"Appreciating this context is not to absolve Mr. Couillard of the charges he now faces of giving in to xenophobia." You say this right after explaining that we Quebecers "fought to rid their polity of the insidious influence of the Catholic Church. This has instilled in them a zero-tolerance attitude toward the state's condoning of any religion." So which is it? Are we protecting secular gains or are we xenophobes? Forget thinking long and hard about this, just call us racists after presenting our historical disdain for religion and describing our real position. Great work there.