Quebec premier accused of hypocrisy on secularism after tweet praising Catholicism
'Secularism when it suits us,' replied one former Québec Solidaire candidate
Quebec Premier François Legault is being accused of hypocrisy for an Easter Monday tweet in which he credits Catholicism for "engender[ing] in us a culture of solidarity that distinguishes us on a continental scale."
Legault was quoting from a column in the Journal de Montréal by columnist Mathieu Bock-Côté titled "Praise of our old Catholic background."
Twitter users and politicians were quick to criticize Legault for seemingly praising Catholicism while his government preaches secularism.
"You have a duty of reserve and neutrality as premier of all Quebecers in our secular state," Marwah Rizqy, Liberal MNA for Saint-Laurent and official opposition education critic, responded in a tweet.
"We all write tweets we regret," she wrote, as she asked him to delete it.
Le catholicisme a aussi engendré chez nous une culture de la solidarité qui nous distingue à l’échelle continentale.<a href="https://t.co/Et3mqiFgyd">https://t.co/Et3mqiFgyd</a>
—@francoislegaultMonsef Derraji, Liberal MNA for Nelligan, also responded saying: "A premier who supposedly advocates the secularism of the state. What a lack of judgment!"
Shophika Vaithyanathasarma, former Québec Solidaire candidate in Marie-Victorin, said "[Legault] draws this line between state and religion only when it's not Catholic. Secularism when it suits us."
By 3 p.m., Legault's tweet had nearly 500,000 views and more than 700 responses.
The backlash prompted him to respond to his original post with a tweet saying: "We must distinguish between secularism and our heritage."
M. le premier ministre, il nous arrive tous de faire un gazouillis que nous regrettons. Pas grand monde vous tiendra rigueur de retirer celui-ci avant que ça part en vrille. Vous avez un devoir de réserve & de neutralité à titre de PM de tous les Québécois dans notre État laïque. <a href="https://t.co/YoDEkdfTP4">https://t.co/YoDEkdfTP4</a>
—@marwahrizqyFormer Liberal health minister Gaétan Barrette responded to that update. "So, secularism, according to [Legault], is simply not meant to be part of the heritage and is certainly not part of it today!"
Quebec comedian Sugar Sammy also chimed in. "Secularism is important except once on Twitter," he wrote.
An employee in the premier's office, Martin Plante, came to Legault's defence, saying "secularism in no way implies an obligation to deny our heritage nor a duty to erase our religious heritage. We can be proud of it, while defending the secularism of the state," he tweeted.
Legault's contentious tweet came less than a week after Quebec announced plans to ban prayer rooms in schools.
Education Minister Bernard Drainville has said schools are "not a place of prayer," and such rooms violate the spirit of the province's law on secularism.
He added students could instead pray silently without designated rooms.