Québec solidaire wants Jacinthe-Ève Arel's appointment cancelled over past statements

Québec solidaire spokespeople Ruba Ghazal and Sol Zanetti are demanding that the premier immediately withdraw Jacinthe-Ève Arel's appointment as chief of staff to minister Sébastien D'Astous, the delegate minister for Government Efficiency and Regulatory Relief. In a release dated October 30 from Quebec City, Ghazal said the premier should correct the error, cancel the appointment and remove Arel immediately.

Ghazal said several Parti Québécois appointments in recent days had drawn reactions, and that Arel's went too far. She pointed to positions Arel has taken in support of Donald Trump and Putin's Russia, and said Arel recently used derogatory vocabulary, not repeated publicly, to dismiss a national summit on homelessness. Ghazal also said Arel publicly called the problems of food bank users insignificant, and that the premier's good promises on homelessness are cast in doubt by the appointment.

Zanetti described Arel as an admirer of Trump and the American right, said she compared health measures to totalitarianism, said she denied the existence of trans people (as he characterised it), and said she defended President Trump. He argued that St-Pierre Plamondon should not count Arel as a close adviser for governing Quebec, and said she should resign.