MONTREAL -- Premier François Legault on Saturday denounced bullying on social media, going so far as to call those who "hide behind a screen to attack others:" virtual pissants.
In his weekly message on Saturday, Legault said he was "not impressed" by the insults.
"When I was a kid, those who hid to throw rocks and ran away were called 'pissous'. Now we have virtual 'pissous'," he wrote.
Legault says he will no longer put up with this bullying, at least on his Facebook page.
Not only will his team try to "curb all messages that we deem aggressive, violent, threatening, obscene and also conspiracy theories," but threats will also be transferred to the police.
In recent months, the premier notes, his Facebook posts have given rise to "an avalanche of aggressive, sometimes even violent comments, insults, obscenities and even threats."
Legault said the main victims of this type of bullying are people who write him a supportive or simply positive and constructive comment.
"You are being picked on by a pack of aggressive people," he said. "It's bullying and it takes away the incentive to leave a comment. And it makes you not want to read them either."
However, he said bullying is practiced by a tiny minority.
Legault also mentioned that some elected municipal officials had recently decided to resign or not seek re-election because of "the hate on social media."
In fact, he said, it's public personalities -- artists, professional athletes, entertainers, etc. -- who are subject to insults, abuse and discrimination, "who are subjected to insults, obscenities and threats," he wrote.
Earlier this week, Town of Mount Royal Mayor Philippe Roy announced that he would not be running for mayor because of intimidation on social media.
In January, the Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ) launched a campaign "Democracy with respect, out of respect for democracy" in order to make people want to run for office.
"More and more, we are seeing an increase in aggressive statements and acts of intimidation against elected municipal officials, particularly on social media," said UMQ President Suzanne Roy. "This is damaging the political climate in many municipalities."
