Quebecers not as liberal as they think

Policies can belie reputation for being socially progressive

Quebec’s reputation as Canada’s a bastion of social progressivism isn’t unearned, but the province’s continued affinity for some conservative values, policies and even institutions provides for unique contrast.

Legislators in this province have debated a smorgasbord of secularism proposals in recent years, varying in legitimacy, but all seeming to show some preferential treatment for Catholicism. With the crucifix in the National Assembly hovering above the debates, it’s clear Quebec’s political class is not as staunchly secular as it pretends to be.

The crucifix’s placement above the Speaker risks leaving intelligent observers with the impression that despite occasional heretical lapses, Quebec laws may be subject to some kind of Catholic litmus test. The Mount Royal cross towering over Quebec’s metropolis, the saintly names of municipalities and roads and the provincial flag evidently do not provide ample tribute for those concerned about public recognition of religious heritage.

Critics of the new religious neutrality law (Bill 62) have rightly noted the hypocrisy of avoiding the crucifix issue, but these lapses are hardly uncommon.

In attempting to address various mediafuelled culture clashes, the previous Liberal government in 2008 hired two academics with Catholic cultural backgrounds to help guide future policies. Inevitably, there were elements of cultural insensitivity in some of the Bouchard-Taylor report’s recommendations.

The Parti Québécois took matters a step farther in its Charter of Values in 2013, outlining which personal religious symbols would pose a menace to the supposedly secular character of the Quebec government. Turbans, hijabs, kippahs — but only the most ostentatious Christian symbols — were deemed problematic.

An important Catholic religious institution also received generous public support during Montreal’s lavish 375th anniversary celebrations. Following more than a decade of renovations ending in 2013, it was decreed with little justification last year that St. Joseph’s Oratory would undergo costly additional upgrades, with a total of $63 million in contributions from all three levels of government, to “help develop the sanctuary’s full tourist potential.”

Meanwhile, social conservatism is restraining progress on a number of issues, including the impending legalization of cannabis.

“I was told during public consultations that with four good cannabis plants for two people at home, you will be stoned 24 hours a day,” concluded Lucie Charlebois, minister responsible for Youth Protection and Public Health, on Sunday’s Tout le monde en parle — shortly before joining the panel for the customary wine-tasting segment.

Health Minister Gaétan Barrette recently said the legalization of cannabis was “moving too quickly;” in 2014, he suggested medical approbation of the drug by his colleagues in health care was the result of “charlatanism.”

Growing the plant at home for medicinal purposes is legal, but won’t be in Quebec for recreational use, and Quebec is adopting a zero tolerance model for driving under the influence. The latter measure is particularly overzealous — as well as hypocritical, given that Quebec governments have stubbornly refused to lower the blood alcohol limit in step with other provinces. Quebec’s statist cannabis policies are stricter than recommendations by MADD Canada, a group hardly known for nuanced positions on alcohol and drug use. It’s the “toughest legislation in Canada,” a MADD spokesperson lauded.

It’s no wonder the upstart Quebec Conservative Party is struggling. Unlike their federal counterparts, there are few opportunities to seduce socially conservative voters when most of the political class across three major parties offer plenty of old-fashioned options for those concerned things are changing too quickly.

Disproportionate subsidies to traditional religious institutions and reflexive state control of personal sin are byproducts of a government that hasn’t quite caught up to Quebecers who, decades ago, declared that their Catholic heritage would no longer govern them.