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Beryl Wajsman: François Legault, Canada's defender of western values

Quebec's premier set an example for Ottawa to mirror

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History will not judge governments solely by quarterly economic data, polling swings or even administrative missteps. It judges them by whether they reshaped the moral and civic architecture of society. By that standard, the legacy of Quebec Premier François Legault will endure long after today’s headlines fade.

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Legault’s government anchored itself in a defining principle: that Quebec is a lay, secular democracy whose public institutions must reflect universal civic values rather than religious particularism or submission to theocratic extremism. A critical principle at a time when the West is menaced by Islamism.

Beryl Wajsman: François Legault, Canada's defender of western values Back to video

This conviction found expression most notably in Bill 21, the Act respecting the laicity of the State, which affirmed in 2019 the religious neutrality of the state and restricted the wearing of religious symbols by certain public officials in positions of authority. It was not an act of exclusion but of clarity — an affirmation that the state belongs equally to all citizens precisely because it stands apart from religious expression which is an unrestricted private matter.

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