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The law would also require a wide array of public servants to exercise their functions with their faces uncovered, and people who want to receive public services must also show their faces when necessary for purposes of identification or security.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec’s legislation invokes the notwithstanding clause, meaning the bill would apply despite certain provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Each can practice the religion of their choice. But we have to set rules, and that's what we're doing

Legault defended that choice on Sunday, citing the need to avoid what he called a “long legal battle.”

He said it was time to settle the debate over secularism.

“In Quebec, it’s been a long time since we’ve decided to separate religion and state, and it’s over 10 years that we’ve been debating religious symbols,” Legault said.

“It’s time to set rules, because in Quebec that’s how we live.”

Legault described the approach as a compromise, pointing out that his government included a grandfather clause that would exempt current employees from the religious symbols restrictions — as long as they remain in the same job.

And he reiterated arguments previously made by Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, who said Bill 21 is an affirmation of Quebec’s distinctiveness and its decades-long drive to separate church and state.

“It’s an approach that respects our history, our values, and it’s an approach that respects what the vast majority of Quebecers want,” said Legault.

Opposition to the bill tabled Thursday has been swift, with critics denouncing it as discriminatory towards women as well as religious minorities such as Muslims, Jews and Sikhs.