Quebec election puts secularism before Catholic voters

As Quebecers head into the Oct. 5 provincial election, the longstanding issue of secularism, or laïcité, looms on several fronts, with Catholic organizations and the province’s bishops offering voters guidance on a range of issues, including religious freedom, through the lens of Catholic social teaching.

The election pits the governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) against the Parti Québécois, Quebec Liberal Party, Conservative Party of Quebec and Québec solidaire, after nearly eight years under former premier François Legault, whose government repeatedly expanded Quebec’s secularism framework. Those policies have continued under Premier Christine Fréchette, who succeeded Legault on April 15.

Over that time, Quebec’s secularism laws have become a growing source of controversy, with civil-liberties organizations and the Quebec bishops regularly expressing concern over successive measures restricting religious expression in public institutions and other settings.

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Secularism was in the headlines again earlier this month when Montreal’s Loyola High School announced Sept. 4 that it will give up its provincial subsidy rather than alter its Jesuit and Catholic mission to comply with Quebec’s new secularism law, formerly Bill 9.

The school said it receives $5.2 million a year, about 28 per cent of its annual revenue, from government subsidy. The loss of the subsidy, along with the cost of replacing the government pension plan, would create a structural gap of about $7,500 per student and could eventually send total fees from $12,530 to about $20,000-$21,000, Loyola said. The provisions affecting subsidized religious schools take effect in 2029.

It’s within that framework that Catholic Conscience, Campagne Québec-Vie and the Quebec bishops have all issued material for Catholic voters to digest before they vote. The issues include health care, poverty, housing and family policy, but secularism and religious freedom are consistent themes.

In a statement for the election, the Quebec bishops included freedom of religion among the freedoms Quebecers enjoy and urged Catholics to consider party platforms in light of the Gospel, human dignity, the common good and concerns like poverty, health care, housing and violence. Bishop Martin Laliberté, president of the Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec, said voting is itself “a way of loving our neighbour.”

The bishops’ concerns about religious freedom follow months of opposition to what is now the secularization law. During legislative hearings in February, the bishops called for an “open, inclusive and collaborative” model of secularism, saying secularism should apply to the state rather than society as a whole.

Bishop Raymond Poisson of Saint-Jérôme–Mont-Laurier, president of the bishops’ Church and Society Council, said religious and spiritual experience is a fundamental dimension of human life that cannot be confined to individuals’ private lives.

After none of its nine recommendations for amendments were accepted, the bishops on March 30 called for the legislation to be withdrawn entirely. Laliberté said believers would see fundamental rights restricted “without compelling justification.” The bishops said the secularism of the state was already sufficiently protected and existing laws adequately regulated religious practice in public.

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After the law passed April 2, Montreal Archbishop Christian Lépine said the government must maintain a “fair balance” between secularism and fundamental rights and freedoms.

The voters guide from Campagne Québec-Vie poses six election questions, with Bill 9 and religious freedom receiving top billing.

The guide describes restrictions on religious practice, public prayer, religious symbols and subsidized private schools, specifically noting that the law “gradually ends funding for religious schools,” and asks candidates whether they will commit to repealing the Bill 9 restrictions.

With its focus on life, family and religious freedom, the guide also addresses public funding of abortion, support for women after abortion, family and child-care funding following the child, medical assistance in dying (MAiD) and parental rights over mandatory school content.

Catholic Conscience takes a broader approach, examining issues ranging from abortion and euthanasia through health care, poverty, housing, families, education, immigration, Indigenous reconciliation, the environment, workers and the economy. Its opening says voters should consider the good of the unborn, the elderly, young people, families, people forgotten by society, workers, farmers, business owners and future generations.

On the issue of secularization, all five major parties support a secular state, but they differ significantly over Quebec’s existing laïcité laws.

The CAQ says it would maintain and renew notwithstanding-clause protections for the province’s secularism legislation, while the Parti Québécois has also pledged to protect Quebec’s existing secularism model.

The Liberals favour a narrower model of secularism and haven’t committed to repealing existing laws but say they would not renew notwithstanding-clause protection for Bill 21, Quebec’s 2019 secularism law restricting religious symbols for some public employees, including teachers, when it expires in 2029.

Québec solidaire says it would repeal what it calls rights-restricting provisions of current laws while maintaining the religious neutrality of public institutions. The Conservative Party has said it would maintain the existing secularism laws and favours continued use of the notwithstanding clause.

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A Léger poll conducted Aug. 21-24, just before the election was called, had the PQ leading at 30 per cent, with the CAQ and Liberals tied at 23 per cent, the Conservatives at 16 per cent and Québec solidaire at seven per cent.

The latest Synopsis-La Presse poll, conducted Sept. 24-27, has the PQ at 30 per cent, the Liberals at 22 per cent, the CAQ and Conservatives at 17 per cent each and Québec solidaire at 13 per cent.