Niqab debate backfired on Conservatives, observers say

The niqabwas a hotly debated topic on the federalcampaign trail, and political watchers in Manitoba say it may have come at acost fortheConservatives, which brought the issue to the forefront in the latter days of the race.

Pollster Curtis Brownof Winnipeg-based Probe Researchsays the issue began assomething that was meant to harm the NDP,but it ended up turning off a lot of voters who may have been on the fence about voting Conservative.

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"I think it was tactically smart for them in the beginning, or it looked tactically smart, to do some of these things the talk about the niqab that's going todrive a wedge between the NDP and their base in Quebec," Brown told CBC News.

"But I think it ended up coming back to bite them, because a lot of people didn't like what they did and [didn't] like the tone that the campaign was going in."

While it's hard to point to one particular thing that could have cost the Conservativesthe election, Brown said there is some sense that the niqab debate could have backfired on the party.

"I think that there's a sense of regret that they brought up this issue and it blew up in their face," he said.

Openeddiscussion on religious freedoms

Brown also saidthe niqab debate opened up discussion of a larger issue. While only two Muslim women have ever attempted to wear a niqab at a citizenship ceremony, the issue came to the forefront of discussions about religious freedoms.

"I think the broader piece of it isthat people ended up debating [the niqab] more and thinking about it more," he said.

"The niqab was just,quite literally,a wedge that ended up opening up all this other discussion that the election ended up being about."

For many Muslims in Manitoba, it brought racial tensions to a head.

Shahina Siddiqui, president of the Islamic Social Services Association,saidthe niqab was just a symbol that people latched onto but it represented something much deeper.

"It was small in the sense that it was just two women we were talking about,but it was large in the sense because it was symbolic. Pointing to Islamophobia, pointing to the extent divisive politics was going," saidSiddiqui.

Siddiquisaidin a way, the Conservatives' focus on the niqab helped Muslims because it opened up a larger conversation for what was really going on.

"It was also so many other legal things that were happening, bills that were passed Bill C-51, C-24, C-7 it was almost a laundry list of things that people were not happy about."

Siddiqui saidthe niqab debate caused voters to evaluate what they believed in as Canadians.

"Maybe many Canadians, including myself, do not agree that niqab should be worn. But that's our choice, just as it is the choice of the women who wear it.I mean, this is what Canada is aboutwe can agree to disagree, but we will uphold each other's right," she said.

"The slippery slope that it opened was also a matter of concern. Today it's a matter of what a Muslim woman should not wear.Tomorrow it could be about any woman and what she wears."

Brought voterstogether

IfrahZohairwas outspoken during the campaign about her feelings on the issue and saw it as as distraction from the issues that should have been discussed instead. She feels relieved that Canadians were able to see past this issue.

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"The niqabbanmight not be the only reason that the Conservatives didn't win, but I think it did play a major part in it,"saidZohair.

"That just shows that this country is moving toward change we're no longer about putting a certain people down or discriminating against them because of their religion or what country they are originally from."

Siddiqui saidonce the debate opened up and became a question of Canadian's rights and freedoms, it changed the dynamic. What was meant to divide Canadiansended up bringing them together.

"If you have a track record of doing things which most Canadians, Conservatives included, consider un-Canadian going after the rights of citizens, pitting citizen against citizen, creating atwo-tiered citizenship, like we saw in Bill C-24, taking away our privacy like we saw in Bill C-51these are values that Canadians hold very dear," she said.

"To see that eroding, to see that threatened, is what brought Canadians together."