Values charter to take centre stage in second half of Quebec election

To the dismay of Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois, the first-half of the Quebec election campaign was all about sovereignty.

It's the sexy issue that has dominated press conferences and the topic reporters wanted to write about.

All this talk about a potential referendum, however, has allegedly hurt the PQ at the opinion polls. A recent Léger-Le Devoir survey indicates that only 20 per cent of those surveyed want the candidates to talk about sovereignty. Moreover, according to the poll, 59 per cent of Quebecers said that they would vote "No" in a sovereignty referendum.

So, according to a report by CJAD Radio, the PQ war room is attempting to move the collective electoral focus back to an issue they believe they can win on. They want to tout their proposed Values Charter legislation that would essentially ban public employees from wearing religious symbols such as hijabs, kippas and turbans.

We've seen evidence of the PQ's message-shifting efforts in recent days.

Last Monday, Marois told reporters that companies in the private sector could adopt their own rules about reasonable accommodation.

And then, on Thursday, high profile cabinet minister — and the architect of the Values Charter — Bernard Drainville told a Quebec radio station that university students could be banned from wearing burkas as well.

"A citizen giving or receiving a governmental service must do so with an uncovered face," Drainville said, according to Maclean's.

"For all the rest, the prohibition of religious signs applies to agents of the state. You’re right, the employees, the nurses, police officers, judges, everyone paid with public funds. But for people who are requesting a service, like students, must do so with their faces uncovered. The Liberals were once in favour of this, and now they can’t even agree with that. They aren’t even able to ban the niquab or the burka."

[ Related: Canadians outside of Quebec fed-up with sovereignty talk ]

Values Charter opponents — especially those that would be most affected by the law — seem to be ramping up their efforts as well.

On Friday, hundreds took to the streets of Montreal to denounce the charter as part of an anti-racism rally.

"The Charter is...before it's even been implemented is already having implications being felt," one protester told Global News.

"Right now, we've seen racism very much on the rise. We've seen that there's been a real normalization of racist and Islamaphobic discourse."

There are also reports about an unusually large number of Anglophones and Allophones — those whose first language is neither French or English — registering to vote.

Marois is concerned that the high number of non-Francophone registrants in one particular predominantly Francophone community suggests a possibility of voter fraud.

"It raises very serious questions. I am asking the Chief Electoral Officer to address it ... but this is a situation that worries me," she said on Saturday, according to CBC News.

But maybe — just maybe — it has something to do with religious minorities being motivated to vote?

Buckle-up your seat belts political junkies: while the sovereignty debate may be fading into the background, the Charter chatter is sure to make a comeback during the final two weeks of the Quebec election campaign.

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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