Saguenay mayor says Algerian-born PQ candidate Djemila Benhabib poses ‘a threat’ to French Canadians

It's another day in the Quebec election campaign and invariably another day of: "they said what?!"

Today's politically incorrect comment comes from Saguenay mayor Jean Tremblay, who has accused Algerian born Parti Québécois candidate Djemila Benhabib of of posing a threat to "French Canadians" by trying to impose her "rules" on the culture and values of the province.

"What angers me is that we, the soft French-Canadians, are going to allow a person who arrived here from Algeria — we can't even pronounce her name — to dictate to us how to behave, how to respect our culture," he said, Tuesday.

According to the Globe and Mail, Benhabib, who has written about the persecution by Islamists in Algeria, has been a strong advocate of secularism, saying that religion has no business in the affairs of the state.

Benhabib, who is running to represent the riding of Trois-Rivières, had a hand in the PQ's proposed secular charter, announced Tuesday, which would ban all civil servants from wearing or exposing overt religious symbols.

[Related: Asian kids and religious symbols: just another day on the Quebec campaign trail]

Benhabib had been opposed to keeping the crucifix in the national assembly, although now accepts it and supports her party's position that the crucifix is part of Quebec's cultural heritage.

But still, Tremblay, a devout Catholic, was annoyed.

"You know how their system works. These people start by eating away [at our values] by being soft-spoken, doing it slowly starting with the prayer at City Hall," the popular mayor said.

"There are 400 towns that recite the prayer and we are going to ban it! And then the crucifix, they are going to have our religion and our culture disappear everywhere."

At a campaign stop on Wednesday afternoon, PQ leader Pauline Marois called on the mayor to apologize, saying that his comments in no way reflected the views of the majority of Quebeckers towards cultural and religious minorities in Quebec.

"These are irresponsible and unacceptable comments and he should apologize, Marois said according to the Globe.

"It shows that he has a complete misunderstanding of Djemila Benhabib, who has been exemplary in regards to her integration into Quebec society."

Marois added that Quebec has shown in the treatment of minorities that it was a "generous, open and tolerant."

Well, wonders never cease.

[ Related: Parti Quebecois takes aim at language laws, overweight people ]

Some would argue that since the beginning of the Quebec election campaign, the Parti Quebecois has been dismissive and disrespectful to anyone who wasn't a part of Quebec's French-speaking Catholic majority.

In an ironic turn of events, on day 15, the PQ is standing-up for minority rights.