July 4, 2012

iSteve announces suspension of boycott of Canada for its progress in tolerating free speech

Back in 2008 when Mark Steyn and Maclean's newsweekly were being legally persecuted in British Columbia for publishing an article insufficiently submissive toward Islamic activists' sensitivities, I announced:
And it's time we did something about Canada's repeated violations of the basic human right to free expression. It's time to boycott vacationing in Canada until Canada improves its human rights situation. 
Granted, I can only afford to vacation places where I can pitch a tent; but let the word go out to Canadian firewood retailers that they won't be getting any of my business until they help pressure their government to stop persecuting writers.

I have been informed that persecution of writers in Canada has lessened in recent years, so I hereby announce a suspension of the boycott. But, be aware, Canadian campfire fuel vendors, that the hammer could come back down at any moment.

19 comments:

  1. The government of the day actually repealed the section of the "Human Rights" Act under which Steyn was persecuted (yes I also know the word prosecuted). I would say you can camp under our skies at least for a bit. Beware of provincial law though.

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  2. The theme of Canuck micromanagement/barratry/anarcho-tyranny goes way back. Recall the scene in John Candy's final flick "Canadian Bacon" (directed by a different tubby northerner who'd go on to bigger things) where they are stopped by mountie Dan Ackroyd, scolding them for not having the graffiti bilingual on the side of their van.

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  3. I'm always sad we won in 1783, after all we could have had "Human Rights Panels" too, and without any Jews for the antisemites to complain about.

    The great thing about England & Canada is you get all the left-wing racial suicide and greedy open borders & no one can blame the Jews.

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  4. Let's spin this as "Steveosphere boycott ended censorship in Canada."

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  5. Next, let's boycott French wine to stop France from prosecuting people like Brigit Bardot.

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  6. >The great thing about England & Canada is you get all the left-wing racial suicide and greedy open borders & no one can blame the Jews.

    I guess you haven't met the folks at majorityrights.com...

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  7. Took you only 12 words to get it wrong, which is 3 words above the mean for Americans: they weren't being legally persecuted, per se. HRCs are an extra-legal kangaroo court. Our section 319 of criminal code forbidding "hate speech" still exists, but I'll take this one small victory.

    Signed,
    The pedantic Canadian who tells you every time you blog about Canada (biennially) that you get it wrong, yet secretly craves yours and every other American's attention.

    And Happy Fourth, all, America is still the hottest chick in the bar even without makeup. You have a ton of fans here in Canada and it isn't *that* far (weren't you in Seattle last week?)

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  8. The federal statute was repealed by the Conservative government, but all the provincial statutes, which pretty much have exactly the same wording, remain on the books. As a Canadian, I say keep up the boycott.

    BTW it's not just "writers" that run afoul of these laws, the RC Bishop of Calgary, a fellow with a reputation otherwise for being a progressive, got hauled before the provincial human rights commission for his public opposition to gay marriage. Other clergymen have faced the same sort of thing.

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  9. Difference Maker7/4/12, 6:22 PM

    I'm always sad we won in 1783, after all we could have had "Human Rights Panels" too, and without any Jews for the antisemites to complain about.

    The great thing about England & Canada is you get all the left-wing racial suicide and greedy open borders & no one can blame the Jews.


    Canada has Jews silly

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  10. Weird how Canada has become the cultural marxists poster child...

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  11. Take heed, strippers of Vancouver!

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  12. Canada has SUN TV News channel now, with Ezra Levant and Micheal Coren, among others.

    http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/

    The leftists are frothing at the mouth about it.

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  13. alonzo portfolio7/5/12, 10:08 AM

    I can't get into Canada because I have a misdemeanor trespassing conviction from 1986.

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  14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THtf5Extvfk

    BookTV: Timothy Stanley, "The Crusader: The Life and Tumultuous Times of Pat Buchanan"

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  15. I can't get into Canada because I have a misdemeanor trespassing conviction from 1986.

    And starting this year, you can't even go into empty Canadian waters. Until this year, we could sail our boats into Canadian waters so long as we didn't anchor or go on land. Now even those with no picky little record must report to their border thugs. Keep the boycott going.

    http://tinyurl.com/cktngl5

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  16. Sorry to say it, but ya gotta put the pub tent back in the garage, Steve:

    http://www.nomblog.com/24520/

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  17. I still haven't forgiven the canucks for that damned potato-eating pig of theirs.

    Remember the San Juans!

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  18. "The great thing about England & Canada is you get all the left-wing racial suicide and greedy open borders & no one can blame the Jews."

    Yeah, no Jews anywhere in England. Just the current PM and the ones running the banks for the last 150 years or so, but other than that, no Jews at all.

    Does England even have any noteworthy power brokers that don't descend from the Jewish 'New Aristocracy' of the late 19th and early 20th century at all?

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  19. "Sorry to say it, but ya gotta put the pub tent back in the garage, Steve:

    http://www.nomblog.com/24520/ "

    Didn't a couple of lesbians successfully sue a comedian for giving them PTSD some time back?

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