CLC Blog

Mr. Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Minister of Heritage, seems to be busy at work eroding our freedoms, taking particular aim at "unapproved" speech.

Last November, Mr. Guilbeault tabled Bill C-10, “An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act...” This rather innocuous sounding proposal contains some sweeping, radical changes. It places the entirety of the Canadian internet under the bureaucratic auspices of the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission). The CRTC will then regulate the internet’s content for diversity, prioritizing “Canadians from racialized communities and Canadians of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, abilities and disabilities, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and ages.”

If that added level of government meddling weren’t concerning enough, Mr. Guilbeault more recently announced plans to target and penalize so-called “online hate speech”. (That is newspeak for online speech rejected by the Liberal Party). He said, “there will be a new regulator [which] will implement the new rules and monitor hate speech.” He also promised additional legislation to control the media, coming this spring.

This is a strange agenda for a Minister of Heritage to push. Shouldn’t he be protecting our Canadian heritage, instead of working to destroy it? That heritage is summed up so beautifully in just one line – the preamble to our constitution:

Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.

We have a wonderful, rich, biblically-rooted heritage that recognizes some basic, fundamental human rights and freedoms – freedom of thought, expression, belief, religion, freedom of association and assembly, freedom of the press, the right to life and liberty. These are values at the core of our free society – values that our forefathers fought and died to protect. Shouldn’t a Minister of Heritage defend our Canadian heritage?

Above: Thorold, Ontario War Memorial / Source: ontariowarmemorials.blogspot.com

Instead, it appears that Mr. Guilbeault is doing his utmost to undermine and subvert our heritage by pushing for speech police, censorship, and strict controls on the media and internet. These are absolutely foreign, un-Canadian concepts. If Mr. Guilbeault has his way, what were once free and open channels of communication – where ideas could be exchanged and differences aired – will become a propaganda mouthpiece for the government.

The media and internet will become the new Pravda, where truth takes a back seat to the party line.

Perhaps Mr. Guilbeault should be designated the Minister of Un-Heritage, because this agenda has absolutely nothing to do with our inherited Canadian values!

Mr. Jay Cameron of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms said this about Bill C-10: “It is clear from recent statements by the PM and the Heritage Minister that the federal government wants to increase control and penalties for speech and content that is not approved of by the ideologues in the Liberal Party. Unsurprisingly, the purpose of Bill C-10 is not to increase freedom of ‘thought, belief, opinion, and expression’ (section 2(b) of the Charter) but to further restrict it.”

We know where Mr. Guilbeault and Mr. Trudeau are headed. The behaviour of the Liberal government over the last six years has made it abundantly clear. This “online hate speech” legislation could very well launch a 21st century witch hunt – and pro-life, pro-family, pro-freedom, pro-faith Canadians are the new devils.

Above: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault

When evils like abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, the sexualization of our children, and the mockery of our faith are deemed “good”, which they increasingly are by many leading Liberals and leftists, then we who seek to uphold the true good will be deemed “evil”. We are in their cross-hairs!

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil. – Isaiah 5:20.

Mr. Guilbeault defends his agenda by saying that Canadians feel online hate speech is a problem. Presenting some recent survey results, he claims that Canadians are demanding government intervention. But what is this “hate speech” that he decries? How do Canadians define it? Are we all talking about the same thing?

If I had taken this survey, I would certainly agree that hate speech is a problem, because I experience it quite often! I hear the vilest, most offensive anti-Christian comments from pro-abort and pro-LGBT activists on social media. I have been ridiculed and threatened. So have other colleagues at Campaign Life Coalition. So have many pastors I know. But, somehow, I doubt that’s what Mr. Guilbeault is concerned about.

It’s actually my voice – and your voice – that he wants to silence. He wants to silence peaceful pro-life, pro-family Canadians by defining our speech as "hate".

Truly, I have no interest in Mr. Guilbeault safeguarding my ears and eyes online. That’s my own concern. And I think most Canadians feel the same way! We do not need “big brother” deciding what we can and cannot see online. No thank you.

In fact, I don’t believe Mr. Guilbeault is all that interested in protecting Canadians. Rather, I believe that Mr. Guilbeault’s true objective – and Justin Trudeau’s true objective from day one – is to consolidate and grow power.

The push for censorship and the regulation of speech and thought is what I call “totalitarian creep”. It is eerily reminiscent of the rise of Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist party in pre-war Germany.

After the Nazis narrowly won the German vote in 1932, they worked tirelessly to consolidate their grip on power by demonizing their political rivals and casting them as enemies of the state. They successfully divided and discredited all effective opposition, creating a clear pathway to totalitarian control for themselves. The fire in the Bundestag – which many believe was a manufactured crisis – was the ultimate excuse to eliminate the opposition in 1933. Later that year, all other political parties were banned. The rest, as they say, is history – tragic, lamentable, preventable history.

Above: Adolf Hitler with Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels

Is Canada following in Germany’s footprints? Are Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Guilbeault leading us as lambs to the slaughter? Are they trying to exploit the recent U.S. Capitol riot as an excuse to clamp down on the opposition? This is our concern – for ourselves, for our families, for our country, and for our future!

That is why I am asking you to reach out to your Member of Parliament today to head off this upcoming “online hate speech” legislation. We expect Bill C-10 to move forward in the House of Commons soon. We also expect Mr. Guilbeault will shortly table his new “hate speech” regulatory framework for the media and internet.

We need to step up to this new battle for freedom with the courage and dedication of our forefathers. Not only are our freedoms at stake, the wonderful heritage of our nation is in jeopardy.

Please click here to send a message to your MP today. We have a number of pre-scripted suggestions that you can use, or simply write your own email.

Thank you and God bless Canada.

Yours for Life, Family, Faith, and Freedom,

David Cooke
National Campaigns Manager
Campaign Life Coalition

P.S. Click here to send a message to your MP to oppose Bill C-10: https://www.votervoice.net/CALIFE/campaigns/83962/respond