Credit Photo:Photos Candace

The ‘charter of secularism’ obscures what really matters
The important issues are ignored and tensions needlessly aroused

by Ehab Lotayef *

As the Quebec election approaches I find myself, unfortunately, pressured to vote for a candidate and party based on my religious sentiments and my feelings of discrimination against my community, rather than formulating my opinion based on the multitude of challenges — economic, educational, health-related, corruption-related, and justice issues — that face Quebec society as a whole. Can you blame me? Maybe you can, but before you issue your verdict, please hear me till the end.

The recommendations of the Bouchard-Taylor commission were supposed to relax tensions between the majority in Quebec and different minorities, and address, once and for all, the question of “accommodation.” Yet after all the money that was spent and the effort that was put into the process, most of Bouchard-Taylor’s recommendations were not implemented. The door was left wide open for further political games at the expense of more important issues, and to the detriment of Quebec’s minorities…The Montreal Gazette