Free Speech in Canada
Book Review: “You can’t have a democracy if citizens can’t propose new ideas and vigorously debate them… In 2024, the Trudeau government proposed Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, which is perhaps the biggest threat to free expression in Canada in decades.” (Free Speech in Canada p.5, 18) Not only in Canada but throughout the western world, new hate speech laws are being enacted that are saddling citizens and journalists with huge fines and even jail time just for things they are saying and/or posting online. Sound scary? It should! Nothings shuts down free speech more effectively than the fear that you might be persecuted by the government if someone doesn’t like your ideas. It is one of the more unsettling developments of our time. “It's no coincidence that one of the first actions taken by authoritarian regimes is to limit the freedom of the press, which is the freedom to publish without government permission.” (Free Speech in Canada p.36) To understand this issue more...