Yves Michaud
Encyclopedia
Yves Michaud is a prominent Quebec public figure, a sovereignist and pur et dur supporter of the Parti Québécois
.
grant to study journalism
in France
at the Université de Strasbourg. He then began a career as a journalist for the Clairon in Saint-Hyacinthe. He was later chief editor of La Patrie
and also had a chronicle for the magazine 7 jours.
, which the Liberals lost. He became friends with fellow Liberals René Lévesque
and Robert Bourassa
, who would both later become Premiers of Quebec
.
In 1969, Michaud left the Liberal Party and sat as an Independent to protest against the passage of Bill 63, a controversial language legislation. He ran for re-election as a Liberal candidate in the 1970 election
, but was defeated by 12 votes by Parti Québécois
candidate Guy Joron
.
in Quebec general election, 1973
. He lost against Liberal Lise Bacon
.
He then founded Le Jour
, the first daily newspaper promoting Quebec independence.
In 1979, he was in charge of the Quebec Government House of Paris
.
in the district of Mercier
. However, his candidacy was plagued with controversy, after he made sensitive comments about the Jewish community in a radio interview.
One recollection of his comments, amongst other things, was that he stated that the Jewish people had suffered, but that other peoples had also endured great tragedies. ("The Jews weren't the only people to have suffered.") However, as the affair went along, due notably to Michaud's open defence of Quebecker nationalism
, he was increasingly portrayed by some as an anti-semite and denier of the Shoah
, which he has always categorically said he was not.
It culminated in a Motion of Blame from the National Assembly of Quebec
. Lucien Bouchard
is also said to have been influenced by the weight of the affair (which received extremely negative coverage in the international press) to resign as Premier of Quebec
in 2001 (although he did not admit it). Michaud still fights to this day for recognition of the Motion of Blame as an "anti-democratic mistake".
Also, Bouchard announced that he would block Michaud's candidacy. Claudel Toussaint received the nomination. Michaud's faction ran its own candidate: Paul Cliche. Both sovereigntist candidates lost the by-election against Liberal nominee Nathalie Rochefort
.
a Liberal Senator asked "Yves, are you still a separatist?" I said, I am as much a separatist as you are Jewish. It's taken 2000 years for your People to have your homeland in Israel. So, I don't mind waiting for a further 10, 50 or 100 years. [The Senator] answered, well it is not same thing. So I said: It is not the same? The Armenians
did not suffer, the Palestinians do not suffer, the Rwandans
do not suffer. It's always just you. You are the only people who suffered in the history of humanity.
After that, I was fed up. And here we are, I am completely indignant... that some suggested to rename the metro
station [named after] [Quebec historian and nationalist] Lionel Groulx
, who was the spiritual father of two generations of Quebecers and is almost a Quebec idol. It's the B'nai B'rith
that did that, which was the extremist phalange... That's world Zionism going on here....
In contrast to these exchanges, during this period, he also cited Lionel Groulx who ironically -having written himself antisemitic statements under various pennanmes- exhorted French-Canadians to emulate the Jewish People in their fierce will for survival, their spirit of solidarity and their unassailable moral core. Or in the original French, "«âpre volonté de survivance», de l’«invincible esprit de solidarité» et de l’«impérissable armature morale» du peuple juif."
Source: http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/309640/mon-execution-parlementaire
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
.
Background
In 1959, Michaud received a Canada CouncilCanada Council
The Canada Council for the Arts, commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown Corporation established in 1957 to act as an arts council of the government of Canada, created to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts. It funds Canadian artists and...
grant to study journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
at the Université de Strasbourg. He then began a career as a journalist for the Clairon in Saint-Hyacinthe. He was later chief editor of La Patrie
La Patrie
La Patrie was a Montreal, Quebec daily newspaper founded by Honoré Beaugrand on February 24, 1879. It became a weekly in 1957 and folded in 1978....
and also had a chronicle for the magazine 7 jours.
Member of the legislature
He joined the ranks of the Liberal Party of Quebec and was elected in the Gouin riding in the 1966 provincial electionQuebec general election, 1966
The Quebec general election of 1966 was held on June 5, 1966, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, Canada. The Union Nationale , led by Daniel Johnson, Sr, defeated the incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Jean Lesage....
, which the Liberals lost. He became friends with fellow Liberals René Lévesque
René Lévesque
René Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 23rd Premier of Quebec...
and Robert Bourassa
Robert Bourassa
Jean-Robert Bourassa, was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as the 22nd Premier of Quebec in two different mandates, first from May 12, 1970, to November 25, 1976, and then from December 12, 1985, to January 11, 1994, serving a total of just under 15 years as Provincial Premier.-Early...
, who would both later become Premiers of Quebec
Premier of Quebec
The Premier of Quebec is the first minister of the Canadian province of Quebec. The Premier is the province's head of government and his title is Premier and President of the Executive Council....
.
In 1969, Michaud left the Liberal Party and sat as an Independent to protest against the passage of Bill 63, a controversial language legislation. He ran for re-election as a Liberal candidate in the 1970 election
Quebec general election, 1970
The Quebec general election of 1970 was held on April 29, 1970 to elect members of the National Assembly of Quebec, Canada. The former Legislative Assembly had been renamed the "National Assembly" in 1968...
, but was defeated by 12 votes by Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
candidate Guy Joron
Guy Joron
-Background:He was born on June 2, 1940 in Montreal. He has a B.A. in political science from Université de Montréal.-Member of the legislature:Joron successfully ran as a Parti Québécois candidate to the National Assembly of Quebec in the district of Gouin in 1970, defeating Liberal incumbent Yves...
.
Parti Québécois supporter
He joined the Parti Québécois in the subsequent years and ran as was a candidate of this party in the district of BourassaBourassa (provincial electoral district)
Bourassa is a former provincial electoral district in the province of Quebec, Canada. Situated in the island of Montreal, it was created in 1966 and was part of Bourget from 1960 to 1966...
in Quebec general election, 1973
Quebec general election, 1973
The Quebec general election of 1973 was held on October 29, 1973 to elect members to National Assembly of Quebec, Canada. The incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Robert Bourassa, won re-election, defeating the Parti Québécois, led by René Lévesque, and the Union Nationale .The Liberals won a...
. He lost against Liberal Lise Bacon
Lise Bacon
Lise Bacon, is a Canadian Liberal politician. She was appointed Senator, representing the area of De la Durantaye, Quebec, by Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn on September 14, 1994...
.
He then founded Le Jour
Le Jour
Le Jour was a Quebec independence newspaper. It was founded in Saint-Laurent, near Montreal, by Yves Michaud, Jacques Parizeau and René Lévesque. Michaud was editor-in-chief...
, the first daily newspaper promoting Quebec independence.
In 1979, he was in charge of the Quebec Government House of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Robin Hood of the banks
Often called Robin des banques (Robin Hood of the banks), Yves Michaud is known by the people of Quebec for his crusade against the practices of large corporations. In 1993, he founded the Association des petits épargnants et investisseurs du Québec (Association of small savers and investors), and won a number of victories in court.The Michaud Affair
In December 2000 Yves Michaud announced that he would seek the Parti Québécois nomination for a by-electionBy-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in the district of Mercier
Mercier (provincial electoral district)
Mercier is a provincial electoral district in Quebec, Canada that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The district is located in Montreal. It is bounded to the north and east by the Canadian Pacific Railway, to the south by Rue Rachel and to the west by Avenue de l'Esplanade. The...
. However, his candidacy was plagued with controversy, after he made sensitive comments about the Jewish community in a radio interview.
One recollection of his comments, amongst other things, was that he stated that the Jewish people had suffered, but that other peoples had also endured great tragedies. ("The Jews weren't the only people to have suffered.") However, as the affair went along, due notably to Michaud's open defence of Quebecker nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, he was increasingly portrayed by some as an anti-semite and denier of the Shoah
Shoah
Shoah may refer to:*The Holocaust*Shoah , documentary directed by Claude Lanzmann * A Shoah Foundation...
, which he has always categorically said he was not.
It culminated in a Motion of Blame from the National Assembly of Quebec
National Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...
. Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard, is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat, politician and former Minister of the Environment of the Canadian Federal Government. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and the 27th Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001...
is also said to have been influenced by the weight of the affair (which received extremely negative coverage in the international press) to resign as Premier of Quebec
Premier of Quebec
The Premier of Quebec is the first minister of the Canadian province of Quebec. The Premier is the province's head of government and his title is Premier and President of the Executive Council....
in 2001 (although he did not admit it). Michaud still fights to this day for recognition of the Motion of Blame as an "anti-democratic mistake".
Also, Bouchard announced that he would block Michaud's candidacy. Claudel Toussaint received the nomination. Michaud's faction ran its own candidate: Paul Cliche. Both sovereigntist candidates lost the by-election against Liberal nominee Nathalie Rochefort
Nathalie Rochefort
Nathalie Rochefort is a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Mercier in the National Assembly of Quebec from 2001 to 2003....
.
Quotations
The original transcript in French of the radio programme held on December 5, 2000 : http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/docs/michaud/03.htma Liberal Senator asked "Yves, are you still a separatist?" I said, I am as much a separatist as you are Jewish. It's taken 2000 years for your People to have your homeland in Israel. So, I don't mind waiting for a further 10, 50 or 100 years. [The Senator] answered, well it is not same thing. So I said: It is not the same? The Armenians
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
did not suffer, the Palestinians do not suffer, the Rwandans
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
do not suffer. It's always just you. You are the only people who suffered in the history of humanity.
After that, I was fed up. And here we are, I am completely indignant... that some suggested to rename the metro
Montreal Metro
The Montreal Metro is a rubber-tired metro system, and the main form of public transportation underground in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada....
station [named after] [Quebec historian and nationalist] Lionel Groulx
Lionel Groulx
Lionel-Adolphe Groulx was a Roman Catholic priest, historian and Quebec nationalist. -Early life and ordination:Groulx was born at Chenaux, Quebec, Canada, the son of a farmer and lumberjack, and died in Vaudreuil, Quebec. After his seminary training and studies in Europe, he taught at Valleyfield...
, who was the spiritual father of two generations of Quebecers and is almost a Quebec idol. It's the B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith International |Covenant]]" is the oldest continually operating Jewish service organization in the world. It was initially founded as the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith in New York City, on , 1843, by Henry Jones and 11 others....
that did that, which was the extremist phalange... That's world Zionism going on here....
In contrast to these exchanges, during this period, he also cited Lionel Groulx who ironically -having written himself antisemitic statements under various pennanmes- exhorted French-Canadians to emulate the Jewish People in their fierce will for survival, their spirit of solidarity and their unassailable moral core. Or in the original French, "«âpre volonté de survivance», de l’«invincible esprit de solidarité» et de l’«impérissable armature morale» du peuple juif."
Source: http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/309640/mon-execution-parlementaire