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For her first day at work, Catherine Dorion showed up for work in green Doc Martens boots, black skinny jeans and a matching tank top festooned with a white heart. The following days were variations on this theme: a retro blouse patterned with bright pink flowers, a black T-shirt emblazoned with the name of a famous francophone poet in big, colourful letters.

Quebec’s cloistered political world went nuts. Because Dorion was the newly elected member for the Quebec City riding of Taschereau, and her place of work was the National Assembly, her garb was largely seen as an affront to the institution.

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“When we show up for work, I think you have to have a well-groomed appearance,” said PQ MNA Méganne Perry Mélançon. Former speaker Jean-Pierre Charbonneau questioned Dorion’s commitment to the National Assembly’s “tradition” and “dignity.” Her wardrobe provided ample fodder for Québecor Media’s perpetual outrage machine, with outragist-in-chief Richard Martineau suggesting Dorion was a harbinger of the progressive, non-binary hellscape of the Quebec’s near future. (Sol Zanetti, Dorion’s colleague, was a less frequent target.)