Canada needn’t fear a third Quebec referendum — or at least, not for the reasons we feared the first two. Leger’s latest poll, in August, found just 35 per cent support among decided separatists and separatism-leaning voters, and 54 per cent against. But Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon promises to hold that third referendum should he become premier.
At the moment, he’s comfortably ahead of Premier François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec in the polls. We’re currently getting a preview, I suspect, of what that referendum campaign would look like. It’s ugly.
Anglophone media have reported on the suspension of 11 teachers from Bedford elementary school , in the very multicultural and immigrant-rich Montreal neighbourhood of Côte-des-Neiges. This came after the Ministry of Education found a “toxic environment” at the francophone school. But anglo media either soft-pedalled or (in CBC’s case, amazingly) completely ignored what has made the story so politically relevant : The allegedly “toxic” teachers were apparently Arab Muslims.
According to a 90-page report from the ministry’s investigations department , witnesses reported “a strong influence on the community environment” exercised by teachers who “reportedly frequent a community centre and a mosque located in the neighbourhood.” It said that members of the mosque sometimes intervened on occasion to ensure the school’s education model was in line with their preferr.
