So I’m sitting here writing my next FrontPage article when I hear a loud knock at the door. I get Arnie in case it is some crazy, I dunno, Amish person out to kill me.
Turns out it’s a Liberal guy with a flyer.
“No thanks, we’re voting Conservative…”
“Well,” the young guy says, “I just happen to have Michael Ignatieff right here. Would you like to talk to him?”
Arnie and I are standing there in our All Our Real Clothes Are In the Laundry outfits, and we both start laughing because we are thinking the same thing, but what can you do?
So Ignatieff comes over and shakes our hands and I explain that we are mostly concerned about Section 13 and Human Rights Commissions over reach, and that we feel a Harper majority would go a long way into getting the war against free speech reigned in.
Ignatieff became very thoughtful and interested. He clearly knew what we were talking about, and said he believed that “hate speech” complaints should be heard in criminal court and not the HRCs.
He assured us that many Liberal MPs were very concerned about this issue, too.
“Everyone’s principles are important,” he added. “I’m not trying to get you to vote Liberal instead” — which, let’s face it, is a pretty original retail politics strategy.
I said I knew, because every time a new MP of any party expressed support for the free speech cause, Ezra Levant posted on it on his blog, oh and by the way Ezra and I and other bloggers are being sued etc etc.
He shook his head in consternation at that. His campaign workers were gently trying to get him to go over to another condo so obviously we didn’t want to keep him any longer. He thanked us for our time and assured us that the issue really was on the minds of many Liberals.
We are still voting Conservative because we prefer their brand of baloney to all the rest (especially the Liberals brand, which is more like expired olive loaf at this point).
But Ignatieff seemed very well informed and “on side” with the issue. Make of that what you will.
PS: the National Citizens Coaliton has a new campaign, timed to coincide with the election, called “Stop the Free Speech Police.” They’re hoping to raise awareness about the issue through radio spots and billboards, as they’ve done with other issues in the past. Check it out and see what you think.
