Lucien Bouchard, one of the former Parti Québécois leaders who opposes that party’s proposed “values” charter, had a warning for the PQ in an oped article in La Presse on Tuesday.
Bouchard wrote that Quebec public opinion, which now favours the charter, might turn against it if it sees public employees losing their jobs for continuing to wear “conspicuous” religious symbols such as the Muslim hijab at work.
He may be proven right–eventually.
In a Léger poll Jan. 5-9, 48 per cent of Quebecers were in favour of the charter (to 38 per cent against).
But only 35 per cent agreed that public employees should lose their jobs if they refuse to remove their conspicuous religious symbols at work (to 55 per cent that disagreed).
First, however, several things would have to happen.
The charter would have to become law in its present form–that is, containing the ban on all “conspicuous” symbols for all public employees.
In order for that to happen in the current legislature, with the PQ forming a minority government, either one of the major opposition parties in the National Assembly would have to reverse its position against a complete ban.
Assuming that neither of them will, the PQ would then have to win a majority in a general election, and then adopt the ban.
And then the ban would have to be enforced by public institutions. Some of them, notably the Jewish General Hospital and the English Montreal School Board, have indicated that they would ignore it.
For the time being, however, the charter is not really proposed legislation that the PQ intends to pass into law in its present form, despite its refusal to compromise on the ban.
Rather, it’s more of a campaign pamphlet for the PQ to use to win a majority in the next general election. If the PQ wins that majority, then it will have to decide whether to pass the ban, and what to do about individuals–and institutions–that defy it.