Remarque! La version française suit un peu plus bas Do political elites have the ballot-box question of 2019 wrong? By all accounts, our political and media elites would have us believe that the ballot-box question for this fall’s federal election will be a toss-up between “climate change” (the Liberals) and the need to punish leaders who have not performed “as advertised” (the Conservatives). Do you really believe that these issues have the capability of driving your vote one way or the other? Are these issues really central in your life and representative of what you believe needs to occupy the nation’s attention? In the case of the former, public support for “climate change” seems to be

Editor's Note: As Giulio Meotti asks in this article, where is the pushback against the censorious term “Islamophobia” and the ever-present threat of violence by offended Muslims? We have come a long way since Ayatollah Khomeini’s death fatwa against Salman Rushdie for his book The Satanic Verses, but not in the right direction. The examples of self-censorship by authorities and artists are becoming too numerous to all be included in a single article, but Meotti has compiled an impressive list. The term “Islamophobia” is one end of the spectrum of methods used to silence criticism of Islam. It is the end of the spectrum that silences through self-censorship, political correctness, “polite

Remarque : La version française suit un peu plus bas Is "free speech" politically inexpedient? Last week’s “update” noted that Canada had become a slave to several “pseudo-realities”. One of these was the mistaken belief that “offensive” speech needed to be “quelled” to better accommodate diversity and keep from bruising the thin-skinned sensibilities of “identifiable groups”. The example given came in the form of the expungement of MP Cooper’s true, but “hurtful”, rebuke of a Justice Committee witness who had egregiously linked “conservatism” with “violent extremism”. To its discredit, the Conservative Party agreed with the expungement of its own member’s words and then added insult to inju

Editor's Note: In her article "Hiding behind 'Islamophobia'," Eileen Toplansky describes how the term ("a neoligism coined by the Muslim Brotherhood") is used to shield Islam from scrutiny and valid criticism. Because the term has no precise definition and means "whatever Muslims say it is," it is a backdoor way of establishing Islamic blasphemy law. In the words of Soeren Kern, "no one would be sure which forms of words could land them in court. It is precisely such uncertainty that makes the difference between a police state and a free society." Canada may not yet be a police state, but the 'Islamophobia' muzzle is being freely applied. Just ask Conservative MP Michael Cooper and would-

Remarque! La version française suit un peu plus bas The "pseudo-realities" take charge in Canada Recent observations in these same “update” pages have noted the rise of a host of “pseudo-realities” that have come to displace “traditional truths long understood to be ‘self-evident’”. They were seen to be dangerous distractions as they sapped the will of representative authorities to protect the right of the individual to express contrary views that offended the sensibilities of powerful, “identifiable groups”. The evidence offered included the decision of Canadian military brass to dedicate an Afghanistan War Memorial in secret and out of sight of families that suffered losses in the fight a

Editor's Note: As this article by Soeren Kern makes very clear, it’s not just in Canada that the “Islamophobia” narrative is being relentlessly promoted in order to silence criticism of Islam. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims is not accepting “No” for an answer with regard to their proposal for an official definition of Islamophobia that defines it in racial, rather than religious, terms. Defined in religious terms, Islamophobia would offer the religion of Islam no protection from criticism. Defined in racial terms, Islamophobia as criticism of Islam could be conflated with hatred or discrimination against Muslims, who, like everyone else, are entitled to equal tre

Remarque! La version française suit Note! Does curtailment of the abortion debate abrogate your free speech rights? If you think so, consider this government “e-petition” The contempt of the elites The last few “updates” have analysed the ways in which both state and non-state actors have used their respective powers to control just what you can see and hear in the public square. These entities operate to progress an agenda that is post-nationalist, post-industrialist and post-Christian and includes the progressive left and the establishment. Their strength is augmented by a compliant media and academia even as it is buttressed by opportunistic fellow travelers in the form of Islamist and a