Prime Minister Legault had recommended that all Quebecers take advantage of the Easter holiday to rest with their families. What stung him once again so that he rushes to his twitter account and takes over comments by Mathieu Bock-Côté which could only sow controversy?
Each his trade. Mr. Legault is not a columnist, whose remarks can provoke passionate discussions, but which only engage him. Through the mouth of the Prime Minister, it is the state that speaks, with the duty of consistency that this imposes.
Since the adoption of Law 21, the government has been suspected of “Catholic secularism”. The last thing to do was to feed this distrust by praising Catholicism, to which Quebec would be indebted for a solidarity unique in North America.
While the Minister of Education has just invoked the secularism of the State to justify the banishment of prayer rooms desired mainly by Muslims, the exit of Mr. Legault could only inflame the spirits.
And then there is the crux of the matter. We know the high esteem in which the Prime Minister holds Mr. Bock-Coté, but he is not obliged to take everything he writes at face value. It’s as if he needs a guide when he ventures outside his economic comfort zone.
Does he really believe that Quebec-style solidarity is so exceptional and, if so, that we owe it to our Catholic heritage? A remarkable community spirit has developed in Protestant countries and Mr. Legault might be surprised to learn that solidarity is one of the important values conveyed by the Koran.
It is not so much in the individual practice of charity encouraged by the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Society that Quebec solidarity manifests itself. Year after year, we are the lowest contributors to charities in Canada. This statistic is probably not proof of everything, but it can happen that solidarity is less spontaneous than imposed.
Admittedly, there are sometimes impressive fundraising campaigns to help the victims of a disaster or allow an individual to benefit from medical care which is only accessible at great expense, but we are witnessing similar outbursts of generosity a everywhere.
Mr. Legault keeps repeating, to deplore it, that we are the highest-taxed taxpayers in North America, which has earned us a more developed social safety net.
This form of state-orchestrated solidarity has nothing to do with Christian charity.
By reducing income tax, as was the case in the budget presented last month, the government is, however, undermining the solidarity that the Prime Minister is championing.
Not only has it reduced the state’s ability to intervene, which allows this solidarity to be expressed, but it has increased inequity by ensuring that wealthier taxpayers benefit more from the tax cut than those who are less so.
The Prime Minister need not worry: just as one can walk and chew gum, it is quite possible to adhere to a secular conception of the State while cultivating a love of heritage. No one asked him to tear down the cross on Mount Royal, or to rename Sainte-Catherine Street.
It would obviously be absurd to deny the omnipresence of the Catholic Church in the history of Quebec. After the crushing of the revolt of the Patriots, it certainly contributed to preserving the French-Canadian personality.
For more than a century, religious communities have also played a role in the fields of health and education that civil society has been able to assume only belatedly. It would nevertheless be risky to seek to establish a connection between the pioneering work of a Jeanne Mance and the “guardian angels” who devoted themselves body and soul during the pandemic.
It is true that outstanding religious personalities, such as Monsignor Parent, Canon Grand’Maison or Father Lévesque, actively participated in the construction of modern Quebec, but this was part of a resolutely secular emancipation movement.
There are enough reasons to be proud of our past without the Prime Minister feeling the need to invent any. Everyone has their own job and the cows will be well looked after.