The Price of Speech is Not Free

An excerpt from the full article:

Canadians can justifiably demand investigative hearings into government abuse of executive power during the Covid-19 Pandemic. These hearings ought to have occurred long ago, and when they do happen, they will undoubtedly vindicate many Canadians who suffered under
the capricious, authoritarian rule of public health officials. At the core of this investigation must be an inquiry into government campaigns to manipulate public opinion. We know that public officials misrepresented opinion as fact and covertly suppressed contrary opinion, even those expressed by the eminent scientists who crafted The Great Barrington Declaration six months into the Pandemic. The pronouncements of bureaucrats,

Who cared more for their own celebrity and power than truth, went largely unchallenged. This represents an utter failure of Charter guarantees to free speech; a failure which evidences a completely unbridled and expanding Canadian bureaucracy.
It is tempting to think that tyrannical public officials are ultimately to blame for our embarrassing foray into censorship. But if we accept this explanation prima facie, assign scorn, and then move on, we risk ignoring entirely the cultural rot that is far more insidious than any government overreach. It is we Canadians, and not government bureaucrats, who must bear the lion’s share of responsibility for censorship, because we are the last line of defense against the suppression of speech. It is we who have lost sight of or appreciation for the essential right which defines a free and democratic society: the freedom of speech carved out of centuries of bloody conflict and civil discourse

You can read the full essay here: https://www.greymatterpodcast.ca/the-price-of-speech-is-not-free/