Quebec and Pauline Marois

Pauline Marois: So Quebec relies on 45,000 newcomers a year to grow the population, boost the economy and bolster its francophone identity, according to The Star. Its a tight race and Marois is running on her odious charter of Quebec values, the proposal to ban teachers, health workers and others from wearing overt religious symbols. That would bar hijab-wearing Muslim women or turban-wearing Sikh men from work in the public sector. A strong majority of francophones support the charter. This week Marois went a step further and announced that private employers will be free to slap on their own bans. This could deny some minorities any chance of earning a livelihood and Quebec needs immigrants. It has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, and the population isnt replacing itself. Sustaining its French character is always a preoccupation. And the baby boomers are retiring, leaving shortages of skilled labour. Yet for all that Premier Pauline Marois seems determined to make La belle province unfriendly ground for newcomers and minorities in her pursuit of the immigrant-wary francophone vote and a Parti Quebecois majority in the April 7 election campaign. The PQ is cynically and systematically plumbing the unease that many Quebecers feel toward immigration in order to win votes. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.