Boutilier: Kiss free speech goodbye Canada
Freedom of speech is no longer considered a right, it is a commodity being peddled to one side of the political realm. The majority of attacks on free speech are aimed at moderate conservatism, barely ever do we see extreme leftists threats and actions addressed by the platforms. They threaten death, doxing, cancelation, destruction of property and what happens? Absolutely nothing.
The social media giants have formed a new alliance in the fight against common sense. The Canadian Government. Justin Trudeau has essentially pledged to destroy free speech as we know it, but maybe not in those exact words. He would never come out and say that directly, just like his phase out the Oilsands comments. He backtracked on his words but maintained his path to destruction through his actions. The same thing is going to happen here.
It all started with the appointment of activist Steven Guilbeault as Heritage Minister. In his mandate letter he was given some very specific direction to “create new regulations for social media platforms, starting with a requirement that all platforms remove illegal content, including hate speech, within 24 hours or face significant penalties”. At face value this appears to mean well but when you dig further that is verifiably not the case.
First off, I think we can all agree, that hate speech as defined under Canadian law is putrid and is not welcome in society. In the criminal code Incitement of hatred is defined as:
Anyone who, by communicating statements in any public place, incites hatred against any identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace.
And
Anyone who, by communicating statements, other than in private conversation, willfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group.
Currently the determination of “hate speech” is appropriately a matter for judges to decide. This is important because if we move to restrict someone’s freedom of speech because we feel it is hate speech there are serious implications to their constitutional rights. Having the courts decide what is and isn’t hate speech keeps a level playing field, it doesn’t allow things to spiral out of control with a woke mob deciding anything they don’t like is hate speech. Currently there is balance and logic behind this.
But Trudeau and his activist Heritage Minister, Guilbeault, want to change this, in a very concerning way.
Guilbeault and Trudeau don’t want hate speech decided by the courts, they want nameless, faceless fact checkers to determine what is or isn’t hate speech on the platforms. That is the frightening part of all this.
What Trudeau and his activist heritage minister are proposing is to shift the Overton window to expand on the definition of hate speech to be whatever they and the social media platforms want it to be, without any oversight or alignment with our charter of rights and freedoms. This is the first domino on the way to the absolute destruction of free speech as we know it in Canada.
Imagine if hate speech was defined by the mob, imagine if the mob decided what is and isn’t hate speech. I can guarantee you they would swiftly move to have basic conservative values and views when stated qualify as hate speech. Right now the Democrats in the states are aligning conservatism with terrorism, so we’re not far off.
It’s already terrible that these social media platforms are doing this to us on a massive scale, now the Canadian government is joining in on the dogpile and empowering them to do more.
The intent is to have a “Canadian Code of Conduct” completely outside of the charter of rights and freedoms that these platforms must enforce. Earth to the Liberal party, we already have a “Canadian Code of Conduct”. It is our laws and our constitution.
When the liberals say “remove anything that is hate speech within 24 hours or face massive fines” what do you think the social media platforms will do? Using erring on the side of caution as an excuse, the social media platforms will move to remove anything in disagreement with the woke mob. This new Canadian “Code of Conduct” will empower these platforms to get an even tighter grip on what you or I do and say on social media.
They are also looking to implement a new “E-tribunal” to hear complaints about specific posts. That’s right, they will have a panel that decides what is or isn’t appropriate for social media. Do you think this panel will consist of judges who follow the constitution? This panel, same as the media bailout panel will consist of staunch liberal supporters and ideological leftists with an aim to destroy conservatism.
The only option for us little guys in all of this is to fight a government with endless resources, who can play “lawfare” indefinitely in court. Likely at a significant cost and toll to our own well being, financial standing and reputations.
The liberals intend to change language as we know it. They are weakening the definition of hate speech now, so later on they can expand on its meaning and use it as a stick to beat even the most moderate of conservatives with.
Get ready for the fallout folks. This is going to be absolutely unconstitutional on every level, and a travesty for free speech in Canada.
