OLDCORN: Religious freedom is not a bargaining chip for Carney's minority government Liberals

The Liberal government says it wants to curb hate. Fine. Most Canadians do.But the reported Liberal deal with the Bloc Quebecois over Bill C9 points in a different direction. It moves the criminal law away from punishing the worst actors and toward policing belief. .BLACKETT: The poisoned chalice — the ‘anti-woke’ bill that actually authorizes woke rule.To secure Bloc votes, Ottawa is expected to delete the Criminal Code defence for statements rooted in religious texts, which is what some groups describe as protection for “sincerely held” beliefs. It is the “good faith” defence, and it sits right in section 319. That defence is not a hall pass for bullies. It is one of the guardrails Parliament built so Canadians can speak about faith and morals without fearing that a prosecutor will read their scripture as a crime scene. .Section 319(3)(b) says a person cannot be convicted of wilfully promoting hatred if, “in good faith,” they expressed an opinion on a religious subject or one based on a belief in a religious text.There is another guardrail, and it matters just as much. Section 319(6) says no proceeding for wilful promotion of hatred (or antisemitism) can be started without the Attorney General’s consent. The same reporting suggests the Liberals may now drop their earlier plan to remove that consent requirement. .MACLEOD: Pipeline promises, political games: Why Ottawa’s ‘lifeline’ to Alberta oil always ends in betrayal.Good. Ottawa should keep it.Supporters of scrapping the religious defence will say “relax” the courts only convict in extreme cases. They’re right about the legal test. The Supreme Court has stressed that hate speech, in law, is not “speech someone hates.” .It is closer to vilification. The kind aimed at exposing a group to detestation. In Saskatchewan (Human Rights Commission) v. Whatcott, the court set that high bar. In R. v. Keegstra, the court upheld the Criminal Code hate propaganda offence as a narrow, exceptional limit on expression — one that still has to fit under the Charter’s “reasonable limits” rule in section 1. .JOHNSON: Remember the ArriveCAN scandal? New ‘bait and switch’ report exposes systemic problem in federal procurement.That is exactly why this Liberal Bloc move is reckless.The law may be narrow on paper, but broad in how people experience it. Most Canadians are not lawyers. Many pastors, priests, rabbis, and imams are not lawyers, either. .If Parliament signals that quoting scripture is no longer a recognized defence, people will self-censor. They will avoid hard questions. They will dodge sermons that touch sexuality, marriage, gender, salvation, and sin.These are the very topics religious communities exist to talk about..MCCRAE: Brodie vs. Chief Casimir in the Kamloops ‘mass graves’ controversy.That chilling effect is not a theory. It is basic human nature. If you are a parent speaking at a school board meeting, do you risk a complaint over a clumsy sentence? If you are a small-town minister, do you keep preaching the hard parts when Ottawa has erased the words “good faith” from the list of defences?.Ottawa is doing this while hate crime is already rising and tensions are already high. Statistics Canada reported 4,777 police reported hate crimes in 2023, up 32% from 2022, and more than double the count from four years earlier.So yes, something is wrong out there. But if Parliament responds by narrowing legal protections for lawful religious speech, it will not stop the people who are already beyond shame..McTEAGUE: From backroom deal to boondoggle: This is no way to build a pipeline.The true extremist does not need a Bible verse to spew poison. He will do it anyway. And when he does, prosecutors already have tools to prosecute, such as threats, harassment, mischief, intimidation, and the existing hate propaganda provisions, with a high bar built in. What Parliament should fix is enforcement, not doctrine..Bill C9 itself is not small potatoes. As introduced, it would create a new hate propaganda offence tied to the public display of certain hate or terror symbols, among other changes. You can read the bill text at Parliament: Bill C-9 (first reading), and Justice Canada’s plain-language overview at Combatting Hate Act (Bill C-9). .SLOBODIAN: Is Canada secretly preparing for World War III? Inside the ‘three-to-five-year’ war warnings, shocking the military.The Bloc has tried before to erase the religious defence, including in Bill C-367 in 2023.Now, with a minority Parliament, the Liberals appear ready to hand the Bloc a win and tell the rest of Canada to trust that everyone down the line will be “reasonable.”Canadians should not bank their freedoms on good intentions..If Ottawa wants to fight hate, it should do it with precision. Keep the defences in section 319(3), including the good faith religious text defence. Keep the consent safeguard in section 319(6). Put resources into policing actual crimes. .MORGAN: Alberta unions declare war on direct democracy.And keep faith out of the bargaining bin.Deals come and go in Ottawa. Rights, once trimmed, are harder to restore.

OLDCORN: Religious freedom is not a bargaining chip for Carney's minority government Liberals

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