(LifeSiteNews) – People’s Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier had a stark warning about Bill C-9, which would empower police and the government to go after people deemed to have violated a person’s “feelings” in a “hateful” way, saying it is a “liberty-killing offensive” and must not see the light of day.
“This bill seeks to criminalize your emotions. Indeed, it would make it illegal to express emotions of hatred, defined as emotions that involve detestation or vilification, and that is stronger than dislike. In a world where the world sees microaggressions everywhere, where anything can be judged as offensive, hostile, or hateful, can we really trust the state to define what a bad emotion is?” Bernier said in a recent X video post.
He gave his detailed thoughts on Bill C-9, the Combating Hate Act, warning that the “Carney government is threatening our fundamental right to freedom of expression” with the proposed law.
Bernier noted that people having “bad emotions” from time to time is “perfectly normal, and we have all felt and expressed them at one time or another.”
“It would no longer be a judge, but the police who would have the power to decide on the front line what constitutes hate. The police thus become the judge. This is extremely dangerous power granted to the police, which is wide open to abuse,” he warned.
“Will we soon be questioned by the police for simply not being friendly enough towards someone? We are facing a liberty-killing offensive from the Liberals.”
Bill C-9 was brought forth in the House of Commons on September 19 by Justice Minister Sean Fraser. The Liberals have boasted that the bill will make it a crime for people to block the entrance to, or intimidate people from attending, a church or other place of worship, a school, or a community center. The bill would also make it a crime to promote so-called hate symbols and would, in effect, ban the display of certain symbols such as the Nazi flag.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Bill C-9 has been blasted by constitutional experts as allowing empowered police and the government to go after those it deems have violated a person’s “feelings” in a “hateful” way.
Bernier warned that Bill C-9 has parallels to similar laws in place in the United Kingdom, saying that “the British example should serve as a warning to us. Across the channel, there are, on average, 15 arrests per day for social media posts deemed offensive. Many other citizens are being harassed by the police for previous reasons.”
Bernier’s concerns about Bill C-9 are that it removes the requirement to obtain the consent of the province’s Attorney General to prosecute a hate crime.
“The People’s Party of Canada has vigorously defended freedom of expression since its foundation. After the infringements on our fundamental rights we experienced during the COVID-19 crisis, it is clear that we cannot trust the establishment parties in Ottawa to protect our freedoms,” he said.
“It’s time to say no to this drift. Let’s refuse to let the state become the censor of our thoughts and our words.”
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis recently called out the hypocrisy of Bill C-9 for being silent regarding rising “Christian hate.”
“I find it quite perplexing that Christian hate was not even mentioned in the bill,” she noted to fellow MPs.
Lewis mentioned that Canada has seen “alarming hate-motivated attacks, including burning and vandalism of churches across Canada” in recent years.
As for Bernier, he also spoken out against another Liberal law, Bill C-8, that deals with online content, warning that if passed, it would empower the government to ban anyone’s internet access, calling it a “digital guillotine” designed to “silence critics.”
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) president John Carpay recently warned that Canada will be a “police state by Christmas” if lawmakers pass three new bills (C-9, C-8 and C-2) introduced by the federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney.
