The cloth burns between Éric Duhaime and a former collaborator

The Quebec Conservative Party (PCQ) recently sent a formal notice to its former managing director. Raffael Cavaliere, accused of having made “defamatory” remarks towards Eric Duhaime, considers it rather the subject of “intimidation”.

It was not yesterday that the relationship between the two men is beating the wing.

Raffael Cavaliere, who was alongside Eric Duhaime during the last electoral campaign, left his duties in January 2023, after more than two years in pcq pcq.

He expressed criticism on the sidelines of the National Congress of the Party, that year, during which a vote of confidence was held to the conservative chief. Among other things, he signed an opinion text in The dutyin December 2023, in which he maintained that several nationalists left the ship like him, predicting a Limited horizon to Éric Duhaime, unable to commit to a cause going beyond your own existence.

In recent months, the former director of pcq pcq has reported more frequently disagreement, especially on the social network X.

In a publication of the month of May, for example, he writes that the conservative chief is basically dishonest. For Eric, the goal is to do the newshe wrote at another time.

I am asked to withdraw these messages under penalty of prosecutiontoday is indignant Raffael Cavaliere, in an interview with Radio-Canada. In a formal notice he sent him, the pcq pcq requires that he stop making such remarks, qualified as defamatory instead of Eric Duhaime.

A question of freedom of expression?

The document, from which we obtained a copy, was sent on June 19.

The party considers that Raffael Cavaliere violated an end of contract agreement signed in January 2023, more particularly a clause which prohibited the parties from using With regard to the other party, both publicly and deprived, a denigrating, discriminatory or vexatory language.

However for several weeks, you have been publishing repeatedly […] messages directly targeting the pcq pcq and its chief, in which you use a contemptuous tone and offensive qualifierswrite lawyers for political training. You notably try to publicly discredit Mr. Duhaime by insinuating his incompetence or his lack of leadership.

You are formally put in notice to immediately cease any publication, communication or dissemination, public or private, of defamatory, denigrant, vexatious or otherwise negative words.

The former director of pcq pcq consider that this is a gag attempt. He believes he respected the agreement, insofar as his remarks did not aim for the party, but rather his leader. I take part in the public debatesupports Raffael Cavaliere.

Like any Quebecer, I have the right to comment, analyze and criticize the political choices of a party leader, he says. My words never aimed to ridicule or demean M. Duhaime.

Although the main interested party is today sympathizer of the Parti Québécois (PQ), he assures that he does not lead personal vendetta against his former employer, but simply believes that she had expressed disagreement. Speech must be protected For all citizens, he said.

For a politician like M. Duhaime […]who promotes freedom of expression, that it comes from this party and from this political figure there, I find it rich as they sayhe continues.

No one, even less a political party, can reduce freedom of expression to this point, regardless of whether there is an agreement or not.

I will not stop expressing myself publicly and sincerely I hope that Mr. Duhaime and the pcq pcq will be kind enough to let the debates be done.

I will continue to express myself with respect, says Mr. Cavaliere. When you are party leaders, you have to be able to live with criticism.

On Monday, he also broadcast another message on X about Eric Duhaime. He adapts his speech according to the audience, depending on what is paid electoral, rather than anchoring in solid convictionscan be read there.

Called to react, the spokesperson for the Conservative Party of Quebec did not wish to specify his thinking. We would like to comment, but we will refrain since the cause will soon be judicializedwrites Cédric Lapointe, in a statement transmitted to Radio-Canada.