Last week we told you about an effort by Lakeridge Health in Durham Region to recruit hospital workers from Quebec who would be affected by a ban on religious symbols.  Now, a politician in Richmond Hill, Ontario is calling out to Quebec doctors to relocate to the Greater Toronto Area.  Carmine Perrelli says he’s mailed out 200 letters to Sikh, Muslim, or Jewish doctors who might consider moving out of province after the Parti Quebecois revealed its controversial charter of values.  “I think what’s important is what’s in their hearts and what kind of character they have.  So that’s why I’ve started this,” Perrelli explained, “Even people who are thinking of going to school for example in a community or getting a degree in something, I want them to know you have choices.  These are highly skilled people, highly educated.  They could work anywhere in the world, and if somebody doesn’t want them, I’ll be happy to have them.”

The letters he sent include contact information for Richmond Hill’s economic development department and an offer to assist in the doctors’ transition to the city north of Toronto.  Perrelli says the idea came to him after he watched a TV news interview with a Sikh doctor contemplating moving outside of Quebec because of the proposed legislation.