gag law exceptions

Never was a gag for Palmer,Baldry,Smyth or other neocons at Mainstream media

Never was an editorial gag for Canwest. Never was a gag on slanted government advertising paid for with taxpayers money in mainstream media.

Would be fine if the media market was not owned lock, stock and barrel by big business interests but it is.

Thanks you Supreme Court for standing up to the fascist.

The Gag Law..............

..............was an insult to every democratically minded citizen in BC. Campbell's autocratic, some say Fascist government is now kept in power by a compliant media, who's so-called news-hounds have been turned into neutered puppies.

There is no more investigative reporting in BC, as the media giants have turned into shilling for Gordo and his bunch. Press releases are treated as major news stories and the gullible public (no all) take this nonsense as the gospel truth.

A sad day when our freedoms; as the politicians often repeat, "freedoms that our forefathers died for in foreign lands", are being trampled on autocratic government who fear the light of truth being shed on them.

There is massive stench emanating from the Premier's office and the gag law was trying to make the air fresher by cheap tricks.

A wholesale house cleaning of the media is needed.

Above the law

You're free to call 'em as you see 'em Rafe; unfortunately, tar 'n' feathering would end us up in jail.

I can't believe Campbell thought he could get away with his gag law this time around considering the NDP tried something similar back in 2001 and it was struck down in a court of law as unconstitutional.

At the time Campbell railed "Inexcusable and unconstitutional! It's restricting freedom of speech!"

The man really must think he is above the law.

Grounds for tar 'n' feathers???

a "need to know" story

Well Rafe, I have often called for you to quit your weekly columns, because usually they contained nothing new.

Here however, you made some good points that unfortunately have not been told by the typical media outlets.

Perhaps it is good if the daily papers do go belly up, they are close to useless these days featuring nothing but glitz and gossip about celebrities.

Let us hope that sites like this will be the replacement.

Unfortunately, Campbell

Unfortunately, Campbell believes everything he says or does, his way or the highway. It was good the court struck this down. I mean, who does he think he is? Heaven help us if he's reelected. We haven't seen anything yet and by reelecting, he will go full force into selling off the rest of the province as well as privatizing anything he has not done yet, but is more than prepared to do. He has been shot down by the UN numerous times for violations as well as now the courts on this one and the hospital workers contract which cost us alot of money. He will continue to write "his" laws that are challenged which again costs taxpayers money. All his "yes" men/women cannot speak on their own behalf let alone for their constituents. Enough of the dictator and his followers.

gag law, smag law...

Free speech in Canada? It still doesn't exist.
I equate freedom of speech to the freedom that exits in Hyde Park within London. I've never witnessed anything that is a better example.

For Those Who Refuse to Study History...

In spite of having the most educated population the world has ever seen, those in power refuse to study history, thereby repeating its tragic mistakes.

Even a passing reading of the 1930's Italy and Germany will immediately inform and instruct those concerned about the frailty of democracy and freedom of speech.

The building blocks of fascism (originally an Italian political theory) are well studied and well known. Concentration of political power, reducing citizens opportunities to criticize the state, using (abusing) the Rule of Law to punish and control critics, merging mainstream media with state rule, rise of corporate power. These factors are a classic recipe for rising authoritarian power.

It's not what will happen today or tomorrow that is frightening, but how these 'temporary' measure become a trend, then permanent, and then a culture of control. THAT'S why we study history.

It is imperative that British Columbians act now. Waiting until more of our liberties are removed will be too late.

Great article Rafe. Thanks as always for telling it EXACTLY like it is!

The

Campbell and the Liberals

Campbell and the Liberals will carry the election campaign the same way as Harper and the Conservatives did in the last Federal election. They will not say anything that could get them in trouble and only harp on about "NDP bad, Liberals good" type of messege. It will also help that the mass-media is more or less on side and won't ask any tough questions either. I wonder how many times that Gordo will be on the Bill Good show in the next couple of weeks.

Right on Rafe!

Maybe sites like this could post a series of questions and repeat them until they are answered by whatever candidate. A refusal to answer would be a constant reminder to the electorate. We could have direct questions for Campbell and James and all the others as required. Maybe a new section where the best suggested questions get posted, sent to the candidate or party and if the response is more than a smoke-screen b.s. they get posted as well.

hand it to Gordie

Ya gotta hand it to the Gordster...he`s got it pretty much sewn up. The whole nine yards so to speak..the whole shebang...he and his provincial bumpkin buddies have the whole province to do with as they wish and the fact the citizenry hasn`t run the buggers out by any means possible by now just proves it . The "law" is all bullshit. That stuff was all written and implemented by bleeding heart types so just ignore `em. Really.. B.C. is pretty much a place without the rule of law. The gag order didn`t stick..oh well we`ll try something else...we got lots of time...lots of time..and believe it ..it IS ALL ours now.
Bye bye Nova Albion

actually the entire western

actually the entire western world is being stifled including online, as fake country barriers are being used to cut off discussion or media from other places do to "market" considerations.

freedom of speech is gone along with democracy

The recent complaint by the Jewish Defence League to prevent George Galloway access to freedom of speech in Canada because he's sympathetic to the Palestinians and not the Israeli's for their slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza and their continued barbaric treatment of the Palestinians, proves once again the fear they exert over our political and legal systems; thus, their demands remove democracy from our country as they try to control what we think and who we can listen to. Very dangerous stuff to any democracy because without freedom of speech there is no democracy.

Strange politics

The NDP, which is supposedly in favour of reducing the power of the very rich and for equality, wants to abolish a "gag law," which puts citizens on a more equal level when it comes to the public soapbox. Do they not know how rich interest groups spending virtually unlimited sums on advertising distort the public discourse south of the border... e.g., in California referendums?

The NDP, which is supposedly the more green party, wants to abolish even the mild attempt by the Campbell government to reduce carbon emissions, and has a leader which insists it's a "gas tax," attempting to foster a populist revolt against doing anything to fight climate change. Instead the NDP is advocating the same sort of ineffective emissions capping that even the neocon federal Tories say they want.

Rafe Mair, who was a cabinet minister in a right-wing government, now says he's supporting the NDP. (Granted that's maybe because they're taking right-wing positions.)

Can anyone explain why BC politics are so strange?

Gag Law Chokes On Itself

Great article Raif.

Is sounds like you got that offensive letter from Elections BC too, threatening to throw you in jail for a year, a $10,000 fine, or both, if you do not behave yourself. Shocking stuff. The penalties didn't end there; fines set at 10 times the spending limits, the assumption of guilt before innocence- by forcing individuals and groups to preregister on a public list a full 88 days before an election, simply to ensure the freedom to speak out about issues that MAY potentially be related to an election platform, fines of $500 a day for each day of noncompliance, and on and on it goes.

Also, trying to get a working definition of the broad language was next to impossible, the net was too large, it caught everybody. The legal community could not define the new language with any degree of certainty, and neither could the government's own watchdog, Elections BC!

There is something seriously wrong with that. And the courts agreed by striking it down. This seems to be a recurring theme with the Liberals legislation.

Even though it may have been intended to silence the Unions and control election spending, the real power of Bill 42 was its far reaching ability to scare the crap out of individuals or silence small community groups that were raising important issues.

What is more sinister is the fact that the Liberals tried it on for size, and nearly got away with it.

This case was not just about the big bad Unions taking on the big bad Government, the outcome affects us all. It was a necessary fight to stop the erosion of rights for every citizen in BC.

It is a good question, why did the public and the media sit quietly on the sidelines while our freedom of expression rights got trampled on? There was some media on it, but for the most part, this was not a big story last year when the law passed. We should all be asking ourselves, why not?

Good riddance to a bad law. On May 12th, just remember who tried to shut us up.

http://rentersatrisk.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/critics-call-bill-42-a-gag-order/