1. Action Democratique du Quebec leader Mario Dumont, who is leader of the official opposition in Quebec's minority government, said he's interested in working with the federal government to get Quebec to sign the Constitution.
Some slim background: Quebec never signed the Constitution in 1982. They have never signed it since then.
There was the Meech Lake Accord, which was going to bring Quebec into the fold, but that failed.
Then there was the Charlottetown Accord, which was to do roughly the same, plus some, and that failed.
And now Dumont thinks it's a good time to start discussing it.
It's a strange time to talk about it. A better time might have been last month, when he was campaigning as a leader of a major political party in Quebec during the elections.
You'd think, in a province that makes a lot of noise about separation and federalism and nationalism, you'd think he might want to bring this up as part of his platform. It does, sort of, maybe change the view some voters might have for him.
Which, of course, could very well be why he didn't bring it up.
2. Still in Quebec: a group of girls, between 10 and 14 years of age, were kicked out of a tae kwon do tournament for wearing their hijabs. Hijabs, in case you don't know, are head scarves that many Muslim women wear.
You'll remember, a couple of months ago, another girl was kicked out of a soccer tournament for wearing her hijab.
In both cases, safety was the concern.
Also in both cases, this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
All sports have inherent dangers, and all competitors know what they are. Does wearing a headscarf increase these dangers? If the head scarf is loose and flowing and could accidentally be pulled hard enough to strangle someone or break someone's neck, then yes.
But they aren't.
In the case of the soccer girl, and these tae kwon do girls, the headscarves are near the head, tightly wrapped and tucked into their uniforms.
And here's the even stupider part.
In tae kwon do, they wear helmets. On top of their headscarves. You can barely tell these kids are even wearing head scarves.
It's Quebec, so, of course, this raises more talk about reasonable accommodation, which seems to be the way they justify racism in that province.
Reasonable accommodation is the thinking that says immigrants will be accepted, but they have to assimilate to a reasonable degree.
Dumont (again Dumont - this guy was a nobody about a month and a half ago), thinks Quebec should legislate what is expected of immigrants, and thinks currently there is too much blind acceptance going on.
Not that you asked, but I think Dumont is completely wrong.
And, again, not that you asked, but I think kids should be allowed to play sports, even if they're wearing religious head scarves.