International Free Press Society Sounds Alarm About Suppression of Freedom Party's Anti-Racism Ads
January 30, 2011 by Paul McKeever · Leave a Comment
Last Tuesday, January 25, 2011, Freedom Party of Ontario released its latest plank for the October 6, 2011 Ontario provincial general election. Titled “Close Ontario’s Race-based Public Schools“, the plank promises that a Freedom government would close schools like the “Africentric Alternative School” that the Toronto District School Board voted, in 2008, to open…with neither Ontario’s governing Liberals nor the Progressive Conservative opposition doing anything to prevent the school from being opened.
Freedom Party also released three pre-election video ads January 25, 2011 to promote the plank. That evening, I was interviewed by Ryan Doyle and Tarek Fatah on their popular Friendly Fire radio show (CFRB 1010 AM, Toronto, nightly at 7:00 PM). Clearly, the ads, and the plank, were provocative and popular. Within hours, CTV Globemedia Inc. suppressed distribution of the Freedom Party pre-election ads by alleging to YouTube that the ads infringed their copyright. CTV has provided no indication of what they believe constitutes an infringement. However, it is noteworthy that thousands of CTV news clips are available on YouTube channels, including on channels belonging to politicians in the larger parties (e.g., Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae have CTV content on their channels)…yet CTV claims that it will not licence its news content to any political party…and numerous of its clips have been up on other politicians’ YouTube channels for years.
Suppressing the video on YouTube denied Freedom Party significant ability to have the video distribute virally, and to bring attention to the party. Many who had seen the video before CTV had it yanked are outraged. And, in fact, one of the world’s most noteworthy and influential free speech organizations – the International Free Press Society – has just released an official statement expressing concern over CTV’s suppression of Freedom Party’s ad. It is certainly worth a read.
Stay tuned. Freedom Party is currently preparing its own response to CTV’s suppressive action. In the meantime, you can see what CTV was suppressing by viewing Freedom Party’s Close Ontario’s Race-based Public Schools plank, and scrolling to near the bottom of the page, where Freedom Party of Ontario has made it available for your consideration.
Multiculturalism, Islam, and Censorship (was: Why Lars Hedegaard Is Being Tried)
January 22, 2011 by Paul McKeever · Leave a Comment
Lars Hedegaard is an author and founder of the Free Press Society in Denmark. Commencing January 24, 2011, he will be tried under Denmark’s law against the expression of “hate speech” for having stated that Muslim families “…rape their own children” and for thereby expressing contempt for a group defined by its faith (note: contrary to ignorant opinion, “Muslim” is a reference to ones religious beliefs, not to ones genetic make-up). Hedegaard has since explained that he did not intend to imply that all Muslim families engage in such conduct. Indeed, Hedegaard and all but the most ignorant of individuals take it as a given that rape does not happen in all Muslim families. And, clearly, neither Hedegaard nor any except the most unjust in society think it right morally to condemn a family for a crime that none of its members have committed. Yet, as insulting and offensive as Hedegaard’s statement was to people who did not give Hedegaard the benefit of the doubt, the fact of the matter is that Hedegaard’s punishment is not truly sought because he expressed a falsehood, offended Muslims, or turned some people against Muslims. His punishment is sought because he dared to think and judge for himself. By doing so, he – wittingly or unwittingly – attacked the foundations of collectivism. Read more
Randy Hillier: his heart's in the Right place, but is he?
January 17, 2011 by Paul McKeever · Leave a Comment
Over at the National Post’s blog, Progressive Conservative MPP Randy Hillier writes about his proposal to make a legislator’s pay increases contingent on increases in “the standard of living”. I agree with Hillier’s sentiment – that legislators should be more personally accountable for the harm they cause – but I disagree with his strategy (see a copy my critique of it – which I originally posted to the comments section of Hillier’s post – below). Such, it seems, is often the case: Hillier’s heart seems to be in the right place, but I disagree with his strategy.
Perhaps the most important aspect of this is Hillier’s strategy to bring into the Legislature MPPs who seek less government intervention in the economy. And so, for the first time, I will disclose an until-now never disclosed history of Hillier’s strategy. Read more
Reality Check: Ontario's Liberals and Progressive Conservatives on Global Warming and Climate Change
January 6, 2011 by Paul McKeever · 2 Comments
Many in Ontario believe – or want you to believe – that the provincial Liberals believe climate change to be the result of anthropogenic global warming, and that the Progressive Conservatives deny both anthropogenic global warming and climate change. They believe – or want you to believe – that Ontario’s Liberals want to reduce CO2 emissions in an effort to fight global warming, but that Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives oppose restrictions on CO2 emissions. As the official record quoted in this article will demonstrate, both beliefs are false, but one other official party in Ontario provides hope to voters who have not been drinking from Al Gore’s Kool-Aid pitcher. Read more