Canada PoliticsPQ minister says Quebec values charter won’t be watered down
Headlines across the country — on Tuesday — suggested that the Quebec's government was "open to improvements" for its proposed values charter.
That had some thinking — and maybe hoping — that the Parti Quebecois was softening its position.
But, according to a senior cabinet minister, they're not going to water down the plan that would essentially ban public employees from wearing overt religious symbols at public institutions.
"We think it’s the time to decide and to have the guts to decide for real," Jean-François Lisée told the Montreal Gazette on Wednesday.
"To dilute the proposal...we think it’s all government employees who must represent the state. But to say some employees do not represent neutrality, it’s not the right decision.
"We think we have the right parameter. We don’t want to come back in five years to re-discuss this issue.”
[ Related: New poll suggests divisions, softening support for Quebec values charter ]
Also, on Wednesday, according to the Gazette, Lisée referred to Bill 101: Quebec's language charter adopted by the province in 1977.
Referencing Bill 101 seems to be part of PQ's new strategy to sell their secularization plan to the Quebec public. They've even created a website called charte vs. charte comparing newspaper headlines between 1977 and 2013.
1977: The Parti Québécois was elected recently tabled its draft Charter of the French language. The headlines suggest fear the worst for the future of Quebec. Anxiety, fear ... and bad faith are waiting for you.
2013: 36 years later, Bill 101 is considered by all as a pillar of history and democracy in Quebec, a historic breakthrough unprecedented for our nation. No one would put its existence into question. English rights have not been violated, as well as those of other linguistic minorities. The bloodshed has not occurred.
But here comes another charter making headlines. 1977 or 2013?
Montreal-based political scientist Bruce Hicks says that it's a clever but not totally accurate comparison.
"There is no more effective way to make a point than through humour. It allows for a dig at both the press and at the opposition Liberals by reminding voters that some of the sentiments they are expressing currently towards the Values Charter are identical to claims they made about the Language Charter," Hicks told Yahoo! Canada News in an email exchange.
"It is important to keep in mind, though, that the fears raised in 1977 about the consequences of Bill 101 were not entirely wrong. It did cause significant hardships for minorities in Quebec, but the general conclusion has been that this was a necessary imposition in order to protect the French language (which was widely acknowledged to be under threat at the time).
"So to make the parallel between the two charters the PQ should have to make the case that a Values Charter is a reasonable response to a real problem and that the impositions on minorities are justified by their benefits to Quebec society."
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A poll released earlier this week, suggested that support for PQ securalization was weakening in Quebec. The survey results — published in the Globe and Mail — suggests 43 per cent of Quebecers supported the charter while 42 per cent are against it.
(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)
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