and she comes with a ton of prejudice about Quebec," Bourdeau said.  

PARITY, REGIONS AND INDEPENDENCE

At the national council, QS MNAs were given a mandate to tour the regions; the party lost ground in 45 rural and suburban ridings in the last election.

A vote was also taken on a proposal to find ways to push women candidates into certain "winnable" ridings, to restore parity in caucus.

The party also pledged on Sunday to "expressly and actively" promote Quebec's independence and to deploy a communications plan designed to "make it visible on the national scene."

Finally, the national council paid a vibrant tribute to the former MNA for Rouyn-Noranda-Témiscamingue, Émilise Lessard-Therrien.

She thanked all those who sent her messages of encouragement after her electoral defeat on Oct. 3.

In tears, she said on stage that these messages helped her to chase away the "shame" and "humiliation" that followed her loss.

Lessard-Therrien has made no secret of her intention to run for re-election in 2026.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Feb. 12, 2023.