Remain Vigilant, The Fight Against Dangerous Legislation Like Bill C-10 Has Only Just Begun

InsightSpencerFernando

Does anyone really think the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc will simply give up on their effort to restrict freedom and silence their opponents?

Bill C-10 will not pass in the Senate.

Bill C-36 never even got to the Senate.

So, with the Senate session over, it appears that both pieces of legislation won’t become law.

This is good news:

“We did it! Parliament did not pass censorship bill C-10. Sign here to continue the fight for free speech: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI

And, while there is cause for celebration, Pierre Poilievre makes a point that we are well aware of:

The fight isn’t over.

The ‘authoritarian left,’ who can also be referred to as the ‘Neo-Communists’, won’t stop trying to restrict individual freedom and silencing those they disagree with.

They will either try to pass Bill C-10 and Bill C-36 again, or if an election happens and they remain in control of Parliament, they’ll bring in similar legislation.

The long game

One thing we’ve seen is that the neo-coms play the long game.

While Conservatives often focus on elections, the left is constantly active, seeking to gain control of all the levers of society – particularly the education system.

Thus, even when Conservatives win a campaign, the country continues shifting to the left. And, without any sustained pushback, ‘conservativism’ becomes more and more like the left, losing any sense of coherence and meaning.

The left remains active, while the right is in reactive mode.

The left controls much of the framing, and is more effective at mobilizing their supporters.

Yet, the reaction to Bill C-10 and Bill C-36 has been a rare example of conservative Canadians pushing back successfully.

As was previously reported, Conservative leader Erin O’Toole had originally claimed in a Caucus meeting that C-10 wouldn’t be a big deal, and the party wasn’t initially that opposed to it.

But once conservative Canadians started to really fight back and express strong opposition, the CPC mobilized against it, and managed to put the Liberals on the defensive.

By defending the principles of free expression and free speech, Conservatives were able to draw further and further attention to how dangerous the legislation was, and generated enough opposition (and even some doubt among some government MPs) to slow things down.

Further, despite Steven Guilbeault urging the Senate to quickly pass C-10, Senators refused.

We have power

What we’ve learned from the fight against Bill C-10 is that we have power.

C-10 would already have been passed into law, if not for the efforts of people like you who spoke out, contacted your MP, and made your opposition known.

This strength and this ability to fight back has always been within us, and it will continue to be there in the future. The government wanted you to believe you were powerless, but we have shown otherwise.

Now, the government will want you to let your guard down. They want to wait until attention shifts elsewhere, and then they will push forward again in their effort to restrict freedom.

So, we must continue to be vigilant.

As noted in the Toronto Sun, Steven Guilbeault is now trying to tell reporters how to do their jobs:

“The latest concerning news is that Guilbeault has now issued a guidebook for reporters and news organizations on what they should do to combat “disinformation and misinformation.”

Guilbeault’s department – as described by online news organization Blacklock’s Reporter – will detail “concrete action they will take to implement the guiding principles” within a year.

The minister said: “We have to act now.”

This is disturbing language from a politician who has already displayed a shocking degree of ignorance when it comes to the nature of freedom of expression.

Both Bill C-10 and Bill C-36 are examples of Guilbeault’s mistaken view that government should have a say in policing and controlling online content and what Canadians say and do online.

He’s bizarrely spoken in the past about the need to shield public servants from facing public criticism.

This new guidebook is bad news. While the issue of misinformation is a real one and news organizations would be right to concern themselves with the subject, this is not the domain of government.”

So, while many of us are rightfully celebrating the temporary defeat of Bill C-10, Guilbeault and the radical left are already moving forward with more efforts to expand their power.

That’s why we must have a real shift in mindset.

We cannot look at this as one battle against one piece of legislation.

Instead, we must realize this is a constant, never-ending, permanent battle between those of us who value freedom, and those who seek to turn Canada into something resembling Communist China.

The fight doesn’t ‘end,’ and the complacency that follows an apparent victory is often the most dangerous moment of all.

Entrench freedom of speech

Increasingly, the radical left have gained the influence necessary to push the government to entrench their worldview through legislation.

Thus, it is not enough to simply oppose those efforts.

Common-sense Canadians who value freedom need to go further, and entrench freedom of speech and freedom of expression in Canada’s laws.

We need to promote and pass legislation that entrenches freedom of expression, by explicitly stopping the government from subsidizing the media, by defunding CBC, and by stating with clarity that decisions over social media algorithms and content moderation will not be made by the government.

That legislation should also be framed in such a way that the purpose is clear, promoting it as ‘Legislation to Defend The Free Expression Rights of Canadians.’

Thus, if the Liberals/NDP/Bloc ever sought to oppose or repeal it, they would be rhetorically put on the defensive. This would be a reversal of what the left usually does, putting Conservatives on the defensive.

The fact is, the fight against Bill C-10 has shown that many millions of Canadians support free expression and reject the radical left’s agenda of censorship, and the fight must go on to ensure that Canada is a nation where freedom flourishes.

Spencer Fernando

Photo – YouTube

***

If you support Spencer’s work, you can contribute through PayPal, or directly through Stripe.

[simpay id=”28904″]