Québec solidaire vows to be ‘watchdog’ against CAQ
If the Coalition Avenir Québec follows through with its plan to fire teachers for wearing religious garb on the job, they’ll face resistance in the National Assembly and on the streets.
That’s the message Québec solidaire sent Friday to the incoming CAQ government.
“We need teachers, we have a problem finding teachers and we’re actually going to exclude people from that job or — even worse — get rid of them because they practise the wrong religion,” said Gabriel Nadeau Dubois, QS’s co-spokesperson. “It’s completely counterproductive. It’s an awful idea … We’re a party that’s inside parliament and we’re a political movement outside of it. We’ll fight this inside and outside of the National Assembly.”
The incoming CAQ government indicated Tuesday that it would be willing to use the notwithstanding clause to circumvent the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and enforce its planned ban on religious symbols in public life.
The ban would apply to authority figures — a list that includes police officers, prison guards, judges but also teachers — and is already being met with resistance.
The English Montreal School Board came out hard against the ban in a statement Wednesday, claiming it “runs contrary to what we teach our students insofar as tolerance … of individual rights and religious freedoms.”
Nadeau Dubois said his party stands behind the EMSB.
On the subject of religious liberties, he reaffirmed QS’s commitment to the recommendations from the 2009 Bouchard Taylor Report on Cultural and Religious Accommodation. The report calls for a ban on religious symbols for state-employees in positions of authority. Unlike the CAQ’s plan, it wouldn’t apply to school teachers.
“The Bouchard Taylor recommendations aren’t perfect,” said Nadeau Dubois. “But there’s a great advantage in that they represent a compromise. What (the CAQ) is proposing is to throw fuel on the fire.”
Nadeau Dubois was speaking after the first QS caucus meeting since the election. The party went from holding three to 10 seats in the National Assembly and is branding itself as the only “true opposition” to the CAQ.
Co-spokesperson Manon Massé said the Liberals and Parti Québécois will be “very busy” with leadership races and soul searching after their losses on Monday night.
QS, on the other hand, said it knows where it’s headed and will act as a “watchdog” against the CAQ. Most notably, she wants to hold CAQ leader François Legault’s feet to the fire on climate-change policy and on its promise to both cut taxes and increase services.
“I’ve been in charge of a budget or two in my life, but I’ve never been able to spend more while earning less,” Massé said, after her party’s first caucus meeting in Montreal.
“If Mr. Legault has a magic wand he wants to show us, he should produce it. Otherwise, his plan won’t work.”