The Alberta Liberal Party just rose a few notches in my estimation. No, the other Alberta Liberal Party – the one that isn’t in office. Ezra exerpts the relevant passages;
The Alberta Liberal Party supports Mr. Levant’s freedom to express his opinions and to maintain, what the American Supreme Court termed, “the marketplace of ideas”. If citizens and publishers don’t maintain the limits of their freedoms it would bring about a chill in fundamental freedoms which could adversely affect all Canadians. The Alberta Liberal Party shares the opinion expressed in Ross v. New Brunswick School District No.15; when discussing the importance and limits of expression, Justice La Forest opined in s. 2(b):
“…[freedom of expression] is not restricted to views shared or accepted by the majority, nor to truthful opinions. Rather, freedom of expression serves to protect the right of the minority to express its view, however unpopular such views may be…”
Contrast that with new information from Al Seibring;
It appears the Harper government doesn’t have the political stomach right now to engage in any kind of major defense of free speech rights in Canada. NoApologies.ca has obtained a copy of a document circulated to all Conservative MP’s from Justice Minister Rob Nicholson’s office late last week.
It’s a tough position to be in, no question – job one on the Conservative agenda is achieving a majority in what could be a spring vote. There’s the media wing of the Liberal Party to contend with, for one thing. In the way that Kim Campbell once advised that an election is no time to be talking about issues, the National is no place to be debating them. It doesn’t take an imagination to picture Joan Bryden clickety-clacking along on her heels, “Mr.Kenney – has the government launched an investigation into the neo-Nazis working in the PMO?”
If “freespeechers” want a decent shot of pushing CHRC reform forward successfully, those hopes rest with a government that isn’t legislating with a hand tied behind its back.
That said – it hasn’t stopped the Alberta Liberals from taking a position, and a little political courage can go a long way towards demonstrating that principles still matter. And with a growing number of MSM editorials questioning the legitimacy of these tribunals, it would seem that political cover is there to be had, if selected Conservative MP’s were given the nod to take the debate forward.
Read both links.
(As an aside – a google search on “stormfront Joan Bryden” returned 199 hits. I don’t know what to take away from that.)
Good point – “You might want to ask why the Harper government is more committed to building a $100 million Museum for Human Rights than to ensuring real, live freedom of speech in the here and now. “
Because it’s easier to worship symbols than it is to uphold principles.
