Free speach really is dead.

Free speech really is dead.

I took the time back in August for a moment to tune into the Canadian political scene. I noticed what I felt were the outrageous actions of the liberal party in asking a member of their team to resign, or rather lambasting him till he felt the need to resign because he had the outlandish opinion to say that he felt that we should:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060819/ mideast_MP_060821?s_name=&no_ads=

[quote]Wrzesnewskyj said Monday he favours changing Canada's laws that forbid any contact with known terrorist organizations. He said the law undermines efforts to seek lasting peace between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas after a brutal 33-day war.

But Hezbollah's terrorist status should not change, he said in an interview from Lebanon.

"I've said all along that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and will continue to be,'' Wrzesnewskyj said. "Where I have difficulty is with the legislation that says a group on the list cannot be communicated with.'' [/quote]

Now agree or disagree with this sentiment in a free and democratic society he should have been allowed to have a dissenting view and to not have been asked to resign, however that was not the case. He was lambasted by some of his fellow liberals, primarily members like the Honourable Dr Carolyn Bennett, and eventually felt forced to tender his resignation, which was happily accepted by Bill Graham the interim leader for the liberal party.

He was not offering funding, or saying we should support terrorism, he was being farsighted in realising that just like negotiations with the IRA we might someday have to have discussions with group like this if we are to achieve lasting peace in the middle east. Instead his opinion was viewed in the most negative way possible and he was forced to resign his position.

There were so many things in my opinion wrong with these actions. Even if a conservative MP had made such statements I doubt he would have been asked to resign.

However this was a liberal MP making this statement and he was forced out of his position. I was so incensed by the complete lack of backbone this party was showing that I felt the need to write a letter immediately. Ever since the sponsorship scandal the party has shown a lack of backbone and they are continually walking on egg shells to improve their image, however in my opinion this is doing nothing for their image or making me likely to vote for them until such time as they do regain a back bone.

Anyways, I wrote a letter to Bill Graham expressing my disappointment in his accepting the resignation and I wrote a letter to Mr Wrzesnewskyj to support his right to have an opinion without then having to feel the need to resign because of it. In a free democratic society it's my opinion that such things should not happen.

However in our increasing move towards police state this does not seem to be the case, more times than not. Well I can tell you that I was disappointed to not hear back from either party. However in Mr Wrzesnewskyj case I am not clear on if he was still getting his email after resigning from his position.

I was however happy to receive in my mail box a couple of weeks this letter.

[quote]-----Original Message-----From:
dialogue_diplomacy_peacekeeping_we_support_borysw@hotma
il.comTo:
dialogue_diplomacy_peacekeeping_we_support_borysw@hotma
il.comSent: Fri, 1 Sep 2006 4:12 PMSubject: Letters of Support

Dear Madam or Sir,

As you are no doubt aware Borys Wrzesnewskyj M.P. took a principled stand on the most recent war in the Middle East for which he has paid a political price, resigning as the Associate Critic for Foreign Affairs.

If you are interested in writing a letter of support regarding
Borys' position please send one to the individuals below or refer to the example letters attached to this e-mail.

Hon. Bill Graham, P.C., M.P. Interim Liberal Leader grahab@parl.gc.ca (613) 992-5234 tel.
Hon. Ralph Goodale, P.C., M.P. Opposition House Leader goodar@parl.gc.ca (613) 996-4743 Hon. Karen Redman, P.C., M.P. Whip redmak@parl.gc.ca (613) 995-8913
cc. Borys Wrzesnewskyj M.P. wrzesb@parl.gc.ca Regards, Friends of Borys [/quote]

I decided to resend out my letters again expressing my deep disappointment at this liberal who was no longer allowed to have free speech in a democratic society or a dissenting opinion without having to resign. At least in Russia they just sent you to Siberia.

I never did hear back from any of the people I wrote to once again, and clearly the letter writing campaign that this poster tried to start had no affect in getting these critical individuals to change their minds.

I think it's sad that free speech and our once democratic society is no longer. I again look back to how things were not such a long time ago and I again think of how much the world had changed, and I realise it's not for the better.

Dissenting views and opinions are being silenced at all levels of society and it's a shame that this is the case.

I am however thrilled to see that there are a few people who still are willing to not go along with this. I hope more people will start to wake up to the reality of how truly one sided things are becoming in our society.Free speach and the right to dissenting views are what makea free society and democratic society such, and when this is not the case, then your society has become something that is quite the opposite.