Free Speech to criticize our federal politicians was removed by the Canadian Liberal Party and the Supreme Court of
Canada upheld it ... not so much in the
good old USA:
Justice Scalia began his concurrence by writing:
"A Moroccan cartoonist once defended his criticism of the Moroccan monarch (lese majesteé being a serious crime in
Morocco) as follows: ‘I'm not a revolutionary, I'm just defending freedom of speech . . . I never said we had to change the
king -- no, no, no, no! But I said that some things the king is doing, I do not like. Is that a crime?'
"Well, in the United States (making due allowance for the fact that we have elected representatives instead of a king)
it is a crime, at least if the speaker is a union or a corporation (including not-for-profit public-interest corporations)
and if the representative is identified by name within a certain period before a primary or congressional election in which
he is running."
Ouch.
I agree ... Ouch.
Of course the Supreme Court of the United States need not look so far a Moroco, Canada is right next door. We made speech by individuals
illegal for the full run of a Federal election campaign. Worse, the Supreme Court of Canada said that the law was a
necessary infringement to our freedom of expression, thus turning our freedom of expression into a privilege and not a
right. However, as with McCain Feingold in the USA, the Canadian Election Spending Legislation probably will not hold up
to judicial scrutiny once someone is actually charged under the act.
(Via Instapundit ... cross-posted
at The London Fog)
