The Trudeau government is again escalating its talk about censorship, again using the war in Ukraine to justify its right to the the virtual search and seizure of what you can view over the internet..On Monday Foreign Minister Minister Mélanie Joly said it is not enough to just ban “disinformation” from Russia on the internet but it has to go further and ban any such disinformation on any internet platform..“We’ve banned Russia Today and Sputnik on the broadcasting side,” Joly testified at the House of Commons foreign affairs committee. “We’ve pushed digital platforms to also ban them but we need to do more.”.Why do they need to do more? Does Joly imagine that Canada is at war with Russia and she has a mandate to censor any material relating to that war?.Apparently so..“My mandate as foreign minister is really to counter propaganda online,” Joly said..I have news for Joly. That is not her mandate. Just as it has not been the mandate of the overreaching Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who called censorship of the internet a “very important and complex issue.” This is the same yahoo who described Bill C-10, an act to censor the internet, “nothing to do with free speech.”.As the Freedom Convoy saga underlined, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau does not believe in free speech. He crushes it and puts those exercising that right in prison, freezes their bank accounts and takes away their livelihoods..He does not like any opposition from the media either and has blatantly and outrageously attempted to buy journalists in the same manner as a gangster would pay off police officers. It is a sickening violation of free speech and democracy and the fundamental reasons the Western Standard does not accept any government money..So if we are not at war with Russia why shouldn’t we be allowed to view Russian propaganda? And for that matter why are we being allowed to watch Ukrainian propaganda?.Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky recently banned 11 opposition parities, alleged because they had ties with Russia – how convenient. He merged all government communications because it made things simpler – just like the CBC. Ukraine is not a paragon of democracy – it was not before the war and it is not one during the war and it will likely not be one after the war. So let’s stop pretending this war is so black and white when the ethnic, religious and language hatred in the conflict are profound, troubling and centuries old..There have been numerous reports of Ukrainian troops shooting the knee-caps of Russian prisoners of war this week. The accounts are quite viable but much of the U.S. and Canadian media have immediately written off these stories as Russian disinformation and if Joly has her way, we will not be allowed to assess the truth for ourselves..And that is the basis of all censorship and the fundamental basis of the Trudeau government. We the people are never allowed to assess anything – especially the news – for ourselves. We are not part of the political elites who rule this country, not part of the Liberal-NDP coalition of jacuzzi Marxists who decide what is acceptable to view on the internet and what is too dangerous to see because it might provoke some sort of unacceptable political response..Good God, it might incite another “fringe element” convoy to occupy those precious Ottawa streets and upset the bureaucratic drones who inhabit those government buildings on Wellington St..We now have three ministers of censorship in the Trudeau government, the prime minister, the heritage minister and the foreign affairs minister. That’s three too many. All three should be fighting for free speech..Trudeau exercises his free speech all the time, blaming his blackface routines on the racism in Montreal, standing in front of the European Parliament and lauding democracy just after he violently broke up a peaceful demonstration..He should learn to live with a little dissent. And like it..David Krayden is the Senior Parliamentary Columnist for the Western Standard
The Trudeau government is again escalating its talk about censorship, again using the war in Ukraine to justify its right to the the virtual search and seizure of what you can view over the internet..On Monday Foreign Minister Minister Mélanie Joly said it is not enough to just ban “disinformation” from Russia on the internet but it has to go further and ban any such disinformation on any internet platform..“We’ve banned Russia Today and Sputnik on the broadcasting side,” Joly testified at the House of Commons foreign affairs committee. “We’ve pushed digital platforms to also ban them but we need to do more.”.Why do they need to do more? Does Joly imagine that Canada is at war with Russia and she has a mandate to censor any material relating to that war?.Apparently so..“My mandate as foreign minister is really to counter propaganda online,” Joly said..I have news for Joly. That is not her mandate. Just as it has not been the mandate of the overreaching Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who called censorship of the internet a “very important and complex issue.” This is the same yahoo who described Bill C-10, an act to censor the internet, “nothing to do with free speech.”.As the Freedom Convoy saga underlined, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau does not believe in free speech. He crushes it and puts those exercising that right in prison, freezes their bank accounts and takes away their livelihoods..He does not like any opposition from the media either and has blatantly and outrageously attempted to buy journalists in the same manner as a gangster would pay off police officers. It is a sickening violation of free speech and democracy and the fundamental reasons the Western Standard does not accept any government money..So if we are not at war with Russia why shouldn’t we be allowed to view Russian propaganda? And for that matter why are we being allowed to watch Ukrainian propaganda?.Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky recently banned 11 opposition parities, alleged because they had ties with Russia – how convenient. He merged all government communications because it made things simpler – just like the CBC. Ukraine is not a paragon of democracy – it was not before the war and it is not one during the war and it will likely not be one after the war. So let’s stop pretending this war is so black and white when the ethnic, religious and language hatred in the conflict are profound, troubling and centuries old..There have been numerous reports of Ukrainian troops shooting the knee-caps of Russian prisoners of war this week. The accounts are quite viable but much of the U.S. and Canadian media have immediately written off these stories as Russian disinformation and if Joly has her way, we will not be allowed to assess the truth for ourselves..And that is the basis of all censorship and the fundamental basis of the Trudeau government. We the people are never allowed to assess anything – especially the news – for ourselves. We are not part of the political elites who rule this country, not part of the Liberal-NDP coalition of jacuzzi Marxists who decide what is acceptable to view on the internet and what is too dangerous to see because it might provoke some sort of unacceptable political response..Good God, it might incite another “fringe element” convoy to occupy those precious Ottawa streets and upset the bureaucratic drones who inhabit those government buildings on Wellington St..We now have three ministers of censorship in the Trudeau government, the prime minister, the heritage minister and the foreign affairs minister. That’s three too many. All three should be fighting for free speech..Trudeau exercises his free speech all the time, blaming his blackface routines on the racism in Montreal, standing in front of the European Parliament and lauding democracy just after he violently broke up a peaceful demonstration..He should learn to live with a little dissent. And like it..David Krayden is the Senior Parliamentary Columnist for the Western Standard
