Facecovering ban all about politics

If you want to understand why Quebec Liberal Premier Philippe Couillard would champion controversial religious neutrality legislation banning the wearing of face coverings in many transactions between citizens and the state, start with a recent opinion poll showing 87 per cent of the province’s population backed the bill.

In other words, the new law — passed by Quebec’s national assembly last Wednesday — is all about politics.

As iPolitics commentator Martin Patriquin astutely observed this week, Couillard and the Liberals cynically calculated they had little to lose and much to gain by passing legislation many predict won’t survive a Charter challenge.

The reason? Both of Quebec’s opposition parties wanted the bill to go even further than it did, wrote Patriquin. So the Liberals, knowing anglophones and the immigrant community had nowhere else to go with their political support, decided to try to attract xenophobic voters within the “pure laine” Quebecer community.

With the next provincial election next October, before any Charter challenge could bear fruit, it doesn’t matter if the law is ultimately found unconstitutional, said Patriquin.

That explanation makes some sense of a law that, on its face, makes little.

Quebec Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée’s attempt to reassure critics of the law’s benign nature on Wednesday strained credulity.

The legislation was not repressive, she claimed, and carried no sanctions. But under the law, public workers like bus drivers, transit ticket officers and librarians, to name a few examples, would be required to keep their faces uncovered while demanding members of the public do the same in specified circumstances.

For example, Vallée said, a woman using a student discount bus pass would be required to show her face to the driver, although she could cover it again afterwards. Who knew student discount bus pass fraud using face coverings was such a problem?

And, as other critics have noted, it’s strange that a bill purportedly needed to ensure the state is seen as neutral on religion has nothing to say about the large crucifix hanging in the National Assembly, or the right of public servants to wear religious paraphernalia.

Of course, the federal Conservatives similarly, and successfully, sought to gain votes in Quebec in the last federal election with their controversial proposal to ban the niqab during citizenship ceremonies.

The new law doesn’t target Muslims, Vallée claims, yet it’s clear that’s precisely who most Quebecers understand the legislation is about. Couillard’s Liberals, using an “us vs. them” strategy, have put short-term political gain above societal harmony.

An editorial from the Halifax Chronicle Herald (distributed by The Canadian Press)