(Ottawa) Yves-François Blanchet wanted to get Justin Trudeau out of his hinges on Wednesday. He successively accused him of saying falsehoods about the reassigned Chelsea teacher because she was veiled, challenged him to initiate a referendum to measure the popularity of Bill 21, and reproached him for having “applauded” the exit of the law. Ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae.
The Prime Minister did not bite, in the sense that he was not taken aback by the harsh words of the Bloc leader, but he did not mince his words, and he launched into a plea against the Law – drawing, to do this, in its Catholic vocabulary to reproach the independence party for seeking to sow discord.
My God, the Bloc Québécois wants to sow the seeds of a dispute between the federal government and the provincial government… That’s all they are doing! This is what they exist for. Whatever the subject, there are ways to attack the evil federal government. Excuse me, but this federal government has been there for Quebeckers.
Justin trudeau
His interlocutor had just launched the idea of a popular consultation whose question would relate to the Law on secularism in Quebec adopted by the National Assembly: “We will not ask him to do so.” [à Justin Trudeau], the word referendum gives him acne. But why shouldn’t we have a referendum on Bill 21 in Quebec? ”
PHOTO BLAIR GABLE, REUTERS
The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet
And in the premise of his question, Chief Blanchet insisted on going about a “correction of facts” in connection with the story of Fatemeh Anvari, this teacher from Chelsea, in Outaouais, who was assigned to others. chores because she wears the hijab, which Law 21 prohibits.
“This teacher has not lost her job. [Le premier ministre] could stop repeating lies, that would really serve everyone, ”he thundered towards the end of the session in the House – the Bloc leader was the only one in his formation to rise to ask questions on Wednesday, and each of his six interventions concerned the Law.
He began by directly asking Justin Trudeau to recall Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, as he has been claiming since last Monday. Because by writing on Twitter that the Law went “against” the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “, failed in its” duty of reserve “, pleaded the leader.
The Prime Minister replied that he shared the feeling of “so many Quebecers” who are “surprised and disappointed” to see that the woman has been withdrawn from the class of 3.e year when she was doing replacement “because she is Muslim”. He then embarked on a counter-offensive, accusing the Bloc of not representing Quebecers in Ottawa.
“This quarrel of the Bloc Québécois is to avoid facing reality, [soit] that there are a great many Quebeckers not represented by the Bloc Québécois who question deeply whether, in a free society, we should make someone lose their job because of their religion, ”he attacked.
The discreet curators
In the Conservative benches, during this time, we remained silent on this issue.
It must be said that since the case was reported in the media last week, a fracture line has appeared.
After Kyle Seeback a few days ago, it was Chuck Strahl’s turn on Wednesday to ask for a more muscular response.
As he entered his caucus meeting, he said he hoped the party would condemn this law in clearer terms.
He even went so far as to say that a Conservative government should intervene in legal proceedings relating to the law, while pointing out that many of his colleagues agree with him.
At the end of his weekly caucus meeting, Chief Erin O’Toole did not express a desire to change his position, which is to respect provincial jurisdiction.
With The Canadian Press