“Dictators don’t censor things their citizens say that the dictator agrees with only things they disagree with,” Poilievre said.
On Monday, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada post a video to Twitter promoting Canada’s protected rights to freedom of expression and denouncing censorship as a tool used by dictators.
The response was in regards to the Ontario College of Psychologists ordering professor and psychologist Dr. Jordan B.Peterson to undergo “retaining” due to some individuals complained about him publicly criticizing Trudeau and retweeting Poilievre.
“So the Ontario College of Psychologists has told Jordan Peterson that he either undergo retraining for social media etiquette or lose his license to practice as a clinical psychologist,” Poilievre said. “This follows a number of complaints by people that don’t like his online posts. One of which is a retweet. Something I posted and other is a criticism of Justin Trudeau. Now it should go without saying that in a free country, professionals should not lose their jobs and licenses because they express a political opinion contrary to the licensing body that’s mandated by the government.”
On Tuesday Peterson posted on Twitter the Ontario College of Psychologists demanded he takes social media reprogramming.
“I have been accused of harming people (although none of the complainants involved in the current action were clients of mine, past or present, or en were even acquainted with any of my clients.”
The handful of people that lodged complaints claimed Peterson was “harming people” over a 4 year period with tweets and appearing on talk shows and podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience.
Poilievre mentioned his critics would say he’s endorsing “everything Dr. Peterson has ever said.” then explains you can value and respect everyone’s freedom of speech without 100 percent agreeing with everything they say.
“I don’t endorse 100 percent of everything anyone has ever said,” Poilievre said. “There’s no two people in the world who agree 100 percent of the time on 100 percent of things. And so I’m sure there is something he’s posted that I do object to, but that is not the point because freedom of speech only matters when you disagree.”
“If we all agreed we wouldn’t need freedom of speech because no one has ever tried to censor someone for saying something that they agree with. It is only about when there is a disagreement, that it matters,” he added.
Poilievre didn’t call Trudeau a dictator but there isn’t a shortage of people that have from Joe Rogan to Russel Brand and was called a dictator straight to his face at the European Parliament during his Eruo trip in March of last year.
“Dictators don’t censor things their citizens say that the dictator agrees with only things they disagree with,” Poilievre said. He noted that “cancel culture and the woke movement” along with what’s happening at educational institutions, in the media, through corporations, and the “professional licensing body” pool together in opposition to free speech.
“We have section two B of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” the conservative leader said. “To be or not to be, that is the question and the answer is that as Voltaire has been quoted as saying, I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to my death. Your right to say it.”
