Liberals opt for traditional position against ban on religious symbols
The Quebec Liberals have decided to stick with their traditional position against a ban on religious symbols for state employees.
Emerging from a two-day caucus of the party’s 29 MNAs, interim leader Pierre Arcand said after a short internal discussion on what position to take when the Coalition Avenir Québec tables its bill banning symbols, the consensus was to not change policies.
“The Liberal party is the party of individual freedoms,” Arcand told reporters at a news conference. “Freedom of religion is entrenched in the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms so we will never endorse the policy of the CAQ.”
“You won’t be surprised, but our position on religious symbols remains the same,” added Hélène David, the Liberal critic on the secularism issue.
“We are and have always been a party that had individual freedoms at heart, and we will never endorse acts that impede citizens from occupying a job on the basis of their religious orientations.”
While not entirely surprising, there had been recent media speculation the Liberals might water down their position and favour some kind of ban as a way to woo back francophone voters who dumped the party in the October election.
Arcand, however, suggested that idea was not really on the table.
But given statements this week by Premier François Legault and Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette about settling the issue quickly, the Liberals decided there was no point in waiting to see the wording of the government’s bill before taking a stand.
He then turned to blasting the government and its plan to bar authority figures, such as judges, police officers and elementary and high school teachers, from wearing symbols such as the hijab and kippah.
He said the revelation this week that the CAQ government will exempt teachers in private subsidized schools from the new rules amounts to a double standard.
If the CAQ does that for teachers, does that mean the ban will not apply to federal public-sector employees and federal judges, too? Arcand asked, adding the plan is “incoherent.”
When in power, the Liberals decided the furthest they could go on the secularism issue was to adopt Bill 62, which required government services to be delivered and received with the face visible.
That law is currently suspended pending the results of a court challenge. The Liberal decision means it and the Parti Québécois have staked out their ground in the upcoming debate.
At their own caucus meeting a week ago, the PQ restated its position that it supports the ban the CAQ proposes, but wants a grandfather clause in the bill to exempt existing employees from the new rules.
At the CAQ caucus this week in Gatineau, Legault said while the support of one opposition party would be nice, he is ready to proceed alone with the bill.
The National Assembly resumes sitting next Tuesday.
We will never endorse acts that impede citizens from occupying a job on the basis of their religious orientations.