Philippe Couillard came to the defence Friday of a Liberal candidate who said police officers could be allowed to wear a hijab on the job.
During an interview with 104.7 FM, former Hull MNA Maryse Gaudreault said a Liberal government would adopt a charter to ensure the neutrality of the state and offer guidelines for religious accommodations. Pushed on the question of whether a Muslim police woman could wear the hijab head covering, Gaudreault said “she could.”
Coalition Avenir Québec leader Francois Legault immediately took to Twitter, calling Gaudreault’s statement “unacceptable.” The Parti Québécois soon piled on, sending an article about the interview to various media outlets.
“We’re getting into non-existent situations, there’s not one cop in Quebec that wears a hijab to work,” Couillard said, after a meeting inside a St-Hubert BBQ truck stop. “It’s not like we’re faced with a massive problem here, there’s not one case of it. So what we need to do is prepare for the moment — and that moment may never come — where someone might ask for a change to the police uniform. What we need is for a chief of police to make a decision based on clearly established rules.”
Public sector employees would be barred from wearing hijabs, kippas and other overt religious symbols on the job under the PQ’s Bill 60. The proposed law has re-ignited the religious accommodation debate in Quebec, and critics say it unfairly punishes Muslim women.
Legault has appeared fixated on the issue of police women wearing hijabs of late, badgering Couillard with questions about it during both televised debates. The issue has only ever been presented as a hypothetical situation since there’s no record of any such religious accommodations being demanded in Quebec.
In 1990, Baltej Singh Dhillon became the first RCMP officer allowed to wear a turban on the job. He’s now the head of the RCMP’s Provincial Intelligence Centre in British Columbia. There have been no major concerns about his ability to keep his religion from hindering his duties as a police investigator.
Couillard refused to admonish Gaudreault for her comments, saying she simply “ventured to the edge of a hypothetical situation.”
“This is an issue for police chiefs to decide, based on clearly defined rules,” he said. “Quebec lost 60,000 jobs last year and there are exactly zero cases of police wearing hijabs in Quebec. We have our priorities in the wrong place.”
The Liberal leader spoke to reporters after addressing news that l’Assomption’s Electrolux plant will close in June. The appliance company announced it would move its assembly line to Tennessee in 2012. But until now, it was unclear exactly when the move would happen. About 1,300 machinists will lose their jobs.
“I think (the PQ government) could have done more to keep the plant open,” Couillard said. “We could have been more diligent on this ... Here’s where I see the contrast between people’s worries — like losing jobs — and the PQ’s discussions of a possible referendum, or what article of clothing people can wear to work.”