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“Who decided that the Earth is round, and why should we believe it?” she asked.

“The first question to ask” she wrote, “is now that people realize that it’s possible that the Earth is flat, why do they want to hide the explanations that prove it.” She also wondered how much money is diverted to NASA and said she does not believe anything on the news, preferring to conduct her own research.

“The world is a stage and several actors are amusing themselves at our expense thinking they are more intelligent than us,” she wrote.

Lemieux’s assistant confirmed Tuesday that the councillor made the comments, which appeared under a news article about YouTube clamping down on videos promoting conspiracy theories. She said Lemieux was not available for an interview.

The councillor first entered the spotlight last week when she told Le Droit that Islamophobia is a problem invented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The newspaper also quoted her saying, “These people do a lot of things wrong, with their trucks and all that, it’s normal to be scared.”

Pedneaud-Jobin said Lemieux, who was first elected to council in 2017, is a good person who didn’t appreciate the impact of her comments about Muslims.

“For me that’s what is very serious — to make a connection between Muslims and all terrorists — mixing up things doesn’t make sense,” he said. “It’s dangerous, because it prejudges and makes life difficult for the Muslim community.”

Lemieux was applauding Quebec Premier Francois Legault for his statement last week that there is no Islamophobia in Quebec. After Muslim groups denounced Legault’s comments, the premier’s office clarified to say Islamophobia exists but there is no culture or current of it in Quebec.