Questions are swirling in Quebec City about when the newly-installed government plans to ban religious symbols.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec is wasting no time preparing the dossier. It held its first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, ahead of a truncated fall session at the National Assembly scheduled to begin on Nov. 27.

"The premier told me and asked me about secularism to table rapidly a bill for positions of authority," said Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, who has been given the task of drafting legislation and shepherding the bill through the National Assembly.

The bill, he added, will likely include banning the chador, a full-length garment worn by some Muslim women that covers the head and body, but not the face. The CAQ has said for years that it dislikes the chador and sees it as an instrument of oppression that should be banned among all civil servants.

"The position of the CAQ didn't change about the chador," said Jolin-Barrette.

It is not known if any government employees wear a chador.

Jolin-Barrette said he hopes to table legislation concerning the wearing of religious symbols by people in a position of authority by the end of the year and have it passed as quickly as possible.

Premier Francois Legault reiterated the position Wednesday afternoon, saying, "We think that the chador, a burqa and niqab are giving a message regarding equality between men and women with which we're not comfortable."

Beyond Bouchard-Taylor

While members of the CAQ frequently say their position is the same as that taken by the Bouchard-Taylor commission a decade ago, they go much further in some areas and nowhere near as far in others.

The Bouchard-Taylor report said that judges, police officers, and prison guards should not be allowed to wear religious symbols while at work. The CAQ would like to extend that ban to teachers as well.

The report also called for the removal of the crucifix from the main room of the National Assembly, but Premier Francois Legault has stated that he does not consider that symbol of the Catholic faith to be a religious symbol, much to the dismay of secularists and members of the Catholic Church.

Arcand: Legislation will be difficult to pass

Interim Liberal leader Pierre Arcand said the CAQ may find passing legislation concerning religious symbols to be harder than first thought.

"We talked about this for the last 10 years. We presented a law that was adopted by the National Assembly. This was a law that was, I would say, as far as we could go as far as we were concerned. Going farther than that may create some tensions in the future," said Arcand.

Sections of that law, known as Bill 62, were immediately challenged and never implemented due to a court order.

"Let's wait, see what the CAQ has to propose, and we will comment on this for sure," said Arcand.

Two years ago, the CAQ came under fire for posting an ad on Twitter that included a Photoshopped image featuring a Muslim woman wearing a chador.

The ad read: "Couillard and Lisee in favour of the chador for teachers in our schools. Only the CAQ defends our values.”

The CAQ now hopes to table a bill on religious symbols that will withstand constitutional challenges.

“We're going to work towards that goal, and we're going to work to put all the lawyers in the government to make sure it passes the test,” said Justice Minister Sonia Lebel.