Food served in public institutions and prayer in public areas are among the latest targets of an expansion of Quebec’s secularism law proposed Thursday in an effort to “strengthen secularism” across the province.

Listing off strides Quebec has made in “democratically secularizing” its institutions over the past 60 years, Jean-François Roberge, the province’s minister responsible for secularism, called the tabling of the 20-page Bill 9 “an important day for Quebec.”

“The current secularism law was good — indeed, it was excellent,” he said during an afternoon news conference. “It is, in a way, the foundation of the model, and now we must build on that foundation. The context is evolving and, as a result, the Québécois nation is defining and refining its model. Today, it is strengthening it

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