Premier Marois (on left) is counting on Quebecers to support her new law.
Listen to Roger Currie’s commentary on Quebec’s proposed Charter of Values
The more we read and hear about the proposed Charter of Values in Quebec, the less sense it makes out here on the prairies.
In a day and age when individual human rights are being championed as never before, and bullying of any kind is being universally condemned, we have an elected government who are acting in a way that is reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition.
If the Quebec National Assembly approves the Charter, all public employees such as teachers and health care workers will be forbidden to wear turbans and other religious items on the job. Many minorities wonder aloud “Would this be only the first step?”
The divisions that have arisen already over this are very ugly. The Bloc Quebecois who were the official opposition in Ottawa less than twenty years ago, now have only four MPs in the House of Commons, but they are clearly little more than the federal wing of Premier Pauline Marois’ PQ.
MP Maria Mourani
Maria Mourani is a Lebanese Canadian who was a Bloc MP until this week. She dared to stand up and say that the Quebec Charter is wrong. She will now sit as an Independent when parliament reconvenes next month.
Bloq leader, Daniel Paille, who doesn’t have a seat in Ottawa, says the Charter is a necessary and fundamental step for the “Quebec Nation”.
Mourani hit the nail on the head when she described the Charter as a “grave strategic error by the leader of the sovereignty movement in Quebec.” It may come to pass that such an ‘error’ will guarantee that Madame Marois will never win a sovereignty referendum as long as she practices this kind of divisive politics.
Canada is a nation of immigrants. There will always be people who are not totally comfortable with that. Putting laws in place that deny the reality of the 21st century has put that part of Canada on a very dangerous course.
I’m Roger Currie
