Parti Québécois (PQ) leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has accepted an apology from Sandro Grande, who was very briefly hired and then fired by CF Montreal for his controversial statements on the sovereignty movement.
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“So far [l’ancienne première ministre Pauline] Marois doesn’t want Mr Grande to be ostracized or “cancelled”. I feel comfortable, as the leader of our political formation and our movement, to accept his apologies and thus allow Mr. Grande to turn the page,” the PQ leader explained further on his Facebook page, Sunday, after an hour-long one-on-one with Mr. Grande in the PQ offices in Montreal.
“I have found in Sandro Grande a sincere man who has apologized and I have been able to discuss the situation with his family who have obviously been going through a very difficult situation in recent weeks,” he added.
CF Montreal announced the hiring of Sandro Grande as head coach of its reserve team on January 9, a decision that quickly caused an outcry given his earlier comments. In particular, Mr Grande had written on social media that he regretted that the perpetrator of the 2012 Metropolis attack did not kill Ms Marois during her election as prime minister.
“The only mistake the shooter made last night was missing his target!!! Marois!!! Next time dude! I hope!” he had published at the time.
The Montreal team reversed its hiring the next day. The main prospect apologized at a press conference on Thursday and admitted for the first time that he actually wrote the tweet.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who launched the ball of criticism after Sandre Grande was hired, said he expressed concerns about the safety of politicians, who are increasingly the victim of threats in line.
“We also agreed that once the dust has settled, we will carry out joint activities on the topics of hate prevention and the promotion of respectful and humane democratic dialogue,” assured the PQ leader, assuring that he hoped that the coach “again enter society”. in a role in which he obviously excels, namely that of teaching football to young people”.
In an interview with LCN on Sunday afternoon, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon added that there was “a general desire to turn the page”. “We agreed as a society that the separatists, like any other political movement, have the right to security. I will not hide from you that I want Mr. Grande to be accepted back into our society. The whole story of banning people, preventing them from earning a living, where does it really get us? When the apologies are sincere, there is forgiveness,” he said.
“Mrs. Marois has experienced so much adversity. Yes, we can talk to all Quebecers about preventing hate online, but also about democracy,” said the leader of the Parti Québécois.
“As a society, we always choose where we don’t want to go. We don’t want[killings]in Quebec like we see in the United States. If we don’t want that in Quebec, we have to make decisions accordingly.”