By The Canadian Press

Quebec politician to close Facebook page, unable to filter hate-filled posts, spam

Sep 18, 2025 | 8:58 AM

MONTREAL — A member of Quebec’s legislature says she will take down her professional Facebook page, unable to filter the hateful comments and spam it regularly attracts.

Christine Labrie of leftist party Québec solidaire said Thursday she took the decision after she had posted over the weekend about a march for the LGBTQ+ community. The comments quickly went downhill.

“I now realize that I am no longer able to ensure that discussions are respectful under my posts, and I certainly do not want my page to unwittingly contribute to exposing you to disrespectful content,” she said in what was to be her final post on the page.

Labrie, who represents the Sherbrooke riding, said the incident was the final straw and she will be closing the page permanently in a few days.

“Unfortunately, in the space of a few hours it took me to go make dinner and eat with my family, the post generated hundreds of reactions, including a significant proportion of comments that were clearly disrespectful, and some even very violent.”

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There have been other instances of comments going off the rails on the social media pages of Quebec politicians. On Premier François Legault’s official Facebook page in January 2020, a deluge of hateful comments were written on his post supporting the province’s Muslim community to mark the third anniversary of the Quebec City mosque shooting that left six men dead.

“There is a small minority of people who systematically use social media as a megaphone to propagate their hatred,” Legault said at the time. “We have to denounce them. They do not represent Quebec.”

Labrie announced in June she is not seeking re-election in 2026.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2025.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press