If this Liberal government set up a Ministry of Truth, would you trust it?.Of course not..But in that cunning little system Ottawa Liberals have of paying people to tell them what they want to hear, a grand Mikado empowered to establish what you can and can’t say is exactly what they want, and probably the grassroots demand they’re trying to coax..Blacklock’s Reporter last week described a Senate committee hearing in which a BC anti-racism group petitioned senators for what they called a national “disinformation reporting system.”.Keep in mind, Ottawa already wants to censor legal internet content..Should you be concerned?.I sure am..First, here’s the way this works. Having determined what they want, the Liberals fund an advocacy group. The group then tells the government to do what it has already decided it wants to do. But, it looks like the government is responding to engaged citizens..A month ago I described how a Liberal government-funded anti-hate group was actually highlighting moms and dads running for an Ontario school board, because they objected to having their their kids taught contemporary gender theories. Seriously..How hateful is that?.But in Liberal Canada, government-inspired demands for social change is established practice — the Liberals do it all the time. Decades ago, for example, a previous Liberal government set up the Court Challenges Program to fund legal expenses for people challenging Canadian law..This was a racket: If they didn’t like a law, they could have changed it in Parliament. But the Liberals chose to run it through the courts, as a well-chosen judge could always be found to advance a progressive cause that would never survive a parliamentary debate..When Stephen Harper took office in 2006, he got rid of it right away..When the Liberals took power again in 2015, it was one of the first things they put back..Why?.Because Conservatives just want people to have good government..Liberals want Canadians to be good people — as they define good..In this Senate presentation we’re talking about, a Vancouver-based group called Foundation for a Path Forward received more than $88,000 from Ottawa this year. And they’re the ones now pitching a truth ministry to the Senate. Or as they describe it, a disinformation reporting system..This ‘path forward’ group is about as lefty as they come, but in Canada they have a perfect right to be lefties. Conservatives believe it’s a free country so you’re free to take your cornball lefty ideas to the public marketplace of ideas and see who buys..Right?.Yes, but people on the left don’t think that. In this Senate hearing, one participant said she saw “no reason why governments cannot work to restrict certain speech.”.This whole Senate discussion arose in the context of Islamophobia. And of course, it’s always wrong to discriminate against people on the basis of their skin colour or their religion..However, give the left a “disinformation reporting system” for one thing, and they’ll get the government to shut down any ideas they don’t like — and of course, facts and arguments the.Liberal government itself finds inconvenient..As it is, it’s been hard enough to talk about COVID-19, vaccines, mandates, or climate change or even get funding for a scholarly paper that’s off-message with the Liberal government..(See column by Western Standard writer Linda Slobodian.).How much harder do we want to see it become?.If there ever were a government-run system to adjudicate truth, it would be incredibly dangerous to the Anglo-American free-speech tradition — and to freedom itself..In fact it’s dangerous to anybody who uses the government to push a point of view. Things can change: In the saddle today, under the horse’s heels tomorrow..But for now, that’s what all this is about..The Liberals use tax dollars to pay people to tell them what they want to hear..On Remembrance Day, if you’re looking for something to stand on guard for, stand on guard for this.
