Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada delivered an early Christmas present to all of those who value freedom in Canada, and expanded the scope of the defence in libel cases, ruling that statements made "responsibly" on matters of public interest were protected from libel. As reported by CBC News:
The Supreme Court said it examined laws in other countries with similar legal systems, such as the United Kingdom and Australia. It found that Canadian law was strict by comparison and did not give enough weight to the value of free expression.Read that last sentence again.
"Canadian Law.. did not give enough weight to the value of free expression".
Really?
Well, to celebrate this modest expansion of liberty in a country which had been rolling down the road to smiley fascism for some time, I'm going to take advantage of the law today which didn't exist two days ago:
Richard Warman is a wiener.
There.
I feel better already.
5 comments:
I severely doubt this will have the slightest effect on any of his defamation lawsuits.
And of course we have Morton's musing on this:
http://jmortonmusings.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-does-supreme-court-ruling-mean-for.html
I'm not so sure. I read over the pathetic decision of the Ontario Court, and even prior to this decision, I thought it was pretty questionable.
Beyond that.. the Supreme Court sets a certain "atmosphere" that lower courts pick up on.
When they come out and say that the Courts have been giving insufficient protection to free speech, that suggestion will have legs.
What kind of wiener?
A small cocktail, all beef, chicken, jumbo ballpark?
Another great post!
This will have no effect at all. None of the people who've libelled Warman lifted a finger to determine whether what they were asserting (and let's remember, they allegations of criminal behaviour) about him was factual or not.
I know that and you know that too, Rob.
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