Juno News - The legacy media doesn’t care about free speech

00:00:00.660 You're tuned in to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:00:06.200 Welcome back to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:00:08.820 I've been covering the last few shows, this forthcoming legislation that Heritage Minister

00:00:13.840 Stephen Gilbeau has promised to regulate online speech.

00:00:18.240 And the reason I'm talking about it again is because no one else is.

00:00:22.540 For example, Stephen Gilbeau mentioned, and this is what I said on Tuesday's show, that

00:00:27.340 the online hate definition will be based on a Supreme Court decision that actually took

00:00:32.560 a very non-inclusive view of, and I don't mean inclusive in the like Justin Trudeau diversity

00:00:38.620 is our strength sense, but I mean inclusive in the sense of what is legal and what is

00:00:43.000 acceptable, a very non-inclusive view of free speech by focusing more on harms and by saying

00:00:48.780 that, you know what, even speech that's true could conceivably be hateful.

00:00:52.580 And the reason this is so important is because that story got a little bit of coverage in

00:00:58.560 French media, La Presse.

00:01:00.180 No English media covered it, except for True North.

00:01:03.200 No English media picked up that story.

00:01:05.500 And similarly, when he's been in an ongoing basis talking about this, almost no one has

00:01:11.040 asked the questions through the lens of free speech.

00:01:13.540 What are you actually going to do?

00:01:15.660 What is this legislation actually going to be about?

00:01:17.700 When we talk about free speech and all of the aspects of society that are connected to

00:01:24.480 it, it's astonishing how few advocates there are for it.

00:01:29.740 And this is something that used to be a lot more unanimous than it is now.

00:01:35.340 For example, when the Canadian Human Rights Commission had its Section 13, which was the

00:01:40.020 online hate speech provision that was taken away, it was rescinded by the Conservatives, there

00:01:46.280 were a lot of people on the left and the right, your old school liberals, that said, you know

00:01:51.320 what, this is wrong.

00:01:53.020 People in the mainstream media, journalists that said, you know what, this is actually

00:01:56.340 pretty chilling to free speech and stood up and opposed it on principle.

00:02:00.180 When Ezra Levant and Mark Stein were fighting these commissions, they were actually getting

00:02:05.240 support from people who were their political opponents because everyone realized or enough

00:02:10.460 people realized, you know what, we can't have these institutions that have mandates

00:02:14.200 to censor.

00:02:15.620 Well, now what's happening, the liberals are bringing back Section 13 with a vengeance.

00:02:19.660 They're bringing back a much more powerful and supercharged version of it, which is still

00:02:24.440 aiming to enforce a definition of hate speech that is distinct from the definition that exists

00:02:30.140 in the criminal code and the definition that actually exists in Canadian laws.

00:02:33.940 They're creating a new definition which only serves to restrict and hinder free speech.

00:02:40.020 And who's standing up?

00:02:43.340 Who is standing up for it?

00:02:44.780 Where's Amnesty?

00:02:45.780 Where's Penn Canada?

00:02:46.880 Where's Canadian journalists for free expression?

00:02:49.480 In a lot of ways, I have to ask, where are the Conservatives?

00:02:52.640 I asked Conservative leader Aaron O'Toole at a press conference about this, and I want

00:02:57.020 you to take a listen to his answer.

00:02:58.980 Good morning, Mr. O'Toole.

00:03:00.280 The Heritage Minister has said that the government will imminently be introducing legislation to tackle

00:03:05.740 what it says is online hate, and Minister Gilboa has said that the definition will be based

00:03:11.600 on the Watcott Supreme Court decision, which was one that had focused more on harm than

00:03:16.820 free speech, and had actually at one point had said that something could be truthful but still

00:03:22.000 qualify as hate speech.

00:03:24.460 And I'm curious for you as the leader of a party that repealed Section 13 of the Human Rights

00:03:29.320 Act and someone who stood up for free speech in the leadership, what your thoughts are on

00:03:33.460 this forthcoming legislation.

00:03:35.740 I've stood up for free speech in this parliamentary session when the Prime Minister, Mr. Trudeau,

00:03:41.840 suggested it wasn't a priority when it's a fundamental pillar.

00:03:46.220 We saw President Macron call Prime Minister Legault or Premier Legault before he called Prime Minister

00:03:52.600 Trudeau.

00:03:53.960 This week, Andrew, we've actually been focused on the MindGeek Pornhub situation where we

00:03:59.440 have to protect our most vulnerable online.

00:04:02.060 Some of the testimony we've heard is literally heartbreaking, and the fact that a company that

00:04:08.980 was originated in Canada and had that presence, the fact that we're not shutting down these

00:04:17.960 ability for the vulnerable to be exploited online is a travesty.

00:04:22.440 So we'll see what the government brings forward, but we want to make sure that the most vulnerable

00:04:26.820 with online exploitation is an immediate priority.

00:04:30.600 You know, I think the MindGeek Pornhub issue is a very important one.

00:04:34.520 I think protecting the vulnerable from online harm is a very important issue.

00:04:38.080 I don't think it has anything to do with the question that I asked.

00:04:40.620 And apart from that very tacit endorsement of free speech in a general sense at the beginning,

00:04:46.440 there was nothing to do with free speech in his answer.

00:04:49.980 Now, I didn't ask that as a softball, but I am fully aware that asking a conservative

00:04:55.940 to stand up for free speech is probably one of the easiest things you can do.

00:05:00.440 That's like just a no-brainer for people on the right to say, well, yes, you know,

00:05:03.920 free speech is great and this is terrible and here's why.

00:05:06.400 And it was Brian Storseth, a conservative MP who led the charge to rescind Section 13.

00:05:13.740 It was conservative MPs on the Justice Committee even last year that were actually doing their

00:05:19.040 work, or it might have been 2019 rather, that were doing their work to push back against

00:05:23.600 some of the discussions in committee that led to this legislation indirectly.

00:05:29.280 But Erin O'Toole was asked a very clear question, could not give an answer that was standing

00:05:33.500 up against this with the exception of, well, we'll see what the government does.

00:05:37.060 Well, we already know.

00:05:38.320 We already know what the government is putting out here because they've told us.

00:05:44.340 Now, I would like to actually testify when this goes before committee.

00:05:48.120 I would like to testify before committee on this.

00:05:50.800 And I am going to tell you, if you have a conservative MP and you're riding, let them know,

00:05:55.280 especially if they're sitting on that committee.

00:05:56.720 I want to be there because we need free speech advocates right now to push back against this.

00:06:02.280 You know, there were enough cultural issues, cultural barriers to free speech right now

00:06:07.220 in society, from big tech, in all of these other ways.

00:06:10.640 We don't need a legal barrier on top of that.

00:06:14.280 We don't need yet another legal barrier, a tool to allow the government to get in bed with 1.00

00:06:19.240 big tech and censor people that, again, are guilty of something that is very ill-defined

00:06:24.260 or are believed to be.

00:06:27.140 Because that's the whole point of this.

00:06:28.540 This legislation that the government is looking at will penalize big tech if they do not censor.

00:06:35.240 But government is not doing the dirty work.

00:06:37.460 It's the tech companies that are.

00:06:39.300 And Minister Gilboa mentioned that, oh, well, you know, we should probably have an appeal

00:06:42.340 mechanism in place of some kind.

00:06:44.260 But I don't know if they're going to actually have that.

00:06:47.560 And the fact that he's acknowledged ramming this through because there might be an election,

00:06:51.720 so we have to work quickly, indicates that this won't be all that well thought out.

00:06:56.060 So I cannot stress how important this legislation is to watch, and I cannot stress my disappointment

00:07:03.000 that no one else is paying attention to it.

00:07:05.820 My message to you, and I know I've got members of parliament that listen to this show and read

00:07:09.960 my columns, and I'm very appreciative of it, but do not let this get by without a fight.

00:07:14.920 Thanks for listening to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:07:17.340 Support the program by donating to True North at www.tnc.news.

00:07:26.060 Thank you.

00:07:30.940 Thank you.

00:07:33.000 Thank you.

00:07:37.480 Thank you.

00:07:38.680 Thank you.

00:07:41.740 Thank you.

Juno News - February 06, 2021

The legacy media doesn’t care about free speech

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript