Like George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others, in Quebec some religious symbols are obviously more equal.
In a province where the accommodation debate is always on a low simmer, the idea of removing a crucifix from a Quebec City hospital in the name of religious neutrality was greeted by such fierce blowback that our political leaders scurried like little elves to put it back up.
The issue is not whether the crucifix is there or not. There is a historical dimension to this and no one would ever suggest they tear down the cross on Mount Royal.
The issue is hypocrisy.
The very ones who would be the first to ban kirpans and kippahs in the land of values and secularism rush to the defence of the cross.
You cannot have it both ways.
There is nothing wrong with a cross on a hospital wall, and there is nothing wrong with a cop wearing a turban.
We don’t need laws telling people how to live their lives. We need common sense and a little more honesty.
Not so sunny ways
The federal Liberals promised sunny ways and a new approach to politics but the song remains the same.
Try to convince Alan DeSousa of that.
No reason was given and the party brass have their eyes on Yolande James, the former provincial liberal minister.
So much for open nominations. So much for transparency.
The Liberals are also pulling the same stunt in the Toronto riding of Markham-Thornhill, where a Trudeau aide is the anointed one over other qualified candidates.
It’s getting harder and harder to trust, to have faith in the political process, when our institutions are seemingly more fragile than ever.
The Liberals once claimed there was a new day and a new way of doing things and a new accountability.
The disconnect between what is said and what is done is growing every day.
Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering means to change or manipulate election boundaries for political purposes.
Elections Quebec has decided to back down and not eliminate the riding of Sainte Marie Saint Jacques after a wave of protest from the backers of Quebec Solidaire.
Instead, without issuing any notice, the elections body decided to merge Mount Royal and Outremont into one big riding.
If you live in the Montreal region your vote has about half the value of votes in the regions.
It would be nice if they took only half the taxes too, but we are penalized for living in urban areas.
There are 58,000 voters in the riding of Nelligan in the West Island, and 31,000 in Gaspé.
The new riding of Mont Royal-Outremont will have about 62,000, while Sainte Marie Saint Jacques will have 42,000.
When west end Montreal loses a riding, a riding with a lot of English speaking voters, that’s not fair either.
It’s clearly anti-democratic.
Sometimes I think what Montreal needs is its own political party to put Montreal first: a resolutely bilingual and federalist party.
Too often our real interests are just ignored or worse, we are outright told we just don’t matter.
