François Legault dismisses Charles Taylor's contempt for CAQ's planned religious symbols ban

Premier François Legault said Friday he's not bothered by philosopher Charles Taylor's comments slamming the CAQ plan to ban the wearing of religious symbols by some civil servants.

Taylor told CBC News Thursday that the new government's use of the Bouchard-Taylor report on religious accommodation to justify the ban is "very ignorant and very intellectually dishonest." Taylor, who co-authored the report, also said proceeding with the ban would "alienate a lot of people."

"First, it's him who changed his mind," said Legault during his first news conference as premier — referring to the fact that the 2008 report recommended prohibiting some authority figures, including police officers and judges, from wearing religious garb.

Taylor no longer supports that position, describing it as a compromise he made at the time with his co-author, Gérard Bouchard.

"Second, when I talk about our proposals, usually I don't refer to the Bouchard-Taylor report because we've changed it," said Legault. (The CAQ would go further than what Bouchard and Taylor recommended, banning teachers, as well, from wearing a hijab or kippa or other religious adornment.)

"I understand that Mr. Taylor doesn't support this report anymore. That's his choice," said Legault.

"Still, the population, they agree with this report."

Legault defends cabinet picks

Legault spent much of Friday's news conference defending his choice of ministers, a day after the swearing in of the new cabinet — including his picks for immigration, environment and Indigenous affairs.

Simon Jolin-Barrette, 31, who is both immigration minister and parliamentary leader, will be overseeing two files which Legault has assured would be kept separate — cutting the number of immigrants coming into Quebec and the religious symbols ban.

Legault said both remain high priorities for his government.

Those two proposals — as well as Legault's plan to impose French and values tests on newcomers who want to stay in Quebec — have been heavily criticized by advocates who say they will alienate minority communities in Quebec, instead of integrating them, as Legault claims.

Critics have also questioned Legault's choice of environment minister, former aeronautics executive MarieChantal Chassé, who has said she dreams of owning a private jet and has little environmental experience.

"It's true other people in the cabinet have that experience," said Legault. "I thought [Chassé] would be the best person for the job."

Montmorency MNA Jean-François Simard, a former Parti Québécois environment minister who ran under the CAQ banner, had been floated as a possible candidate for the file.

Her private jet comment, Legault said, was more "to show her ambition, and we like people with ambition."

"It's true we didn't speak enough about [climate change] at the CAQ," Legault said of his party's campaign. "Give me a bit of time. We have a lot of ideas that we've already started debating."

He said he gave Chassé a mandate of creating policies that would be "pragmatic, but with results" and would "reduce greenhouse gases as much as possible."

Sylvie D'Amours was named minister of Indigenous affairs Thursday, despite not speaking English.

D'Amours owns an agriculture business called Gestions Chou-Bec, and Legault said naming her agriculture minister would have put her in a conflict of interest.

He said D'Amours had an interest in Indigenous issues, as the Kanesatake Mohawk community is in her riding of Mirabel.

"I also think it's good to have a woman in charge of this file, given everything we've heard about the treatment of Indigenous women," the premier said.

Economic update before holidays

The National Assembly will resume sitting Nov. 27, and Legault said the government will provide an update on the economy before the end of the year — which he said could mean announcing tax breaks.

Among other priorities, Legault is committed to:

• Create a new, more efficient compensation program for Outaouais tornado victims.

• Table an electoral reform bill within the first year of office, with a plan to have a new system in place before the next election in 2022.

As well, two days after the first day of cannabis legalization in the country that saw thousands lining up in front of Quebec's new government-run stores, Legault said he still wants to raise the legal age for consuming the drug to 21.

He said he doubted that could happen within the first 100 days of his mandate as leader of the province.

"I still think there are bad consequences for people under 25 that I would like to reduce as much as possible," Legault said.

He said he wants to make sure young adults "don't hear the message that it's acceptable, that it's good for them."