Canuck pols censor selves, avoid further debate of niqab ban

Yesterday, Walt concluded "Niqab ban becomes hot Canuck election issue" by saying that it would be amazing if the issue of whether Muslim women should be allowed to wear then niqab didn't come up again in the election debate scheduled for that evening. Within 13 seconds of the debate's end, Agent 3 was on the horn to tell me to be amazed because the word was never mentioned.

Perhaps the omission is not such a surprise after all. Walt is not a believer in conspiracy theories -- except when it comes to MH370 -- but can envision a secret pre-debate meeting in which the minions of all three parties prepared 10-foot polls with which not to touch, ever again, the question of whether immigrants should be or can be required to adapt themselves to the customs and values of their new home.

As Chantal Hébert pointed out on "At Issue" -- see video in yesterday's post -- the vast majority of Canadians think the Harper government's proposal that people should show their faces when giving or receiving any public service, including taking the oath of citizenship, is reasonable. But, the powers that be in the editorial boardrooms of Toronto deem the subject politically incorrect.

The English-language Canadian media, and the politicians chasing the large immigrant vote -- particularly in Toronto, which has the largest Muslim population of any North American city -- are so afraid of offending the Muslims, or being accused of stoking the fires of Islamophobia already burning across Canada, that they have colluded to ban any further discussion of the topic. So when the Groan and Wail headlines its lead story "Federal leaders clash over Canadian values, security in lively debate", they overlook -- deliberately -- the one glaring omission.

Not so Walt's favourite Globe and Mail columnist, Margaret Wente. In today's piece, headed "Why the niqab matters, now and in future", she writes:

If there is one issue that strikes a nerve with Canadians, this is it. Public opposition to the niqab is deep, and wide. A recently released Leger poll, commissioned by the government and conducted in March, found that more than four out of five people – 82 per cent – supported the Conservatives’ position that there is no place for niqabs in citizenship court. In Quebec, the figure was 93 per cent.

As the magnificent Chantal Hébert reminded Mr. Coyne on CBC the other night, the niqab debate is anything but trivial – despite what pundits in Toronto think. The debate about accommodation and values will last far beyond this election. It will be among the biggest issues of our future.

I'm torn. I believe that Canada is strong and confident enough to tolerate a few women in face coverings. I also believe that the niqab has no place in Canada, and that women who wear them should be strongly discouraged (but not, under most circumstances, barred) from doing so. Symbols matter. And this one matters more than most.

Footnote: Another debate, in French only, is scheduled for Friday night. The Big Three leaders -- MM Trudeau, Harper and Mulcair -- will be joined by Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Québécois, who has vowed to legislate a ban on all religious head coverings in the (unlikely) event his party is elected. At the risk of repeating myself [and being wrong two days in a row. Ed.], it will be amazing if the niqab question isn't raised, politically incorrect or not.