Montreal – Sada Online

The Quebec Liberal Party’s candidacy of lawyer Valérie Assouline in Saint-Laurent has now become official, placing her in  one of the party’s safest ridings in Quebec. But the choice is also generating discussion and discontent among some Quebec's Arabs and Muslims , largely because of Assouline’s past public statements concerning Muslims, as well as comments she made following the October 7, 2023 attacks and the war that followed.

According to sources familiar with discussions in Montreal’s Arab and Muslim communities who spoke with Sada Online, the criticism is related to some of her previous political and public statements.

Saint-Laurent has a large and long-established Arab and Muslim population, making those concerns potentially relevant to the political dynamics of the riding.

Sources say Assouline’s nomination has generated significant dissatisfaction in some circles and has prompted discussions about whether some voters who have traditionally supported the Quebec Liberal Party could withhold their support in the next election.

Sada Online has also learned that some believe the issue may extend beyond Saint-Laurent if Arab and Muslim voters elsewhere conclude that the party did not sufficiently consider their concerns when choosing its candidate.

From Morocco to Saint-Laurent

Assouline was born in Morocco and moved to Quebec with her family at the age of four. Her family settled in Saint-Laurent, a personal connection to the riding that she has emphasized in presenting her candidacy.

However,in 2023, the Journal de Montréal described Assouline as being of Israeli origin.

A graduate of the Université de Montréal, she was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1998 and founded SOS-Avocats, a law firm specializing in family and youth law.

From the CAQ to the Conservatives and now the Liberals!

Assouline’s political trajectory has taken her through parties with different political orientations.

She ran for the Coalition Avenir Québec in the 2014 provincial election before entering federal politics as a Conservative Party of Canada candidate. She has now chosen the Quebec Liberal Party to run in Saint-Laurent.

That trajectory naturally raises questions about the evolution of her political views and the reasons behind her movement between these different parties, particularly as she now seeks the confidence of voters in one of the Quebec Liberals’ historic strongholds.

Assouline herself has offered an explanation for part of that evolution. She told CTV News that, like many Quebecers, she once believed in the CAQ but now feels the party “let us down,” adding that she sees the Quebec Liberal Party under Charles Milliard as the way forward.

From Omar Khadr to Trudeau’s alleged “pro-Islamist ideology”

Another past statement attracting renewed attention concerns the controversy surrounding the Canadian government’s settlement with Omar Khadr, who received approximately $10.5 million.

In a post reviewed by Sada Online, Assouline strongly criticized the settlement, referred to Khadr as a “terrorist,” and argued that being able to live in Canada was already enough of a benefit.

Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was captured in Afghanistan in 2002 when he was 15 and was subsequently detained at Guantanamo Bay. The Canadian government later apologized to him and reached a financial settlement in 2017 following years of litigation concerning violations of his rights.

But Assouline’s comments went beyond Khadr himself. Referring to then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, she wrote:

“Mais on connaît bien l'idéologie pro-islamiste de Trudeau!”

— “But we know Trudeau’s pro-Islamist ideology very well!”

She then added that “we know very well who his friends and close collaborators are.”

As the post resurfaces during her campaign in Saint-Laurent, its language — particularly the reference to Trudeau’s alleged “pro-Islamist ideology” and his “friends and close collaborators” — may prompt some voters to ask what exactly she meant and whether she still stands by those comments today.

“A travelling mosque”: the Parc Safari post resurfaces

Another old controversy concerns Muslim visitors who prayed during a visit to Parc Safari.

In a previous post under Valérie Assouline’s name reviewed by Sada Online, she commented in French:

“Ce n'est pas la liberté de religion qui est offensante... quand on va au Parc Safari avec nos enfants on ne s'attend pas à voir une mosquée itinérante.”

In English: “It is not freedom of religion that is offensive... when we go to Parc Safari with our children, we do not expect to see a travelling mosque.”

She added that she would choose the Zoo de Granby that summer and criticized Parc Safari’s response to the controversy, arguing that the park had insulted Quebecers by suggesting, in her view, that they had a problem with freedom of religion.

With Assouline now seeking to represent a riding with a significant Muslim population, the expression “travelling mosque” is resurfacing among critics and raising questions about her current views regarding Muslim religious practices in public spaces.

After October 7: “shame and anger” over Montreal demonstrations

Another issue attracting attention involves Assouline’s public comments following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.

In an October 12, 2023 interview with Richard Martineau on QUB, Assouline strongly condemned Hamas and said that “Hamas uses its people as human shields.”

She also spoke of feeling “shame and anger” after seeing demonstrators distributing sweets in Montreal in support of Palestine .

In remarks reported by the Journal de Montréal, Assouline questioned how she could explain to her four children that demonstrations of that kind were being accepted in Quebec after what had happened in Israel.

It is important not to interpret those remarks more broadly than the available evidence supports. Her documented criticism concerned demonstrations immediately following the October 7 attacks, particularly the distribution of sweets.

A family tragedy that provides context

Assouline has also explained the deeply personal context behind some of her reaction to October 7.

She said the attacks brought back memories of the death of her aunt more than four decades earlier, when Assouline was nine years old.

According to her account, her 34-year-old aunt was vacationing in northern Israel when she was caught in an attack. She attempted to escape from a hotel balcony using bedsheets tied together as a makeshift rope, but fell to her death.

Assouline also spoke in 2023 about relatives who had been called to war and the fear experienced by her family after the October 7 attacks.

Did the Quebec Liberals take Saint-Laurent’s political realities into account?

Saint-Laurent is no ordinary riding for the Quebec Liberal Party. It has long been one of its strongest seats. In the 2022 provincial election, Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy received 50 per cent of the vote, finishing far ahead of her closest rival.

At the same time, Saint-Laurent is home to a substantial and long-established Arab and Muslim population and one of Quebec’s older mosques.

This raises a political question being voiced by some of the sources who spoke with Sada Online: Did the Quebec Liberal Party sufficiently consider the views and sensitivities of an important segment of Saint-Laurent’s Arab and Muslim electorate when selecting its candidate?

For some of Assouline’s critics, the issue is not the candidate’s identity. Rather, it is whether a person seeking to represent them in Quebec’s National Assembly demonstrates sufficient understanding of their concerns and experiences.

Could dissatisfaction translate into a protest vote?

Based on information obtained by Sada Online, Assouline’s candidacy has already triggered serious discussion in some Arab and Muslim circles about their electoral relationship with the Quebec Liberal Party.

Some voices are advocating withholding their votes from the Liberals in Saint-Laurent, while others argue that an electoral message to the party should extend beyond the riding.

The election campaign will ultimately answer the larger question: Can Assouline and the Quebec Liberal Party address these concerns, or will her nomination become an issue that mobilizes a segment of Arab and Muslim voters against them?

Either way, Assouline’s past statements — and how she explains her positions today — appear likely to become part of the political debate in a riding where a Liberal victory had long been considered almost a foregone conclusion.

*Photo credit: Al Hadath Canada