QUEBEC — The Parti Québécois tried to shame Premier Philippe Couillard Wednesday, releasing results of a poll showing 60 per cent of Quebecers — including many Liberals — approve of a ban on religious symbols despite Couillard’s opposition to the idea.
But Couillard fired back that it would be a grave error in democracy for a government to make policy, especially on matters affecting minorities, based on polling results. The PQ did just that with its “infamous” charter of values and that was a disaster, he said.
“It’s the worse thing to do,” Couillard said in the legislature. “We believe in the freedoms of of everyone, everyone. When it comes to diversity in society, we say, ‘We don’t close doors, we open them.’ ”
PQ leader Jean-François Lisée raised the secularism issue at a news conference earlier Wednesday when he released the results of a party-commissioned poll.
The Repère communications firm polled 750 Quebecers in all regions of Quebec, concluding 63 per of respondents agree with the old Bouchard-Taylor formula on religious symbols: persons in positions of authority, judges, police and prison guardsshould not be allowed to wear them. (36.8 per cent don’t agree.)
Lisée pounced on the statistics, showing there is agreement with a ban even among people who say they normally vote Liberal (51.6 per cent agree).
The number is higher among PQ voters, with 69.9 per cent agreeing. Seventy-five per cent of Coalition Avenir Québec voters want the ban, as do 74.4 per cent of Québec solidaire voters.
Among minorities alone: 40 per cent of anglophones agree with the ban along with 50 per cent of allophones.
Lisée used the poll to rip Couillard because the premier said last week all those who agree with the Bouchard-Taylor formula were drifting and “minimizing the significance of xenophobia.”
“When Mr. Couillard disrespects this position, he disrespects the majority of Quebecers,” Lisée said.
But Couillard said he has been criss-crossing Quebec and nobody is talking about religious symbols. They are talking about the economy and jobs.
“Respectfully, I am asking him to not try to get me to change my view on this,” Couillard said. “I am not asking him to change his view.”
The Repère poll was conducted from Feb-15-18. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.8 per cent 19 times out of 20.