Juno News - September 14, 2019Federal leaders are afraid of Quebec
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Summary
Quebec Bill 21 is an anti-religious freedom bill that would ban public workers in the province of Quebec from wearing religious symbols such as turbans and crosses. The federal government has so far refused to get involved, despite the fact that the bill is being challenged in court.
Transcript
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The 2019 federal election is in full swing though at this point the mantra for all of the party
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leaders might as well be don't poke the bear that is Quebec. One of the big issues that has come up
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in Canadian politics to date this year has been Quebec's Bill 21. This is the bill put forward by
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the new Quebec government that bars public servants including teachers for example from
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wearing religious symbols. Now the bill is not exclusive to a particular religion but
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most people understand it to be taking aim at hijabs and kneecaps but it also could just as
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easily apply to large crosses, crucifixes, yarmulkes. It is an anti-religious bill and that makes it an
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anti-religious freedom bill. It's the kind of bill that if Doug Ford were to put it forward in Ontario
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would be condemned. If Jason Kenney were to put it forward Justin Trudeau would be staging a sit-in
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at the Alberta legislature but in Quebec it's different because no federal leader wants to
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anger Quebec and Quebec voters and we're seeing this in full swing now. There's a legal challenge
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against Bill 21 which means some citizens of Quebec people impacted by the legislation are taking it to
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court. What about the federal government though? Well Justin Trudeau has said that it's not now the time
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for the federal government to get involved but he'll be monitoring it because maybe in the future
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it might be the time. Andrew Scheer has said oh well the bill is terrible but no a conservative
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government would not get involved and even Jagmeet Singh who wears a turban himself a Sikh man who would
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be barred from working in the public service in Quebec has not said that if he were elected he would
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take aim at the bill through federal action. Instead he just said in a Montreal blog interview that
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him walking around and campaigning in Quebec wearing a turban that is his resistance to this.
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Now the reason I'm taking aim at the federal response to this from federal politicians is because
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they have all been essentially declaring war in public statements against this bill. They've all said
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it's the worst thing to happen it's racist it's evil it's awful and by the way I agree that it is
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terrible legislation I agree that it's discriminatory and I agree that it is coming from a place of abject
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ignorance when it comes to respecting the right to free association and freedom of religion in
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Canada. But for all of these politicians to say how opposed they are to it yet not doing anything
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about it proves that they are terrified of Quebec. It also proves that Quebec has a monumentally
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disproportionate power in federal elections compared to the rest of the province because we already see
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in full swing politicians pandering to Quebec to Quebec politicians even at the expense of their own
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conscience and their own values. Now let me say first hand I understand that it is important to respect
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provincial rights. I understand that the federal government shouldn't trample on issues that fall
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under provincial purview except most of the federal politicians don't believe that. Just take a look at the
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Trudeau carbon tax for example a completely provincial issue that Justin Trudeau decided it was his
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responsibility to legislate but now all of a sudden it's important to respect those boundaries of
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provincial issues and more importantly the constitution is a federal matter. Constitutional freedoms are
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national in scope which means that if a piece of legislation is violating your constitutional rights
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it's pretty much a national concern because that is giving license to other provinces to do the same
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thing if you don't say no when it's happening imminently. There is a knee-jerk and emotional reaction
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from a lot of people that oh well I don't like knee cabs so therefore I support this legislation. But just
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remember if you support it for one group you are supporting it for another and eventually it's going to be
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pointed directly towards you. This is why it's so important for the True North voice to be in the
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center of the discussion this election campaign. I'm going to be criss-crossing the country talking
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about the stories the mainstream media isn't and from a perspective the mainstream media isn't. We can't
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do this alone if you can chip in to our efforts head on over to tnc.news and make a contribution to our
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coverage fund. For True North, I'm Andrew Lutton.