Franois Legault defends decision to quash debate over immigration, religious symbols bills

Quebec Premier Franois Legaultsays there's a risk of upsetting "social cohesion" in the province if the debate over religious symbols is allowed to linger any longer.

Legault will invoke closureto pass his government's controversial secularism and immigration bills, putting an end to debate at the province's National Assembly over the two controversial pieces of legislation.

The premier said Friday he has a mandateto act on both issues, which were key planks in the Coalition Avenir Qubec's electoral platform last fall.

"There's a clear opinion from Quebecers that we received on Oct. 1, eight months ago,"said Legault,whose party,elected with 38 per cent of the popular vote, holds a majority of seats in the legislature.

Legaultsaidthe debate over religious accommodation has been playing out for more than a decade in Quebec, and it's time to "turn the page."

"I think it's good for what we call the vivre ensemble," he said.

The province's winter legislativesession was to endFriday, but Legaultpushed back the summer break and extended the sessionthrough the weekend to vote on the bills.

Legault accused the opposition of intentionallydelaying debaterather thancoming up with "constructive" ideas for how the bills couldbe improved.

"When I tabled the bill a couple of months ago, I was very clear that my intention was to adopt the bill before the end of the session and right now the only thing we see is obstruction," he said.

'It's not right,' opposition says

The CAQgovernment's secularism legislation, Bill 21, would prevent public employees in positions of authority, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols.

Minority groups have raised concerns it willencourage discrimination and limit employment opportunities for thousands of Quebecers, especially Muslim women who wear the hijab.

The billinvokes the notwithstanding clause, in attempt to block the law from being challenged ongrounds it violates the Quebec and Canadian charters of rights.

Pierre Arcand, interim leader for the official opposition Liberals, said it's "not right" to push through the legislation without a full debate. He predicted itsflaws will be laid bare in the coming months.

Arcand pointed out that Montreal Mayor Valrie Plante, as well as some unions and school boards, haveraised concerns about the lawand how it would be enforced.It's also expected to face legal challenges.

"The debate is not over," Arcandsaid."There are many people who are not satisfied."

The bill was put before a Quebec parliamentary commission for study only 10 days ago, on June 4.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co-spokesperson of Qubec Solidaire, the second opposition party, said that didn't allow lawmakers enough time to fully explore theramifications of the proposed legislation.

"No serious or credible person who knows how this assembly works could think that in a few days this bill would be adopted using the regular procedures," he said.

TheParti Qubcois, which favours a strong secularism law,also argued for more debate onthe bill, in the hopes of making it more forceful.

Interim LeaderPascal Brubsaid he still wantsthe ban on religious symbols to extend beyond teachers and includedaycare workers.

• Read more on Quebec's religious symbols bill

The proposed immigration law, Bill 9, sets out the framework fora Quebec values test would-be immigrants will need to pass inorder to become a permanent resident.

If the bill becomes law, the government willthrow out a backlog of 18,000applications for skilled immigrant worker status in Quebec, forcing themto re-apply through a new merit-based system.

Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said Friday the law is necessary to better integrate newcomers andaddress the province's labour shortage.