Why the Quebec values charter hasn’t been a runaway success, PKP interview

2014/04/05 Leave a comment

Martin Patriquin’s analysis of why the Charter has not worked out the way the PQ hoped for:

Yet for a variety of reasons, the charter hasn’t been nearly the electoral success the PQ thought it would be. Durand calls the charter support “weak and volatile”, largely because the PQ lost nearly as much support as it gained. For PQ strategists, minister Bernard Drainville in particular, it must be a vexing question: why would a piece of legislation tailor-made to exploit the deep fears felt by French Quebecers be only a mitigated success?

One answer may be Quebecers aren’t as obsessed about language and identity as they once were. For all the charter’s sound and fury, the charter barely registers on Quebecers’ radar of priorities. They are far more preoccupied with the meat-and-potato issues of government spending, taxes and corruption, according to a L’Actualité poll conducted following the charter’s introduction. The charter was 10th out of a list off 11 priorities. The 11th priority? A sovereignist government.

There’s another reason why Quebecers might not be so peachy keen on the charter, one teased out in a telling Léger Marketing poll from January. Support for the charter, at 57 per cent amongst Francophones, plummeted by 17 points when Léger raised the spectre that people might lose their jobs as a result of what’s on their head or around their neck.

Why the Quebec values charter hasn’t been a runaway success.

And an interesting interview with Pierre Karl Peladeau, the star candidate for the PQ and media mogul who sent the PQ campaign off-message with his strong independence messaging at the beginning of the campaign:

C’est beau tout ça, vous parlez en tant qu’actionnaire de contrôle de Québecor, mais vous êtes en politique, M. Péladeau. Comment allez-vous faire pour éviter les conflits d’intérêts là-dessus si vous êtes au gouvernement ? Vous ne pourrez pas participer aux décisions sur le sport professionnel, la culture, la politique de prix unique du livre…

« J’espère que je vais pouvoir continuer à en parler, au contraire, ce sont des sujets sur lesquels je pense avoir une grande expertise », répond-il, insensible aux critiques. Certains ont même comparé Pierre Karl Péladeau à Berlusconi, l’ancien président et magnat de la presse en Italie. Il s’en fout : « Andrew Coyne a dit que j’étais devenu un oligarque russe et Lysiane Gagnon a dit que j’étais d’extrême droite. Allez-y, en termes de comparaison, tout est permis. »

Un café avec PKP

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Chris Selley: Pauline Marois’ alternate reality, Farzana Hassan’s Endorsement of the Charter

2014/04/05 Leave a comment

Good summary by Chris Selley of some of the reasonable accommodation issues that have arisen in Quebec over the past years, and a reminder that the proposed Charter would not address any of them:

But finally, this week, Mr. Couillard seemed to gain some traction. “If the PQ is saying you can’t work with something on your head that doesn’t please certain people, the logical conclusion is that you will be fired if you don’t do it,” he said. Indeed. Also: If you lower the speed limit on Highway 401 from 100 to 90, people might get tickets for going 100. Also: If you mandate a six-month minimum sentence for people who grow six marijuana plants, people might get six-month sentences for growing six marijuana plants. See how this works?

The incoherence is to some extent understandable. Like all effective wedge policies, the PQ’s secularism charter invites people to project content, motivations and outcomes on to it that aren’t really there. Janette Bertrand thinks it will prevent rich Muslims from taking over private swimming pools and barring women from them. Commentator Tarek Fatah thinks it will combat “Saudi-based Islamism” — which it theoretically might, if indeed Saudi-based Islamists are “us[ing] the freedom of religion clauses enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to ‘impose their political agenda’ in Quebec,” but which hardly explains it targeting Jews and Sikhs as well.

Chris Selley: Pauline Marois’ alternate reality | National Post.

And Farzana Hassan’s different take in The Sun, similar to Tarek Fatah’s (I say ‘Vote PQ to save Canada’!).

While I can understand the visceral fear some have given past experience in their country of origin (and have spent enough time in Saudi Arabia and Iran to appreciate this), I can’t understand just how far Tarek and Farzana take this fear.

For example, the nurse who took my blood sample this week wore a hijab. She works in a mixed environment, provides service to women and men, and whether or not she chooses to wear a hijab is irrelevant, as it is for others who provide public services of other faiths who wear a kippa, turban, or cross.

Part of our national identity includes religious freedom, subject of course to the balance of other freedoms, and religious “headgear” is largely not a problem (apart from the niqab):

Many religious people do not feel obliged to wear or display their religious symbols at work, one of the exceptions being devout Muslims, who have distinct religious attire they consider mandatory.

In fact, the Quebec charter seems mainly aimed at fundamentalist Muslims, who often seek to advance a political agenda rather than simply express pious serenity through their dress.

In my view, invoking the notwithstanding clause to counter this assertive religiosity is desirable.

Using the Quebec values charter would help check the spread of patriarchal values and the virtual segregation of women.

If you are a hijabi or niqabi worried about this, rest assured Islam does not mandate the veiling of women.

Marois may appear xenophobic to some and a liberator to others, but her nationalistic zeal has shown Canada a way to preserve its own identity.

The rest of Canada should also move to ban such religious symbols from public display.

Sun News : Quebec’s values charter is a good idea.

 

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Graeme Hamilton: Marois may be the one ‘reintegrating in another job’ after the election

2014/04/04 Leave a comment

Cleverly written and the irony of Marois’ juxtaposed photo op and messaging:

If it had been held a day earlier, Parti Québécois Premier Pauline Marois’ visit Wednesday to a centre helping immigrant women find work would have made more sense: “We are a welcoming nation. We want more immigrants from North Africa. We need to combat discrimination in hiring … April Fools!”

But Ms. Marois, whose charter of Quebec values would prohibit women wearing the hijab from working in the public sector, kept a straight face as she praised her government’s openness one minute, then said a daycare worker who refused to remove her hijab would lose her job the next.

“At that point they will have to make a choice, that’s for sure,” she told reporters, noting that the centre she was visiting, the Collectif des femmes immigrantes du Québec, is skilled at helping immigrants find jobs. “There are people who we can help to reintegrate in another job.”

Graeme Hamilton: Marois may be the one ‘reintegrating in another job’ after the election | National Post.

Haroon Siddiqui is equally critical on the use of minorities to advance the Charter message:

Anti-Semites usually insist they have Jewish friends. The late Pim Fortuyn, the gay right-wing Dutch politician, claimed he had several Moroccan boyfriends. The PQ parades its female Jewish and Muslim candidates — Evelyne Abitbol, of Moroccan Jewish ancestry, and Yasmina Chouakri, Leila Mahiout and Djemila Benhabib, all of Algerian Muslim descent. The PQ also backs Fatima Houda-Pepin, of Moroccan Muslim ancestry, who quit the Liberal party because of her support of the charter and is running as an independent. They are all entitled to their views and political choices. But the ironies of their high-profile candidacies are inescapable.
They are peddling their religious identities to champion the removal of religious identities from the state. They are feminists who want to fire vulnerable women from work. They promote post-religious modernism by importing the intra-religious divisions of their homelands rather than adhering to the Canadian rule of law that guarantees equality for people of all faiths or no faith.

Parti Québécois apes demagoguery of European right: Siddiqui

In the last few days of the election, communities are mobilizing their vote to defeat the Charter. While the focus of this article is with respect to the Jewish community in Quebec, expect that other community organizations are also active:

« Nous n’avons pas été épargnés par les débats publics décevants entourant la controversée charte des valeurs québécoises proposée par le gouvernement que dirige le Parti québécois », indique un courriel interne de la Fédération CJA, l’organisation qui représente les communautés juives de Montréal, obtenu par Le Devoir.

« Nous encourageons les membres de la communauté à faire tout leur possible, le jour des élections, pour aller voter pour le parti de leur choix. Même dans les circonscriptions qui semblent gagnées d’avance, les bulletins ont tous leur importance, car le financement des partis politiques est calculé au prorata du nombre de votes reçus à l’élection précédente. […] En ces jours qui précèdent l’élection, jouez un rôle actif dans notre démocratie et encouragez ceux qui vous entourent à s’exprimer », ajoute le message signé par Susan Laxer, présidente, et Deborah Corber, chef de la direction de la Fédération CJA.

Charte: les opposants sur un pied d’alerte | Le Devoir.

 

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I say ‘Vote PQ to save Canada’! | Tarek Fatah

2014/04/03 1 Comment

I think Tarek in his consistent opposition to Muslim fundamentalism lost it in this column on the Quebec election, and the usual casting of aspersions of Couillard’s time in Saudi Arabia (which was no different from many other Canadians and others).

Does Tarek really mean to insinuate that Couillard supports Islamic fundamentalism?: see Charte des valeurs québécoises – Le Québec pourrait en payer le prix, dit Couillard where he is very clear “J’ai connu, moi, c’est quoi, un régime autoritaire. J’ai connu, moi, c’est quoi, un régime qui exclut”):

The main opposition to the PQ comes from the Liberal party, led by Phillipe Couillard, who has been called upon in the campaign to explain his relationship with Saudi authorities from the time he worked as a surgeon for a state-owned oil company in the Kingdom and as a consultant to the government in 2010.

Couillard was attacked by Houda-Pepin, who called him a “strategic ally” of Islamic fundamentalists who, she said, use the freedom of religion clauses enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to “impose their political agenda” in Quebec.

I asked the Quebec Liberal leader to comment on his past relationship with Saudi officials but received no response to my e-mail.

In other published reports, Couillard has rejected allegations he endorses Islamic fundamentalism or the policies of the Saudi government, which he said most Quebecers reject.

Just because someone goes to work in a foreign country, he argued, doesn’t mean they automatically endorse its policies.

Still, between Marois, who is fighting against Saudi-based Islamism with her secular charter and Couillard, to whom this issue doesn’t appear to be a priority, I say, “Vote PQ to save Canada.”

I say ‘Vote PQ to save Canada’! | Columnists | Opinion | Toronto Sun.

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Andrew Coyne: Marois’ PQ joins ranks of those who would use notwithstanding clause to block minority rights

2014/04/02 Leave a comment

Cat out of the bag, as the PQ admits that the proposed Charter would require use of the notwithstanding clause in order to survive legal challenge:

How very Canadian: notwithstanding if necessary but not necessarily notwithstanding. Still, Ms. Marois has clarified matters, even if inadvertently. Not only do her remarks suggest the PQ knew all along that the bill it was proposing, the centrepiece of its platform, was unconstitutional, a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but it had no intention of amending it to bring it into conformity. Either it planned to deliberately blow it up, as in La Presse’s version [Le choc, la charge, la charte | Vincent Marissal], or it would invoke the constitutional override, a possibility it had never conceded until now.

Andrew Coyne: Marois’ PQ joins ranks of those who would use notwithstanding clause to block minority rights | National Post.

Chantal Hébert in L’Actualité:

1- Il n’a jamais fait de doute que la Charte serait contestée devant les tribunaux. Sa compatibilité avec les libertés fondamentales a toujours été matière à débat, et pas seulement à l’extérieur des rangs gouvernementaux. Autrement, le gouvernement aurait produit les avis juridiques que ses propres avocats lui ont certainement préparés au moment de son élaboration.

2- Un gouvernement curieux de savoir comment son projet cohabitait avec les libertés fondamentales aurait pris les devants et l’aurait soumis à la Cour d’appel du Québec pour avoir son avis.

3- Ce ne sont pas de lointains Canadiens qui vont contester la Charte, mais plutôt des citoyens ou, même, des groupes ou des organismes québécois. La Ville de Montréal et la plupart des universités, de même qu’un nombre conséquent d’associations professionnelles et même syndicales, s’opposent fermement à son application.

4- La clause dite nonobstant est renouvelable aux cinq ans sur un vote majoritaire de l’Assemblée nationale. S’il fallait y avoir recours pour appliquer une Charte de la laïcité, attendez-vous à refaire le débat.

Chantal Hébert : La Charte, les chartes et la clause nonobstant

Federal government reaction has been appropriately cautious on this point during the campaign, although all three parties were very strong when the Charter was announced:

Utilisation de la clause dérogatoire par le PQ: les députés fédéraux prudents OTTAWA

 

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Le choc, la charge, la charte | Vincent Marissal

2014/04/01 1 Comment

A lengthy and thoughtful analysis of how the PQ got to this point and how central the proposed Charter is to its strategy. One of the best overviews I have seen:

Selon une source qui a assisté à des discussions à de très hauts niveaux au sein du gouvernement Marois, la suite du virage identitaire était déjà décidée: une fois majoritaire, le PQ adopte la Charte telle que présentée, sans clause dérogatoire. Elle sera contestée et battue par une cour fédérale, ce qui fournirait un puissant levier pour la souveraineté.

C’était le plan. La réalité, pour le moment, c’est que Pauline Marois doit se défendre tous les jours de vouloir organiser un troisième référendum, et la Charte a été reléguée à un tout petit rôle dans la présente campagne.

Le choc, la charge, la charte | Vincent Marissal | Actualités.

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Intégrisme: la «montée» imaginaire – et les Janettes

2014/03/31 Leave a comment

Pretty damning indictment of those warning of a rapid increase in fundamentalism in Quebec. Interesting, most requests for religious accommodation come from Christians.

Dernier indicateur : l’avis des chercheurs qui étudient les minorités religieuses du Québec ou les côtoient. Ceux qu’a interviewés Le Soleil – soit, hormis M. Rousseau, Pauline Côté, de l’Université Laval, et Micheline Milot, de l’UdeM – sont unanimes : il n’y a pas le moindre signe d’une montée de l’intégrisme musulman au Québec. Et les termes qu’ils emploient laissent peu de place au doute : «bonhomme 7 heures», «scandaleux», «propos alarmistes et exorbitants», «création étatique de la peur de l’autre», etc.

Intégrisme: la «montée» imaginaire | Jean-François Cliche | Élections québécoises.

Shame on the PQ for not dissociating themselves from the comments of Janette Bertrand (background here):

La cofondatrice du mouvement pro charte « Les Janette » y est allée d’un exemple pour illustrer la nécessité, selon elle, de se doter de cette législation, qui prévoit notamment un encadrement des demandes d’accommodements raisonnables.

Imaginons, a-t-elle dit, que « deux hommes » arrivent à la piscine de son édifice à logements montréalais, et que la vue de femmes dans l’eau leur déplaît.

« Bon, imaginons qu’ils partent, qu’ils vont voir le propriétaire, qui est très heureux d’avoir beaucoup de, de… c’est les étudiants de McGill riches qui sont là, et puis, ils demandent ‘Bon, on va avoir une journée’, bon, alors ils payent », a-t-elle suggéré.

« Et là dans quelques mois, c’est eux qui ont la piscine tout le temps. Ben c’est ça, le ‘grugeage, c’est ça dont on a peur et c’est ça qui va arriver s’il n’y a pas de charte », a lancé Mme Bertrand.

http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/404117/janette-bertrand-vilipende-les-integristes

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Les cégeps doutent de l’utilité de la Charte | Gabrielle Duchaine | Charte de la laïcité

2014/03/27 Leave a comment

From the Charter to the reality in the CEJEP (Quebec’s rough equivalent to high school):

Rappelons qu’une disposition de la Charte vise à interdire la prestation de services le visage couvert. «Des filles qui portent un voile, on en voit souvent, et de façon très stylisée en plus. Mais des visages voilés, jamais. Même les longs vêtements amples sont rares», note Johanne Fraser, présidente du syndicat des enseignants du cégep de Saint-Laurent, qui accueille une clientèle particulièrement hétérogène. Même son de cloche au Collège de Maisonneuve, où 85% des élèves de la formation continue proviennent de l’immigration récente.

Les cégeps doutent de l’utilité de la Charte | Gabrielle Duchaine | Charte de la laïcité.

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In Quebec, a dim future for sovereignty – Lysiane Gagnon

2014/03/27 Leave a comment

In light of the dramatic fall in PQ support following PKP’s fist pump, striking just how much public opinion in Quebec has gelled against sovereignty. Two weeks till the election, and a lot could change, but the trend line and generational divide is not encouraging for the PQ:

If there is another referendum, everybody seems to agree, including sovereigntist leaders, that the question will have to exclusively focus on sovereignty. This makes a Yes victory even harder to attain.

Prof. Durand’s data also show that support for sovereignty is lower than it was on the eve of the 1980 and 1995 referendums. The major difference, she says, is that sovereignty no longer mobilizes those under 50 and the most educated.

What’s the future of an option that doesn’t attract younger generations?

In Quebec, a dim future for sovereignty – The Globe and Mail.

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Jonathan Kay: Scotland shows Quebec what an intelligent and mature independence movement looks like

2014/03/26 Leave a comment

Good piece contrasting the approach by the Scottish nationalist and the PQ:

Quebec’s modern sovereigntist movement has been around, in its modern form, since the 1960s. Yet to this day, its leaders (including Parti Québécois Premier Pauline Marois) are fantastically vague about what sort of “independent” country they want. Extraordinary claims — Quebec will keep the dollar, and, oh, yes, have a seat on the Bank of Canada — are casually made and then forgotten. The question of how the most per-capita indebted province in Canada will pay its way (including its share of the Canadian federal debt) while forsaking the $16-billion that the rest of the country sends its way every year is entirely ignored.

In Scotland, by contrast, such meat-and-potatoes questions about what will happen in a newly independent nation are the meat and potatoes of this year’s campaign — and are explored in great detail in a lengthy text published by the Scottish government entitled Scotland’s Future — Your Guide to an Independent Scotland. As Jonathan Freedland writes in the March 20 edition of The New York Review of Books, the 649-page document “is short on the rhetoric of self-determination, long on the quotidian details of self-government. In a ‘Q & A’ section, the third question — after ‘Why should Scotland be independent?’ and ‘Can Scotland afford to be independent?’— is ‘What will happen to my pension?’ There are few rousing calls to Scottish pride or the spirit of Bannockburn, their place taken by information on postal services and the administration of drivers’ licenses.”

Jonathan Kay: Scotland shows Quebec what an intelligent and mature independence movement looks like | National Post.

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