Couillard takes Marois and the Parti-Québécois to task:
TROIS-RIVIÈRES — It’s ironic the person offering to help people find jobs after being fired for not respecting the charter is Quebec’s first female premier, Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard said Wednesday, since it’s mainly women the law would affect.
“So the person has to choose between her identity … and her job,” Philippe Couillard said, calling the the Quebec Charter of Values an unprecedented discriminatory measure. “What a terrible thing to do.”
Couillard said although his party agrees with some parts of the charter — neutrality of the state and requiring public servants to show their faces — a ban on overt religious symbols such as hijabs, turbans and kippas is going too far and is clearly discriminatory. What a person wears has no bearing on competence, he said, at a news conference at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.
“I’m not interested in what people have on their heads, I want what’s in their heads,” he said.
Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois told radio show host Paul Arcand Wednesday that there would be a transition stage in applying the law to allow people to “adapt and accept the regulations.”
“We don’t want anyone to lose their job,” she said. “We’ll help them re-orient their careers.”
With just five days left in the campaign, Couillard made promises Wednesday to help vulnerable children and families if elected.
He said his government would open seven new birthing centres over the next five years, creating 125 openings for midwives.
A Liberal government would also help disadvantaged families through community pediatric centres, which encourage parents, schools, hospitals, community organizations, police and volunteers to work together to support underprivileged children. Starting in 2016, $20 million would be earmarked every year for such centres.
His government would also support a project, now underway in three youth centres, to prevent children up to 5 years old from going into foster care.
smontgomery@montrealgazette.com
Twitter: MontgomerySue
© Copyright (c) THE GAZETTE, Wednesday, April 2/14
There were 3 good arguments that Jesus was Black:
1. He called everyone brother
2. He liked Gospel
3. He didn’t get a fair trial
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Jewish:
1. He went into His Father’s business
2. He lived at home until he was 33
3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin and his Mother was sure He was God
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Italian :
1. He talked with His hands
2. He had wine with His meals
3. He used olive oil
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was a
Californian:
1. He never cut His hair
2. He walked around barefoot all the time
3. He started a new religion
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was an American Indian:
1. He was at peace with nature
2. He ate a lot of fish
3. He talked about the Great Spirit
But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Irish:
1. He never got married.
2. He was always telling stories.
3. He loved green pastures.
But the most compelling evidence of all –
3 proofs that Jesus was a … Wait for it … A WOMAN
1. He fed a crowd at a moment’s notice when there was virtually no food.
2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn’t get it.
3. And even when He was dead, He had to get up because there was still work to do.
AMEN!!
Peace