Quebec's "Kosher Libel"

"This is a religious tax, and it's a tax we pay directly to mosques, to synagogues and to religious groups. It's a theft."
"What you have to see is that, when we have established a link between halal certification, an imam and a mosque, we have to go see what they are saying in these mosques and the ideology that lives there."
"[Halal and kosher certifications were a] challenge to modernity and an attempt to inject religion into secular society."
"But companies are not wise to these political considerations, and unfortunately see these demands as nothing more than a fertile market in which to reap profits."
"Just as the prayers of a priest turns bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, those of the rabbi turns slaughtered chickens, Nestle Quik and ketchup into thousands of dollars."
Louise Malloux, Parti Quebecois candidate

Louise Mailloux, the PQ candidate in the riding of Gouin, has said in the past that she believes baptisms and circumcisions are equivalent to rape. (Facebook)

"The Parti Quebecois is not an anti-Semitic party. We have very good relations with the leaders of this community and all the different communities in Quebec."
Parti Quebecois leader, Quebec Premier Pauline Marois

Photo : Marco Bélair-Cirino Durant un bain de foule aux Promenades Montarville, Pauline Marois a dû répondre aux questions d'une jeune musulmane sur les propos tenus par Mme Mailloux.

Ah, these conspiracy tropes painting Jews as devilishly disruptive influences on society. This is a newer one, only a few decades old, conceived as an update, no doubt of the more diabolical medieval Blood Libel accusations that Jews slit the throats of innocent Christian children to drain them of their blood, a purported requirement for the production of Passover matzo.

A magazine based in Alberta published an article where the author alleged kosher food labelling in Canada represents a "Jewish tax" used by rabbis to siphon money from gentile shoppers. This was the brainchild of an eccentric Ukrainian-Canadian psychologist in his elderly retired years. Typically, these libels have long shelf lives; they refuse to pass into obscurity, even the most absurd.

The Quebec branch of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs has accused Ms. Mailloux of repeating "a conspiracy created and spread by the Ku Klux Klan and championed by many other racist and neo-Nazi groups." It seems irresistible, the undying belief in such  conspiracies; and this one that Jews extort food companies for the price of certification, passing the profit on to Zionist causes has a deep admirer in Ms. Mailloux.

Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois with PQ candidates (L) Louise Mailloux and (C) Sylvie Legault in a Friday, March 7, 2014, file photo. (ANNIE T ROUSSEL/QMI AGENCY)

Who is, of all things, a philosophy professor at the CEGEP Du Vieux Montreal. And who had been 'invited' to speak on the issue of halal and kosher certification. Taking the opportunity to make the accusation that Quebecers were funnelling tens of thousands to potentially shady religious causes, unbeknownst to those innocents who are hoodwinked by Jews and Muslims.

Ms. Mailloux refuses to renounce the theory of a kosher tax. "At this time, what interests me is defending the charter of values", she insisted. Running in the Montreal riding of Gouin, close to some of Montreal's Hasidic Jewish communities, she is a prominent secularist, a champion of the infamous charter whose premises and promises speak volumes of her intelligence and goodwill.

But she does seem to speak for the ideology of the Parti Quebecois despite the disclaimers of its leader. For at a campaign stop on Friday the premier and party leader stood by her candidate. Whom she previously defended when Ms. Malloux equated circumcision and baptism to rape. Evidently saying that the candidate is free to express whatever opinion she wishes. As long as she suppors the PQ platform.

Which is seems she most certainly does. In view of which the premier took care to inform reporters that her party is not anti-Semitic. It only seems that way.