Revolutionary Moderation

Timing is everything



Anyone who doubted that the social conservative wing of the Alliance is attempting to mark territory pre-merger need only listen to Rob Anders, Member of Parliament for Calgary-West, this week. Anders has elected to make a public stink about Bill c-250, which has already been passed by the House.



Let's review what c-250 is supposed to do. I can understand and sympathize with people who are suspicious of hate speech laws. The right to freedom of speech is central to a functioning democracy, and restricting that freedom is not something to be undertaken lightly. But given that we have such legislation, I think we should make sure it covers people who have actually faced genocidal actions taken against them. I think it should cover people who face intimidation and threats because of who they are.



When I wrote about it back in January, the fear-mongers were flogging a claim that c-250 would have police on doors, confiscating Bibles and locking up preachers. I argued then that the fear was absurd. Supporters of c250 felt the need to reassure, so the bill was amended to explicitly insure that no religious text would be restricted by this legislation. And yet Anders flogs his fear-mongering unabated.



So to the political question: why are we hearing about this now, will the bill in the hands of the Senate, who are unlikely to make changes? I think this might just be an effort from the soc-con wing of the Alliance to both deflect from the controversy around Larry Spencer, and yet reinforce the message Spencer sent last week: the new Conservative party will be open for business to bigots and homophobes. I think that merger forces need to consider Scott Brison's warning of turning two circumstantially unelectable parties into one permanently unelectable party. Harper and company need to step on this, hard, if they want a political future in Canada.