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The campaign has begun and so far, it hasn't been an election for the ages.

From the get go, Quebec's Bill 21, which bans religious symbols for some government employees, has been an issue.  Justin Trudeau is walking a very fine line: he is opposed to it, he is happy others are contesting it, he has no plan to do so himself.  For now.

That fine line is not satisfying those hoping to see Canada's Liberal Party stand up for the rights of all Canadians, as written in the Charter of Rights brought forward by Trudeau's father.  That fine line is also not satisfying Quebec Premier François Legault, who came out swinging, demanding that party leaders pledge to never contest the Bill, period.  For now, it seems, is not good enough.

71% of Quebecers apparently support the Bill.  Fairly easy for Maxime Bernier and Bloc leader Yves-Françcois Blanchet to side with the Bill and the majority of Quebec voters.

But the other leaders are walking on egg shells as well, not wanting to irritate Quebec voters in a way Thomas Mulcair did in 2015 which ended up costing him the election, and ultimately, his job.  Jagmeet Singh and Andrew Scheer, essentially, have the same position: we respect the right of Quebec to adopt its own legislation in its jurisdiction, no matter what we think is right or wrong.

The Bloc and their PQ allies are claiming that Trudeau is indeed going to intervene and fight the law in court.  Quebec Tory MPs are repeating the same mantra.  Curiously, Andrew Scheer is not joining the fray.  Perhaps he understands that, despite the gains the Conservatives made in Quebec in 2015 thanks to similar identity issues, the strategy ended up hurting them in Canada's multiculturally diverse urban centres, like Vancouver, Calgary and especially the GTA.

Meanwhile, Green Party leader Elizabeth May made the bizarre suggestion that Quebec should be left alone with Bill 21, and that if anyone were to lose a job because of the Bill, then the federal government could simply hire them!  This, she said, was necessary not to fuel separatism.  Which is kind of funny, considering her own new Quebec star Pierre Nantel blew on the amber of separatism, arguing in a radio interview that Quebec has to separate ASAP!  This led May to suggest that Nantel was not a separatist, but merely a sovereignist.  René Lévesque must have flipped in his grave!

Can Bill 21 flip the election on its head?  This weekend, Luc Dupont of the Mainstreet polling firm stated that the issue of secularism had brought down the Liberals' lead in Quebec by more than half, from 19 points to only 8.  It might have been an outlier, as other pollsters have not noted this trend.  Justin Trudeau must be crossing his fingers that the issue has no real traction.  He might be right.  For now.

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