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religious accommodation

MONTREAL - Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is defending Quebec's controversial legislation that would ban Muslim women from wearing the niqab when dealing with provincial services.

He described the Charest government's proposed law as a way of trying to find "a good Canadian balance." Later, answering the same question in French, Mr. Ignatieff was stronger: "I think they have found a good balance."

Mr. Ignatieff was speaking to reporters on the first day of his party's three-day thinkers conference, Canada at 150: Rising to the Challenge. The gathering is aimed at finding and debating new ideas and issues that will be important in 2017, the country's 150th birthday.

"There is always a balance we have to keep," he said, when asked about the legislation that proposes to bar women from veiling their faces when trying to access provincial government services. He says there has to be accommodation on both sides and it has to be "reasonable."

"The Quebec government is trying to make sure that in civic and public places that freedom of religion is respected but at the same time on the other side citizens come forward and reveal themselves when they are demanding public service.

"We watch the Quebec debate with interest," he said.

The Harper government also supports the proposal. "The law proposed by the Quebec government makes sense," Dimitri Soudas, the Prime Minister's official spokesman, told The Globe.

He pointed out, however, that federal politicians "don't get a vote in provincial assemblies." Mr. Soudas also criticized the Liberal Leader for opposing a previous Conservative bill "that would ensure that people show their face in order to confirm their identity when they vote."

In kicking off the Liberal conference, meanwhile, Mr. Ignatieff said he expects the party to emerge "with a strong sense of the general direction of a platform."

"We are not in a platform-writing exercise," he added.

He says this weekend will provide some "political space" to "look at some scary scenarios," including people without jobs and jobs without people. The conference will give participants an opportunity to explore new issues and ideas.

In his midday press conference, Mr. Ignatieff, who is often mocked by Stephen Harper's Conservatives for being an intellectual, reinforced that when he quoted Shakespeare, saying that "if we had a world and enough of time" his party could muse about fixing the country.

But no one has the luxury of that time.

"I've done all the seminars I need to do for the rest of my life," he said. "I'm in politics to take action and make choices and we have to create a credible fiscal framework for Canadians."

(Photo: Shaun Best/Reuters)

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Update While Mr. Ignatieff said he was quoting the Bard, a reader notes the line cited is from the poem To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell.

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