“It is imperative for Mr. Dumont to make clear that racism and xenophobia have no place in our society,” stated Salam Elmenyawi, president of MCM. “Quebec is home to people from all parts of the world. They are full members of society and contribute positively to make this province a better place. Their contributions cannot be ignored or dismissed. They have just as much right to call this land their home as anyone else.”

Christian Raymond, an ADQ nomination in the Prevost riding, is the second candidate to be fired by Mr. Dumont after making racist statements against immigrants to a local weekly paper. Jean-Francois Plante, ADQ candidate for Deux-Montagnes, was also recently fired for making sexist and racist comments on his Internet radio show.

MCM applauds the decision of the ADQ to fire Mr. Raymond; however, MCM believes that the ADQ must do more to clarify its party line and make clear that it has zero tolerance for such statements.

“We do not need politicians who will just pay lip service to this issue, rather we need our leaders to actively fight to eradicate these social ills from our society. It has become disturbingly common to see our politicians attacking Quebec minority groups and creating an atmosphere of hysteria against reasonable accommodation. Instead of attempting to fix the problem, they are only adding fuel to the fire and we cannot ignore their contributions to spreading further fear, mistrust and suspicion in the mind’s of the general public against minority groups.”

MCM further calls on all politicians to be vocal and proactive in fighting racism, intolerance and xenophobia in the province.