OTTAWA—Quebec’s ongoing political fixation with secularism and religious symbols has jumped into the federal NDP leadership race, creating a new schism among candidates on the eve of the contest’s only entirely French debate in Montreal on Sunday.

This week, Quebec MP Guy Caron resurrected the discussion at the federal level, prompting a rehash among contenders of the lingering question — playing out currently in Quebec City — of religious symbols such as the niqab and their place in the public service.

The only politician from the province in the race, Caron put out a “Québec 2019” platform. It included a section on secularism, which stated that a political consensus is emerging among leading right- and left-wing parties in the province to support a government bill that bans face coverings such as the niqab in the public service.

Caron said that although he personally disagrees with the bill he would respect a Quebec decision to restrict what religious symbols a public employee can wear to work. This is in line with Caron’s plan to “modernize” the NDP’s stance on Quebec, where the party would recognize the province’s distinct history and its “authority” to legislate on issues of secularism.

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“I do not believe that the state should dictate what people can wear,” his platform states. “Many Quebecers agree with me, but in the end I am convinced that the final decision must remain with Quebec’s National Assembly.”

That has Caron at odds with at least two of his opponents in the leadership race. Ontario MP Charlie Angus told the Star he values the separation of religion and state, having been threatened with excommunication by his own church when he voted in favour of marriage equality in 2005.

Angus added, however, that questions of religious accommodation and minority rights — in this case the right to wear religious symbols such as the niqab — are best left to the courts.

“I don’t trust politicians to tell women how to dress. I also know that any legislation at the provincial or federal level has to be charter compliant and that’s the way it should be,” Angus said in the statement.

“I joined the NDP because of our long tradition of fighting for minority rights even when such issues weren’t popular. I will continue that proud tradition as NDP leader.”

Manitoba MP Niki Ashton, also in the running for federal leader, said Friday she also opposes the idea of a government restricting what people can wear when working for the public service.

“For me, that’s simply a line in the sand that can’t be crossed,” Ashton said, adding that, at the same time, she is troubled by suggestions that people in Quebec with strong opinions on secularism are somehow intolerant.

“Ultimately what we have to be doing is fighting against discrimination, including Islamophobia, including racism, which of course continues to be prevalent across the country,” she said.

The final candidate in the race, Ontario MPP Jagmeet Singh, did not respond to questions about secularism and religious symbols, but a campaign spokesperson said he would be available to comment Saturday.

The issue of state secularism has roiled Quebec since the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, when the government began to be uncoupled from the Catholic Church, which provided schooling and social services for decades in the province. More recently, the Parti Québécois courted controversy with its proposed secularism charter, which sought to bar some religious symbols, such as burkas and niqabs, from the public service, during a failed bid to retain power in the 2014 provincial election.

A similar discussion rumbled through the 2015 federal election, when NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair came out forcefully against a proposed ban on face coverings — such as a niqab — when people vote or become citizens. Some NDP insiders, including Olivia Chow, a former MP and widow of Mulcair’s predecessor, the revered leader Jack Layton, have argued Mulcair’s position led to a marked decline in support from Quebec voters.

Karl Bélanger, a former NDP operative who worked with Layton and Mulcair, said it is not surprising that an issue dominating the political conversation in Quebec would leak into the federal leadership race.

“No single issue cost more votes to the NDP (in 2015) than this one, so of course it is resonating today, because there is no solution to this debate at this point,” he said.

“At the end of the day, there’s no clear path forward for the party to deal with the issue.”

Aside from the likelihood of discussion on secularism and religious rights, the debate will be closely watched for the performance of anglophone candidates, said political analyst and former NDP operative Ian Capstick.

This particularly applies to Angus and Singh, who are generally perceived to be less fluent in French than Ashton and — obviously — Caron, he said.

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“I’m not certain that either of them has demonstrated proficiency in the French language up to this point, and they have one chance to fix that — this weekend,” Capstick said.

“This is critical. This will be the real test to see how well those men can actually speak French.”

The debate is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Sunday.

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