This just in from retired lawyer justdad7. 1/ The current controversy in Saskatchewan shows how the gender debate has become the perfect storm for loss of confidence in the Charter. The Charter has never commanded universal respect among Canadians but in recent years these doubts have increased. 2/
Continue readingTag: Freedom of Expression
Views from the Beltline: Will Frances Widdowson get her job back?
Frances Widdowson was not Miss Popularity at Mount Royal University in Calgary. Over 6,000 people signed a petition calling for her firing. They wanted her gone. And gone she was. The tenured PhD was fired in 2021 after 13 years of teaching and shit disturbing. Her outrages against political correctness
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: No, Peterson is Not Being “Persecuted” For His Politics
Over at National Post, we have one of Peterson’s lawyers arguing that the Ontario College of Psychologists is “succumbing to the woke mob”, and persecuting him for his politics. Nothing could be further from the truth. A casual review of the complaints against Peterson reveals gems expressing clinical opinions about
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: Testifying at Parliament on Social Media Oversight
My address to the House of Commons Committee on Justice and Human Rights, on how government can or should combat the spread of hatred on social media platforms. Democracy’s most sacrosanct principles collide in this debate.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: On the streets of Edmonton with Dale the Street Preacher: ‘It’s really tough’
Dale the Street Preacher is doing the Lord’s work. We can acknowledge this, even if we don’t share his idea of whom the lord is, or accept his view about what’s going to happen when we die. In addition to standing on a soapbox containing an electronic amplifier and preaching
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Irked by news site’s critical reports, Jason Kenney hints at retaliation as PressProgress fires back
Apparently the stenographic efforts of Postmedia’s Alberta newspapers as a virtual wing of the United Conservative Party campaign team were not enough for the victorious Jason Kenney, Alberta’s premier designate. Journalists and publications that provided less obsequious coverage of the campaign leading up to the April 16 election will be
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP leadership campaign reveals ‘how an aggressive campaign could hijack online votes,’ U.S. journalist writes
Digital-election-theft allegations swirling around the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership campaign should be a sharp warning for the U.S. Democratic Party, which plans to use similar technology in some of its 2020 presidential primary races, says an American journalist who specializes in covering election technology and democratic issues. While a
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearing and How a Calgary City Councillor Sank PostMedia’s Credibility
The Kavanaugh confirmation hearing is like a mirror shattering on the floor, shards of glass are flying every where and women are demanding accountability. Everyone knows about the two women who confronted Senator Jeff Flake in an elevator and demanded he think carefully about the message he’s sending women by
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: This, From The ‘Greatest Country On Earth’
I guess when you live in that bastion of democracy, the United States of America, one must be mindful, shall we say, an unwritten set of rules: Rob Rogers has been working as the editorial cartoonist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for the past 25 years. On Thursday, he was fired.
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Keep ’em separated
Recently the Government of Canada included on its summer student funding program a check box that asks whether the business (non-profit/agency/charity/etc.) applying for federal tax funding complies with Canadian law. Normally, that’s not a problem. Normally, if you apply for federal funding, you’re all, hells yes we comply with federal
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Alouette
Way back in the nineteen somethings, Canada was going through the sort of identity crisis we all go through when we’re about fifteen. Québec was all stomping around the place, slamming doors and cupboards and shouting “JE PARS” everytime someone looked at it. “Hey, Québec,” we’d say, “I like your
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Free expression at universities gagged by anti-Trump backlash
Ryerson University suppressed free speech rights when it cancelled a planned panel discussion featuring conservative academics and former Rebel Media journalist Faith Goldy, argues James Turk, the director of the Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson. The post Free expression at universities gagged by anti-Trump backlash appeared first on The
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Fuck Libraries
The Saskatchewan government, in its 2017/18 budget, has slashed library budgets around the province. Its done all kinds of other things too like force civil servants to take a 3.5% cut in pay, shut down the only highway bus transportation service in the province, increase the provincial sales tax, and
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Freedom’s Just Another Word
Over the past couple of weeks, you’ve been either lauding or vilifying this guy who plays sportsball in the US because he opted to sit out the national anthem in protest of racism, race-based violence, and inequity. You got *really mad* at him, and said he shouldn’t be allowed to
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Bikini, Burkini – Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
– initially entered as a series of ranty comments on an effbook post – I don’t care WHAT your religion is, or isn’t – no government has the right to tell anybody how to dress. So the government of France doesn’t have any more right to tell people what they
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper’s Bill C-6 Violated Canadian Postal Workers’ Charter Rights, Court Rules
The Ontario Superior Court has ruled that the former Harper government violated postal workers’ Charter rights when it ordered postal workers back to work through Bill C-6 in 2011.
The post Harper’s Bill C-6 Violated Canadian Postal Workers̵…
Alberta Politics: Fallout from the ‘Rebel Media’ brouhaha: maybe it’s time to abolish Alberta’s anachronistic Press Gallery
PHOTOS: A screenshot of some of the partisan materials sold on Ezra Levant’s Rebel Media website. Below: Another image of a sale item from The Rebel, in this case a T-shirt with the website’s logo on the back and a slogan supporting the Conservativ…
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Ontario defends freedom of expression, passes anti-SLAPP legislation
Ontario has passed a law to counter Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), lawsuits often used by deep-pocketed businesses to silence debate on public issues. The post Ontario defends freedom of expression, passes anti-SLAPP legislation appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: CJFE: Today is World Press Freedom Day. What’s the state of free expression in Canada?
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Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Bill C-51: 8 things activists and dissenters in Canada need to know
After thoroughly studying Harper’s draconian anti-terror Bill C-51, lawyers at the BC Civil Liberties Association suggest the 8 things activists and dissenters in Canada need to know. The post Bill C-51: 8 things activists and dissenters in Canada need to know appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
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