This Just In: CHRA Sec13 Under Review

That's awesome news! I wonder what turned the tide for the PM? The rallies on the weekend exposing what real hate is like? Or his confidence that he's going to be PM for another few years?

How timely, Kate. I was just about to forward a letter to various ministers detailing my reluctance to send the CPC any more money unless this issue started getting more prominence on the legislative agenda.

Maybe I'll send it out anyway.

"Members include lawyers from various branches of the department of Justice, including constitutional, human rights, criminal and Industry Canada branches."

If you know the DoJ, you'll know that this is just a whitewash. Nicholson hasn't taken a gutsy position on anything since he got the job. DoJ isn't going to make s13 go away, but they may strengthen it.

The present Prime Minister has always believed in Freedom of Speech.

Where's the original source of Barrel's info?

A stunning victory for the Plan-B party!

Maybe the PM started reading the user comments section of CBC's website? It's always been bad, but any article I saw concerning Gaza has been over the top lately.

Do you really expect the bureaucrats to rule against Section 13.1 ... if so you are living on another planet. The play-it-safe-don't-make-waves civil service types will take an eon and produce nothing but stay the course platitudes.

Blazingcatfur ..

No victory you just do not have patience.

what a clabber doom and gloom naysaying defeatists....

a move by gov't like this one sends a very strong nuanced message to certain low level fonctionnaires of the tribunal sort......

and if 'plan B' were the spur i'd be ashamed to be a conservative....i don't believe in undercutting my elected representatives because they don't move in the direction i think they should as quickly as i think they should...some of you folks have an anarchic streak in you...do you want gov't by those who shout the loudest or make the most provocative motions towards suicide ?

Harper is gearing up for majority action.

What this means is that if the CPC gets the majority it wants, Section 13 has the potential to be tossed without problems. I know of a couple of Liberals who are willing to break ranks to vote for the abolishment of section 13 (Goodale is one of them now, from what I understand.)

I'll keep an eye out, contact a couple of people, and see what's going on. I'll send a report to Kate once I get some conclusive evidence.

About F&%king time.

It should have happened 4 years ago.

When Harper starts to govern as a conservative I will no longer have to be ashamed John.

"Members include lawyers from various branches of the department of Justice, including constitutional, human rights, criminal and Industry Canada branches.", most of which, hopefully do not come from the bottom of the sea! Come and join the boarding party from the land of free men and free persons fighting the pirates of big government unions. If not, hope you have an in law that can get get you in on the 'fixed for life' con!

If they dump section 13 will that mean that Warman and his ilk will have to give back all the money they extorted? Oh please...please...!

Well, if there is going to be a committee, then presumably that committee will hold hearings. And hear presentations. Now is the time to be putting together a presentation, and to lobby for an opportunity to deliver it.

Blazingcatfur

You are living in dreamland.

If you cannot understand how fast this has moved up the government ladder from the grassroots base, then I don't know.

Do you think passed governments had there ear to the grassroots as much as this governent?

And if you are a conservative, why are you counting on the government to move fast on this issue????

Jdot Say what?

Begley: "Do you want government by those who make the most provocative motions towards suicide..."

In effect, yes, that's exactly what certain persistent naysayers are arguing for, but they're just not aware of it, and not thinking that far ahead to the point where they'd be thinking about the issue of who forms government; rather, they're indulging their poor impulse control, like some kid in a car that's doing a one-eighty on an icy highway saying "Daddy, I want ice cream!"

Vitruvius once used the apt metaphor of a ship of state as a giant, tanker-sized ship -- you can't just change direction in a second. In the case of Section 13, what with it's Lib-cultural bureaucratically-embedded barnacles, you can't necessarily just wipe it out of existence with a Zorro-esque flourish of the prime ministerial pen because something else would arise in its place, because of some prog "need" the next time the Libs or some coalition gets their hand on the wheel.

As Kathy Shaidle and others have noted, this is one of those issues where the change will be -- has to be -- more cultural than political. The public's attention has been drawn to the ridiculous, hypocritical excesses of Section 13 thugs by private citizens like Kate, Ezra, Kathy, Binks, Mark Steyn, Breakenridge, Rutherford, Adler, etc., and not by government. The most incontrovertible evidence of cultural shift on this issue can be found in comments at, say, the Globe and Mail or the Star, where a year and a half ago virtually all the commenters were not only strongly in support of Section 13, but would absolutely excoriate and call into question the motives and character of those nazi-sympathizers who supported its abolition; in the last maybe six months, that's been completely reversed, and it's not because of the pronouncements of politicians, or because CBC/CTV have been campaigning against S.13, it's because Canadians became aware of what was actually going on. In other words, it was private citizens, and some members of the media, who shifted the larger perception of the issue.

I don't expect that the Minister of Justice's departmental committee will "rule against" Section 13.1, but there will certainly be changes made, and that's a start. It's a long-term fight; Section 13 is a symptom of a much larger problem that's ultimately cultural.

The PM is obviously onside, but some people are completely unaware that he's got a different job than the rest of us.

WTF is Industry Canada doing in there? And turf the DOJ from the committee.Lawyers are after on thing only....more cases for more money.Where are Joe and Jane Doe on this committee. The ordinary one's who are getting f&&ked by the HRCs????? Agree with BCF. Like those Capital One ads,will be a cold day in hell before Sec 13 is turfed!!

Ezra Levant, Mark Steyn, Connie Fournier and Kathy Shaidle and Macleans Ken Whyte, would be prime candidates for presentations to kill the monster.

Rob Nicholson is suspect on this issue in my view, I could be mistaken however.

Oh.And BTW....just reviewed my stocks too.Thank God I dumped Nortel loooonnnnggg ago. A review??? There is nothing to review.This section is against a basic human right,freedom of speech.Oh yeah.THAT'S a merican concept.

I will believe this when I see something concrete.

Until that time this will remain nothing more than that favourite government snowjob tactic of a Royal Commission in everything but name.

It would seem to me that if the PM's name is on this thing then he's going to get the flack for doing nothing or the praise for "Gettin'r'dun".

This is what I call "progressive". Finally, at least they're officially, actively looking at it.

Meanwhile, unfortunately, down in the United States of Obamica...

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=86215

A federal "hate crimes" bill that officially is to enhance punishments for "violence motivated by bias that is a relic of slavery" but is feared by Christians as a potential bludgeon against basic biblical teachings has been returned to the congressional agenda by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas.

The proposal had been stymied during the Bush administration by the president's threat of a veto but President-elect Barack Obama's own website has promised an expansion of federal "hate crimes" laws.

I warned of this stuff coming from an Obama/Democrat victory. And this is just ONE of the scary things I've learned they're about to move fast and furious with, to radically Leftify America as quickly as possible in two years.

That is great news. I think Prime Minister Harper's smorldering sense genuine personal morality has begun to assert itself within his government (as evident by the most recent gutsy decisions his gov't has made on meaningful files in the past week or so).

As for section 13...I just wish that he didn't have to build a railroad to cross the room to turn out a light. But, who is John Galt.

You go Mr.Economics Background Guy and keep up the great work! You make Canadian proud and they don't even know it.

Criminal system doesn't even enforce the law on the books in this country.
The fact that this kangaroo system got set up and ran with impunity is just disgusting and astounding to begin with.
I can see that efforts are being made but I have not much hope that it's going to come out right, nothing by a bureaucratic committee ever does.

We live in a society where physically violent offenders suffer much less personal loss than someone who writes words that someone else "perceives" as offensive, and on the internet no less. Then they-CHRC lets one of their employees privately profit well from trumped up complaints filed from this kangaroo court system? A system where they/he can operate and easily manipulate from within?
Think they will let that be taken from them now they've been drunk on the 'god like power' they gave themselves?

Blazingcatfur

Sorry..

All I am trying to say is that I have never seen an grassroot issue move so far and so fast up the government agenda as fast as this issue has.

I just want to say I respect your view on this issue. But all I am saying is that the governemt of Canada, not the CPC of Canada, has moved at speeds I have never seen in a government(that is not saying much).

I just want you to know Blazingcatfur, I think you have done a good job on this issue.

The timing is highly suspicious. Friday afternoon, as he's about to table a spendthrift budget.

Okay, suppose Harper axes Sec. 13. And fires the SCOC and abolishes the Charter.

Then he introduces a budget which may as well have been written by Maude Barlow and Jim Stamford, featuring a $30-40 billion deficit, as he has announced he intends to do.

What's our move gang?

EBD - really well put. PMSH has to play the long game. Its the only way to do it.

I wonder what turned the tide for the PM? The rallies on the weekend exposing what real hate is like? Or his confidence that he's going to be PM for another few years?
===================
More likely the fear that he wouldn't be PM for another few years. His remarks the other day send the party faithful into meltdown mode and justifiable so. He and the cons must have been inundated with pissed off messages from across the country.

Well don't just bellyache about what may or may not happen - write to your MP and tell him/her what has to happen. Incidentally, if the PM calls something into question, clever bureaucrats do not opt for the status quo. They may drag their heels a bit but they do want their jobs to survive, so there will definitely be some changes recommended - just write to make sure they go far enough.

Maybe the PM realizes that he needs the enthusiastic support of the core of the party if he is going to fight off Ignatieff.

Maybe throwing us a bone will help allay our disgust at what is going to happen with the upcoming deficit spending he has been forced into participating in.

Frankly, it would work. Long term, protecting free speech is a more important issue than deficits.

What EBD said! Politicans, out of a natural survival instinct, endeavour to find out where the citizenry is going, then run up to the front of the line and "lead".

And what Kathy Shaidle said too on her own site: stop waiting for politicans to solve problems. You may have noticed that Kathy has been de-sensitizing section 13 by hilariously, even outrageously, non-complying on a daily basis.

And what Vitruvius said to, as per EBD's reference, the ship of state is a supertanker in a small harbour. It takes TIME.

And what F.A. Hayek said too about about institutional change. Slow is actually GOOD and less risky.

And finally, Sec 13 is operationally DEAD already after the thrashing Ezra gave it. The review is about deciding on the funeral details.

Need to stay right on top of this.
The chance that this will be a going through the motions exercise or worse an effort to legitimize the extinguishing of individual rights and freedoms is FAR too great.

Let 'em know!

Step by step the changing of the Liberal Party, with their assistance, as the Natural Governing Party is now a possibilty. It is not yet a sure thing. The changing demographics as the newer generations move into the positions of influence. The initial foolishly raised Baby Boomers, the ones first through the chute are being replaced. This not the scond or third cohort of Boomers, now lost in preserving their position and rendered impotent through fear for their pensions. The following demographic groups, whatever label is used did not have an easy time of finding their place in Society. This who PMSH represents and knows. All is porceeding as it should. Cheers.

EBD at January 16, 2009 7:24 PM

Exactly..

It is the long game.

i don't presume to know more about strategy and tactics than PMSH.....but i do know the party is just hanging on to power against the abominable trio of ambitious traitorous misfits...

so i don't intend to threaten or badger an already beleaguered party with anything like a 'plan B' from outer space....that's the reason i counsel patience and forbearance....

It sure seems like a difficult task to convince Conservatives to get out and vote Conservative. Maybe this move will motivate some media, and create a snowball effect.

At the end of the day, only the _culture_ matters. We have to keep changing/challenging Canadian culture, and render Section 13 an unenforceable joke.

God forbid: Stephen Harper and his whole cabinet could die in a plane crash. You can't wait around for some bigshot you'll never meet and who doesn't care about you to do the work for you.

Yes, Canadians are more concerned with quotidian matters, esp. in this economy. But they always have been. They roll out of bed, drive to Timmy's, drive to work, hate every minute, drive home, watch tv, back to sleep.

But...

What if they had a cause they could care about? That, dare I say it, brought a frisson of meaning and excitement to their hardworking lives? yes, they have families and friends, but what about people yearning -- possibly without even realizing it -- to be part of something bigger.

The free speech movement can be that cause. The fight against belligerent Islam can be that cause too.

As noted above, we see that in the sea change in public opinion on the web.

To all those Canadians who have taken the time to write a letter or send a supportive email to me, Ezra, Kate etc.

Thank you!

I almost don't believe it myself, but we really ARE making a difference.

Beats the hell out of recycling, huh? :-)

Not really dp, but conservatives need to feel that they are voting for a conservative party, not a warmed over version of the Liberal party.

I agree, Lori. But that's a rare bird, indeed.

Kathy Shaidle at January 16, 2009 9:16 PM

Great post.

The government can't just shut down a section. It just doesn't work that way. Collective agreements would have to be broken, wrongful dismissal hearings and remember they are not good lawyers but the rules are on their side. What you do is you kill the reputation simply by not protecting it. Remember too there are a lot of AA points in the commission and managers are rewarded for those. They can re-assign people to other HR jobs.

I think the PM will deal with it. There is a sort of ceasefire on this one. Ms. HRC is doing extensive travelling lately. Applying for work?

One hopes this works out well with the abolition of s13.

PS:Kathie...

Section 13 is the cause for you...

Workers comp, as a small buissness owner, for me..

Everybody is different......

Kathy Shaidle at January 16, 2009 9:16 PM: You're right. When you first floated this idea, a couple of weeks ago on your blog, that it's the culture and not the politicians, I twigged. I've been thinking about it a lot, and it's now ringing like a bell. I worked very hard for the CPC in the last election, and I will continue to work for, and contribute to, the party, but the CPC will not save us. Thanks so much for your insight. One of the most brilliant conservative minds in Canada today.

Remember, Harper is a leader operating within the rule of law, within a 'demos', a democracy where power rests with the people. He's not a Sovereign who rules with the flick of his sword. So, he has to operate by 'due process' - and that takes time and tedious step by step procedures.

I think this also shows, again, the power of the Internet and blogs, which have totally changed the political (and other) infrastructure. The Liberals have operated in a top-down authoritative system - 'informing' the public peasantry The Way It Is. That included their unilateral decisions about the Charter, the New Flag, etc, etc. That's also why the Liberals and the MSM, which operate in the same top-down manner, have been so close.

But the internet and blogs give power to express decisions, opinions etc - to each individual on the street. The Conservatives are a grassroots party, both in their fund-raising and in their lack of ties to established authority (eg PowerCorp, Desmarais..the Liberal backers).

I think that blog power is the key to a genuine democracy.

By the way, Kathy, some people actually do love their jobs. And we all require both the humdrum normative security of a job, a home, and these responsibilities - as well as a higher calling beyond these small tasks.

yes, this issue appears to be moving like molasses uphill in january, but it is moving.

o ye of little faith....

in the unlikely event that section 13 is still standing by the end of the decade - it might then be wise to consider trotting out the torches and pitchforks...

in the meantime, i wouldn't mind seeing a healthy budget cut for the chrc - just in case they haven't seen the writing on the wall or read richard moon's recommendations yet.

Kathy,

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ5YiQqrZCk