Monday, December 14, 2009

Speaking out on gag laws

The reaction to my speech on election gag laws, which I recently delivered at a Free Speech and Liberty Symposium, has generated an extremely positive reaction.

And that's gratifying.

However, my real goal in delivering this talk was to help re-spark interest in the whole issue of free-election speech.

Sad to say, this issue has fallen off the radar lately, which is unfortunate because election gag laws deny all Canadians the right to free expression, not just those who wish to advertise. After all, free speech is a two way street; it means having the opportunity to speak and the opportunity to listen.

Simply put, gag laws prevent Canadians from getting all sides of a story.

So I am glad to see that writer/author Paul Tuns is blogging about how gag laws negatively impact on the Right to Life movement.

Similarly, Rightchik is urging Canadians on her blog to contact Prime Minister Harper and demand he scrap the gag law.

I hope other bloggers follow their lead.

Anyway, I would like to thank Joseph Ben-Ami of the Canadian Centre for Policy Studies, which organized the symposium, for giving me the chance to speak out on this matter.

It was a great event.

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