Quote:
Originally Posted by kwoldtimer
One could observe that there has been an noticeable lack of protest in quarters of the Quebec persuasion about the PM's being a professed Christian and, worse, being seen to make the sign of the cross at public events, which my background taught me is a sure sign of the dev.. er, Church of Rome. What could it all mean?
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Does he really do that, and regularly? I've never seen him do any of that, although admittedly I don't watch his press conferences and speeches from end to end on all-news channels. He also AFAIK doesn't wear a visible cross or anything of that nature. I'll have to ask my kids - they were in close quarters with him fairly recently.
Anyway, if he did it would be surprising if the Quebec media gave him a free pass. They aren't unanimously Trudeau-manic.
Stephen Harper got heaps of criticism for ending his speeches with "God bless Canada", so I suppose if Trudeau were as ostentatiously religious it would get brought up.
Overall it seems to me that Justin Trudeau keeps his religious views to himself. Just like Amir Khadir whose Islamic faith (the nature of which has never been clarified - and no one seems to care because he doesn't make it public) is a non-issue. Or that of Danièle Henkel, by far the most popular of Quebec's "Dragons". She is Jewish. So is Anne-France Goldwater, who is effectively Quebec's Judge Judy.
OTOH, a lot of people would consider the mayor of Saguenay, Jean Tremblay, to be a "religious nut" even if he is as French Canadian Québécois Catholic as they come. His negative media image reflects the "religious nut" perception. (Though I assume he does have some supporters.) He's gone to the Supreme Court to keep the right to recite the Our Father before city council meetings. He's also made fun of the name of PQ candidate Djemila Ben-Habib. Jean Tremblay is also a committed Canadian federalist BTW, and even a bit of an anglophile.