Fatima Houda-Pepin tore a strip off of her former leader Philippe Couillard at a press conference Wednesday, blasting his approach to the PQ's secularism charter Bill 60.
Houda-Pepin, the Independent MNA for La Pinière, made an emotional denunciation of Couillard after tabling her own Bill 491, aimed at tackling religious fundamentalism.
Houda-Pepin split with the Liberals in November following a disagreement over the party's stance on the secularism charter.
“I never thought I would be treated like this in the Quebec Liberal Party,” she said, fighting back tears at an afternoon press conference.
She claimed that Couillard came up with the party policy on his own last August in Riviere-du-Loup without consulting caucus.
Houda-Pepin's Bill 491 would proclaim the religious neutrality of the province and would ban provincial employees from wearing the niqab and the burqa.
Her legislation would also prohibit forced marriages and prevent youth from participating in religious marriages. It would ban polygamy and genital mutilation, religious school exemptions and gender segregation based on religion
The bill would also create an organization to study religious fundamentalism.
PQ MNA Bernard Drainville welcomed Houda-Pepin’s initiative.
“I am open to all good ideas. If she has good ideas to improve the draft charter, we will certainly not ignore them,” said Drainville.
-With files from The Canadian Press
