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QUEBEC — Premier François Legault has added his name to a chorus of political voices at the National Assembly and elsewhere calling on the mayor of Hampstead to apologize for comparing Quebec’s new secularism bill to ethnic cleansing.

But as of Tuesday evening, William Steinberg was not budging, insisting the media is doing a disservice to Quebecers by focusing on two words instead of explaining the context in which he pronounced them.

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“Since the phrase was ethnic cleansing not with a gun but with a law, a more accurate short description is peaceful ethnic cleansing,” Steinberg said in an email to the Montreal Gazette.

Steinberg said the real issue is the wording in the CAQ government’s Bill 21, which he said discriminates against religious minorities and limits their job opportunities.

“It will lead to fewer of them coming to Quebec and to many already here leaving,” he said. “That will lead to a less diverse Quebec society. A law that targets minorities and uses the notwithstanding clause to get away with it is odious and should be condemned in the strongest possible language.