Further below is a translation of the article by Mr. Martineau entitled “A stain on Canada”.
https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2019/10/31/une-tache-sur-le-canada
Before, here is the link to the original editorial in the Globe & Mail:
“Do you think the debate on Bill 21 is over?
Do you think that the federal campaign is behind us and that we will finally be able to turn the page and move on?
Sorry, but I have bad news for you: it’s just beginning.
A poison text
On Monday, The Globe and Mail, the largest and most influential newspaper in the country, considered by many to be the thermometer of the Canadian left, published a devastating editorial on Bill 21.
This is not a comment, an opinion piece or a chronicle, which is binding its author only.
Rather, this is an editorial, which represents the point of view of a newspaper.
Of all the negative texts that have been written about Bill 21, it is by far the most ferocious and enraged.
According to The Globe and Mail, Jagmeet Singh, Andrew Sheer and Justin Trudeau dishonored themselves by not condemning the “odious” Bill 21 during the electoral campaign.
“This opportunistic betrayal of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was only a cynical strategy to win seats in Québec,” it says.
“The leaders of the NDP, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party have turned their backs on vulnerable populations, leaving the Québec government trampling on their most fundamental rights.
Bill 21 is a blot on Canada and Québec. It prevents people, even people who are born, raised and educated here in Canada, from teaching, becoming police officers, judges or prosecutors, and from holding a variety of jobs in the public service sector in Québec. “
(There is neither a mention of the “grandfather” clause, which allows existing public servants to keep their religious sign, nor of the fact that Bill 21 only applies to officials in positions of authority. Bof, as they say in English: Never let the facts get in the way of a good story).
“The victims of Bill 21 do not need friends who show up to court years later. They need those who sit in the federal Parliament to recognize that something very ugly and very unfair is happening right now in Québec, and that they find the political courage to confront this Bill that everyone with eyes sees as discriminatory. “
A national shame
A reminder to the readers: this text is not any insignificant letter to the editor published in an obscure weekly. It is rather an Editorial published in the most important daily newspaper in our country.
The newspaper that foreigners may read, if they wish to take the pulse of Canada.
Nevertheless, and at least, this text has the merit of being clear: for the Canadian media elite, Bill 21 is a national shame that must be fought tooth and nail.
It does not matter if it was adopted by a democratically elected government and if 70% of Québecers support it.
Canada cannot accept such a Bill on its territory.
It is more or less an open declaration of war. A peaceful war, of course. It is still a war though, make no mistake.
The most influential newspaper in the country is asking the federal government to fight a provincial Bill that was passed – with popular support – by a democratically elected government!
And some still find that we have our place in this country?”
