Yves Michaud

Yves Michaud is a prominent Quebec public figure, a sovereignist and "pur et dur" supporter of the Parti Québécois.

Background

Michaud was born on February 13, 1930 in Acton Vale, near Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada.

In 1959, Michaud received a Canada Council 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".

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 election, 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 1970 election, but was defeated by Parti Québécois candidate Guy Joron.

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 Bourassa in 1973. He lost against Liberal Lise Bacon.

He then returned to journalism at "Le Jour", a newspaper that shut down in 1976.

In 1979, he was in charge of the Quebec Government House of Paris.

Robin Hood of the banks

Sometimes 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-election 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. The B'nai B'rith condemned his comments.

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.

The Michaud Affair reawoke the bitter, very emotive and controversial divisions within the "Parti Québécois" between proponents of "linguistic nationalism" versus "ethnic nationalism". This divide also reflects the contrasting PQ visions of an "ideal Quebec society" between its more social democratic ideological pole versus traditional "race or ethnic"-based nationalism within the party.

There are long-standing historical tensions between some more radical factions within the Quebec nationalist movement and the English-speaking and Jewish communities of Quebec ("anglophones"). These can be allegorically compared to the Marxist manichean analogy of "class war" (i.e., French secular/Catholic Quebeckers vs English Protestant/Jewish Quebeckers).

Considering the emotions evolved on both sides of the issue, objective analysis of the Michaud Affair remains an open question as most analysts still interested in the question are emotionally involved. Some less-involved observers in the media have expressed the view that although Michaud's comments were borderline and controversial as they could be interpreted as banalization of the Shoah, the comparisons made by his accusers to notable anti-semites like Ernst Zündel were excessive and exaggerated Michaud's intent.

Quotations

"It's never the same for them. So I said: it is not the same? The Armenians did not suffer, the Palestinians did not suffer, the Rwandans did 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... There has been world Zionism...."

ee also

*Sovereigntist events and strategies
*Quebec sovereigntism

External links

* [http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fra/membres/notices/m-n/MICHY.htm National Assembly biography] fr icon

s-ttl|title=MNA for Gouin
years=1966–1970