Cabinet minister and Parti Quebecois candidate Bernard Drainville was in Montreal in an attempt to shift the focus of the election campaign back to the Charter of Values.
When Pauline Marois called the election two weeks ago it seemed the Charter would be the central campaign issue, but it has been ignored even since Pierre Karl Peladeau announced his candidacy.
That focus on the PQ's cause celebre -- independence -- is believed to have contributed to the rise in support for the Liberal party, which the most recent CROP poll showed had more more public support.
On Wednesday Drainville said repeatedly -- at least a half a dozen times in just a few minutes -- that only a PQ majority can make the Charter a reality.
In a bid to get the Charter at the forefront of the minds of electors Drainville was joined by several stridently secular candidates such as Djemila Benhabib, who is running in the Laval riding of Mille-Iles after a failed attempt in 2012 at getting elected in Trois Rivieres.
One vocal Charter supporter was notable by her absence: Louise Mailloux, the PQ candidate in Gouin.
Mailloux has been under fire for articles she has written and comments she has made calling the sale of kosher foods a way for rabbis to fund religious wars. That urban legend has been repeatedly denounced, including by the Bouchard-Taylor commission on reasonable accommodations, but it still persists.
Mailloux also called circumcision a form of rape.
Drainville said Mailloux has already apologized if she offended people.
"She made personal remarks, she has apologized for that and she adheres to the Charter as it stands, as the Parti Quebecois has proposed it ,and as far as we're concerned that's the end of it," said Drainville.
