By Canadian Press

Quebec solidaire’s Amir Khadir not seeking re-election this year

May 4, 2018 | 2:31 PM

MONTREAL — Amir Khadir, a staunch anti-capitalist member of the Quebec legislature who was never at a loss for strong words against his political opponents, announced Friday he won’t seek re-election this year.

The colourful politician would often join protesters in the streets during his time in office, denouncing the province’s elites and accusing them of exploiting the state to serve their own interests.

Khadir said he will resume practising medicine after 10 years as a member of the legislature for the left-wing Quebec solidaire but that he will remain faithful to his philosophy of “changing the political culture.”

Quebec solidaire, which has three members in the 125-seat national assembly, has a strong future, he said, adding “the new generation is here.”

In making his announcement, Khadir also said he would donate his transition payment — which is given to outgoing members of the legislature — to community groups in his Montreal riding of Mercier.

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Khadir, 56, forged a reputation as an articulate and bilingual spokesman who never shied away from giving his opinion on a wide range of topics.

Just this week he told a legislature committee that capitalism should be replaced because of the economic inequalities he said it generates.

“We can conceive of a better system than capitalism,” he told his colleagues. “We must question capitalism because there is an incredible increase in inequality.”

Khadir was first elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012 and 2014 and although Quebec solidaire has never had an official leader, he was the party’s male spokesman for several years.

He was also one of the strongest denouncers of the Liberal party during the era of premier Jean Charest, repeatedly accusing him of running an immoral government too heavily influenced by money and private interests.  

But he spread his criticism widely, and even the Parti Quebecois was not far enough to the left for him.

He accused the PQ of fomenting divisions in society with the secularism charter of the brief Pauline Marois government. Khadir also criticized the PQ under Lucien Bouchard for cutting social services in the late 1990s.

One of his most memorable acts as a politician occurred a few weeks before he took his seat in the national assembly.

In December 2008, Khadir attended a protest outside the U.S. Consulate in Montreal and threw a shoe at a photo of then-outgoing U.S. president George W. Bush.

The act was a symbolic recreation of an event in Iraq that had occurred earlier that month, when an Iraqi journalist threw both his shoes at Bush during a news conference.

Khadir’s shoe-tossing incident sparked a complaint against him at the legislature but he responded by stating his actions honoured the type of politician he was.

Khadir also grabbed headlines in 2012 when police who had entered his home found a poster depicting a likeness of Charest lying dead at Khadir’s feet.

It was a parody of an 1830 painting by Eugene Delacroix, “Liberty Guiding The People,” which depicted a scene from the French Revolution.

The altered painting was being used as a promotional item by a local rock band and cast Khadir as a gun-toting revolutionary.

Khadir defended the likeness as a parody.

Police had gone to the home to arrest the politician’s then-teenage daughter in connection with a series of illegal acts allegedly committed at protests.

The Iranian-born Khadir obtained a master’s degree in physics from McGill University in 1987 and a doctorate in medicine from Universite Laval in 1990.

Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Canadian Press