Suck On It, Ezra

 Something remarkable is happening in Alberta. Despite determined efforts by some alarmist columnists, the public and our government stubbornly refuse to be afraid of anti-hate legislation.

Meanwhile, Brian Storseth's Private Member's Motion/Bill/whatever repealing Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act is not on the order paper for Tues., Oct. 4.  Can we therefore conclude that this little speechy uprising has been quashed?

Speechys Hosed Again

Several controversial resolutions were proposed -- among them, scrapping part of the government hate crimes legislation.

Members of an Edmonton constituency said right now, the laws cater to people who are easily offended and restrict what other people can say.

"I think we're all concerned with maximizing opportunities for freedom of speech. We have to balance that with people who are vulnerable," says Fred Horne, MLA for Edmonton-Rutherford.

In the end, that resolution was defeated...

In Alberta, Canada's most Conservative province and home to Ezra Levant, a conservative majority government refuses to change its hate-speech legislation despite the support of every editorial page in the province. Furthermore, that government's right-wing opposition has vowed to leave section 3 (the hate speech provision in the provincial human rights law) intact. How can this be?

Imagine yourself a politician: suddenly, Ezra, Margaret Atwood (representing PEN), a fistful of Neo-Nazis, and another handful of journalists, appear in your office demanding changes to your human rights legislation. Do you a )flee through a back entrance, or b) just kill yourself now because you've probably been seen together with this crew and your political career is over.

Remember: politicians are expert at one thing, and that's counting votes. They see this gang coming, and they see votes going the other way. Ezra and crew couldn't do any worse if they hired a known cannibal as their PR guy. And I wish the journalistic community would wake up to the fact: people don't like you, and no politician is going to be caught dead supporting a radical extension of scribblers' rights.

PS. And Kinsella's right, too. Editorials and Op-Ed don't do diddley in the way of moving the voter. The great Canadian speechy conflict is proof of that.

Wildrose Alliance Takes Stab At Centrism

Not quite sure what this means

And it stepped back from demanding that Section 3 of the Alberta human rights code (which deals with publications and free speech) be axed. Some Wildrose supporters, Tory MLAs and other groups believe Section 3 of the act is providing unjust censorship powers to the Alberta Human Rights Commission, a quasi-judicial agency.

Instead, Wildrose members voted to amend the human rights act to "unequivocally protect" freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

...because details aren't up yet on the Wildrose Alliance website: could the section be left in the code but amended around until it was made irrelevant? Dunno. But its interesting that even the Alberta Right has figured out that to adopt the pure Speechy philosophy is to risk being dubbed kooks and racists.

Also shows how utterly dear Ezra is estranged from his own province.

Ezra Levant Uses His Freedom Unethically

Even in vigorous debate over public policy issues there are rules for verbal combat; there is an ethics of debate.

Rule number one: it is nearly always wrong to personally attack those who hold opinions different from yours. When done deliberately, attacking your opponents instead of their views is dishonest because it purports to be about one thing – the public policy in question – but is actually about something else, the destruction of your opponents’ credibility or integrity. It can also be self-defeating. When seen for what it is – basically, character assassination – it can undermine whatever validity there is in your policy position.

Regardless, the strategy is often employed, most notoriously at present, by Ezra Levant, lawyer, writer and blogger on human rights commission issues, in his campaign against Jennifer Lynch, Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Here is a small sampling of the things Levant has written recently about her: “Jennifer Lynch is a damned liar,” “an execrable woman” and a “pathological liar.” “What an odious woman. When she accosted me . . ., I didn’t recognize her . . . She is much more haggard and old than her ancient publicity picture.”

This kind of personal attack, while not illegal unless false and thus defamatory (which some of this stuff might be), violates the ethics of debate because it targets a person, not the policy under scrutiny – whether the Canadian Human Rights Commission should have the power to regulate speech. And while Levant’s comments may be, taken cumulatively, intimidating, they have literally nothing to do with the law reform issue at hand.

This from Janet Keeping, the President of the Sheldon Chumir foundation, of whom Ezra once wrote

The Chumir Foundation is run by true liberals, like Janet Keeping – a deeply thoughtful woman who truly cares about real human rights.

The Chumir Foundation is on record as supporting the repeal of section 3 of the Alberta Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act. It seems though they have realized that having Ezra on your side of an issue is a net negative.

Creationists Score Big In Alberta Human Rights Overhaul

A provincial document says the government needed to assure parents of their rights because "faith-based groups urged government to recognize -- as a right -- parents' role in making choices for their children."

"When asked about evolution, always a question since the monkey-human thing is a talker, the premier says 'parents would have the opportunity to make that choice.' Take that, Darwin."

A mixed bag then. Section 3 stays in, gays get an explicit mention...and Creationists can pull their kids from biology class when evolution comes up. Maybe also from Astronomy class. Can Muslim parents pull their kids from History class when Israel comes up? And why would anyone send their kid to Algebra? Sounds like a recipe for chaos.

A lot not to like about that.

Ezra Levant: Alberta Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett Is A Token

I know why Stelmach wants to keep Blackett on the job -- because Blackett is black, and thus gives the government a politically correct patina. Stelmach wants Blackett to smile -- but not to think. He's window-dressing. The one thing Blackett has worked on the past year, the one thing he stuck his neck out for, is the one thing that his own premier has sand-bagged him on.

I guess Ezra will not be getting a Xmas card from Ed Stelmach this year.

Also of note is this line from Ezra's post:

Ed Stelmach, Alberta's weak premier, shows he's still strong when it comes to pushing his MLAs around. Today he put that uppity cabinet minister Lindsay Blackett...back in his place.

As the folks at ARC observe:

We wonder if Levant understands the implications of the word, "uppity"? We think he does and is purposely trying to inject racial politics into the discussion. Pretty shameful, but whatcha go'n a do?

I am an in an enormously good mood this morning. Instead of my normal run into work, I think I shall do cart-wheels for the whole 3 miles.

Possibly As Early As This Spring?

Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett says he wants to include sexual orientation in Alberta’s human-rights law, possibly as early as this spring.

Blackett said he also wants to, as part of the same legal reform package, strip the Alberta Human Rights Commission of the power to adjudicate cases involving hate crimes and free speech, adding that those matters are better handled by the hate laws in the Criminal Code.

I may be proven a fool in a week or two, but Lindsay Blackett's dance around his "reform package" re the Alberta Human Rights Code--including the repeal of Section 3--seems to be a gradual backing away from action. We've gone from preparing to prepare to discuss the package in caucus, to preparing to vote on the reforms in caucus, to deferring the pre-debate discussion, to hinting at a deferral in the package itself.

Quite a statement if Ezra can't even get a reform package passed in his home province (by a Majority Conservative Legislature!).

Will Alberta Tories Move To Strip Hate Speech Provisions From Provincial Code?

Today, the Alberta government caucus is expected to vote on reforms to the province's human rights code.

Story is dated March 12, 2009.