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February 01, 2008

Flock of pigs sighted over Victoria

Ezra Levant reports a motion by Keith Martin, Liberal MP for Victoria.

That, in the opinion of the House, subsection 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act should be deleted from the Act

Elementary justice may not have to wait for that Conservative majority after all.

Totally unrelated update: We all know about the death of Russian celebrity bodyguard Anna Loginova, right? No offense to Ezra but I have my traffic readership to consider.

Update: Keith Martin in a scrum at the House of Commons foyer (via Mark Steyn).

"Constituents of mine brought it up to me recently and they've shown me the legal implications of what's been going on. And I think the debate over freedom of speech must happen in our country and really I think it's fairly simple. We have hate crimes legislation thankfully in our country. If something is deemed to fall under hate crimes then it should go into a court, it should be dealt with through the courts and be dealt with accordingly. Anything else that is not deemed to be a hate crime people should be allowed to say whether you agree or vehemently oppose it. Thankfully, we have a country where we're allowed to speak our mind."

Update: The Canadian Press puts "right-wing bloggers" and "extreme right adherents" in neighbouring paragraphs. It is almost as if they wish to equate the two (and their commentary missed Lifesite...).

The cases of Levant and Maclean's writer Mark Steyn have sparked much furious debate, nowhere more so than among right-wing bloggers. They point to the cases as proof that the Canadian Human Rights Act is being used to gag free speech in general and Christian conservatives in particular.

The extreme right adherents at stormfront were clearly thrilled to find a member of the Liberal party, which introduced the act and prides itself as the party of the Charter of Rights, joining their crusade.

Warren Kinsella believes it is "pathetic" Liberal leaders have permitted one of their own to try to dismantle the Human Rights act. Not to fear, Stephane Dion wants Martin to withdraw his motion. Looks like those flying pigs have gone home to roost.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at February 1, 2008 07:21 AM

Comments

I'm only mildly surprised by this. Martin was one of the first MP's I ever voted for, after speaking with him for close to half an hour on the porch of my rented, shared home in Esquimalt one fine morning when I was temporarily unemployed as a much younger man. Back then, he was running under the Reform Party banner, so this is only so much of a stretch.

I don't think he's actually a Liberal, I just don't think he can stomach those running the Conservative Party of Canada right now.

Posted by: Damian [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 1, 2008 05:26 PM

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