Free Speech Stifled

Of course you have free speech but there are certain segments of society that would prefer that you not exercise it. Tory MP Stephen Woodworth has introduced a motion to the House asking that a special committee be formed to study the legal definition of human life. The response is worth noting.

“We know the Prime Minister likes to control his message. He wouldn’t let his Conservative do something that he didn’t agree with,” Mulcair said in Question Period. “Can the Prime Minister tell Canadians why he allowed his Conservative MPs to reopen the debate on abortion?”

In other words, the opposition leader is asking the PM why he didn't muzzle his backbencher. Mr. Harper's response is also interesting.

”Every private member can table bills and motions in this House. Party leaders don’t have any control over that. … This particular motion was deemed votable by an all-party committee of the House. I think that’s unfortunate. In my case I will be voting against the motion.”

The PM is expressing his regret that an issue is going to be brought to be debated at all. We are living in a country that stifles free speech and prevents elected members of parliament from exercising their rights.

The faculty of Notre Dame is doing virtually the same thing to Bishop Daniel Jenky, the only bishop on their Board of Fellows. In a homily on April 14 he said

Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care. In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama – with his radical, pro abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path.

The Notre Dame faculty responded by shifting the debate from a discussion of the HHS mandate to outrage over his comments about Hitler and Stalin.

In their letter, the Notre Dame faculty acknowledged that Bishop Jenky’s comments are protected under the First Amendment, but said they found it “profoundly offensive that a member of our beloved university’s highest authority, the Board of Fellows, should compare the President’s actions with those whose genocidal policies murdered tens of millions of people, including the specific targeting of Catholics, Jews, and other minorities for their faith.”

In all of these examples the attempt to stifle debate and prevent certain questions from being discussed in the public arena is obvious. When Hitler gained power as a result of the enabling legislation in 1933, most of his opposition voluntarily disbanded in the months following.

PM Harper pledges to vote against pro-life motion, says ‘unfortunate’ it was deemed votable

Notre Dame professors demand removal of bishop who blasted Obama’s HHS mandate

Full text of Bishop Jenky's homily at men's march and Mass