In the name of banning ‘fake news,’ the government is infringing on free speech

Sec. 91 has been re-designed to cast a wider net; it’s so wide, in fact, it will now catch individuals who post 'false' news, even if those individuals who posted that news did so in good faith, believing it was true.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, top left, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, top right, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, above left, and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, above right. Ideally elections should be the time when we vigorously engage in a free and open exchange of ideas; the more ideas discussed and debated the better it is for democracy. Sec. 91, as it now stands, would seriously hinder that debate, writes Gerry Nicholls. Photograph courtesy of Twitter

Opinion

BY GERRY NICHOLLS

September 30, 2019

OAKVILLE, ONT.—With all the furore that’s surrounding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s blackface scandal, it’d be easy to miss an important news item that came out recently. But I didn’t miss it, because this particular news item happened to touch on a subject of keen interest to me: the r...

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