As the only officially visible political party represented at the Freedom of Speech dinner last June 18 (Weston Hotel, Toronto), we are proud to be able to say that we played an active role in supporting the National Citizens' Coalition's successful legal bid to quash the federal government's controversial Bill C-169. The government's bill effectively made it an offence for non-partisan political groups and individuals to commercially promote their political opinions during a federal election campaign.

Disgracefully, it was supported by all three major political parties, which no doubt accounted for their conspicuous lack of presence at the fundraiser.

The support given to the National Citizens' Coalition by Freedom Party was admittedly nominal (and specifically intended to aid their effort to defeat Bill C -169) --- but that's hardly the point. We felt that political parties left unrepresented in an action addressing so basic and fundamental an issue as the right to freely express political opinion, are political parties who are not even faithful to the basic principles on which a supposedly representative political system is based, let alone to any principles based on freedom.

Although the N.C.C. got our support on this issue, we would have expected an explicit understanding of legislation like Bill C-169 in place of the disbelief that was expressed by the function's key speaker, Alan Hunter, legal counsel for the N.C.C. How could such legislation have ever been possible 'in a free country' like Canada? That basic question was the theme of the entire evening's presentations.

The real question that should have been asked was how is it possible to expect otherwise?

With legislation already firmly in place that prohibits civil servants and public employees from expressing their political opinions during an election, what seems so unusual about Bill C-169?

With legislation that controls and regulates partisan political groups through 'electoral commissions', through the establishment of limits on spending or contributions, through the regulation of political advertising, through establishing requirements for 'official' recognition, etc., what seems so unusual about Bill C-169?

With the existence of the C.R.T.C. and various censor boards across the country, what seems so unusual about Bill C-169?

It's time to face the truth. Any government attempts to regulate or prohibit 'freedom of speech' in any form are attempts at censorship. Measures like Bill C-169 are only natural extensions of the philosophy responsible for the foregoing. Thus, the National Citizens' Coalition's claim 'Freedom of speech restored to Canadians' is, sadly, far from the truth. What the N.C.C. is really celebrating is the fact that it still enjoys the freedom to commercially expound its views, since it qualifies as a 'non-partisan' group.

Freedom Party can only share in that celebration, with the fervent hope that the future will unveil a society where all individuals and groups can participate with the same degree of freedom.

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Page last updated on April 28, 2002