MONTREAL — In lashing out against the proposed charter of Quebec values, MNA Lawrence Bergman recalled how a Jew elected to the legislative assembly in the early 1800s wasn’t allowed to take his seat because he would not swear on a Christian Bible.

“We do not want to go back. We do not want any more Ezekiel Harts who are turned away from the National Assembly or the civil service or health or educational institutions because of their religious beliefs,” said Bergman at his nomination on Oct. 16 as the Liberal candidate for D’Arcy McGee in the next election.

Hart was twice elected in Trois-Rivières and twice refused his seat.

Bergman, the sole Jewish MNA in the national assembly, accused the Parti Québécois government of “moral bankruptcy” and of proposing “state-sanctioned discrimination” contrary to both the Canadian and Quebec charters of rights, as well as the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

First elected in 1994, Bergman, 72, will be seeking a seventh term in what is widely expected to be a December election. He was acclaimed, as no others sought the nomination, said nomination committee chair Bob Dobie.

The nomination meeting was held at Congregation Adath Israel, of which Bergman is a past president.

Bergman suggested the current government is betraying a tradition of tolerance in Quebec, and within the PQ itself.

As a consequence of the Hart affair, the legislative assembly in 1832 became one of the first jurisdictions in the world to enshrine full political rights for Jews.

On the 170th anniversary of that act, then-PQ premier Bernard Landry, Bergman quoted him as saying, affirmed that Quebec is a land of welcome and liberty for all citizens, whatever their origin.

Bergman vowed that the Liberal party will never compromise on “the primacy of individual liberties.”

“All Quebecers, whether born here or who have chosen to come to our shores, are equal, with equal rights, yet with equal obligations as Quebecers and Canadians,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the PQ government threatens to abandon these basic freedoms and is raising the spectre of a state abusing its jurisdiction, for which there is no precedent.”

Among the people he recognized in the audience were Federation CJA president Susan Laxer and his “mentors and advisers,” retired senator Leo Kolber and Steven Cummings.

“I am touched by the trust you [his constituents] have placed in me over the past 19 years,” said Bergman, a notary by profession. “I remember on my first campaign, visiting a seniors’ home, and an elderly woman saying to me, ‘I’m giving you power of attorney to represent me in Quebec.’ I never forgot that.”

The two guest speakers, Jean-Marc Fournier, the Liberal house leader, and John Parisella, a leading party adviser, echoed that commitment to religious freedom.

“We share values, not just as Liberals, but as Quebecers and Canadians, of tolerance and respect and being united, and not trying to work for division,” said Fournier, the MNA for St. Laurent. “People deserve to have the place they want in our society.”

The PQ, he said, is sowing dissension among citizens.

“Canada has a history of making people who are different work together. We will maintain that dream, so our children have the same benefits we received.”

Parisella, who described himself as the son of a poor Italian immigrant, said, “The signals the PQ is sending lately are that it sees diversity as an obstacle, something that has to be neutralized. I think diversity makes us stronger as a society, as a nation.”

Bergman received an effusive endorsement from Côte St. Luc Mayor Anthony Housefather, who lauded the MNA for his steadfast opposition to “the mean-spirited Bill 14 [which would toughen the language laws] and the horrendous charter, both of which undermine basic rights.”

Dobie cautioned that, although a Liberal win in D’Arcy McGee will likely be easy, getting the vote out is crucial, as this election will be like a referendum.