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QUEBEC — The incoming Coalition Avenir Quebec government says it has no intention of removing the crucifix that hangs behind the Speaker’s chair in the legislature.

Simon Jolin-Barrette, a spokesman for the transition team, said Tuesday there is no contradiction between the new government’s plan to impose strict secularism rules on certain public servants and its desire to maintain the crucifix.

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“The historic position of the CAQ is to keep the crucifix in its current position,” he said. “It is a heritage object.”

He says the crucifix, which has hung in the national assembly since 1936, is “part of our history” and “an accessory” to the issue at hand.

But Patrick Taillon, a professor in Université Laval’s faculty of law, called that a double standard.

“The government can’t talk out of both sides of its mouth,” he said in an interview.

“I can’t see how, on the political level, we want religious neutrality and secularism and not apply that standard at the National Assembly.”