[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

You're losing track of your own point now. The first half of your what-if talks of speech. Your second half talks of action. Apples and oranges.

Thanks to freedom of speech, there are people comfortable in stating they believe all gays will burn in hell. That same freedom of speech allows the Aryan Nations to hold little white-power protests. (And in the US especially, black power on the other side)

There are two good things about this for society: First, that these views are held by an ever shrinking minority of people. And second, that we don't limit protected speech to what we individually support. There is always a counter protest anywhere the Aryan Nations or Westboro Baptist Cult goes.

Now, obviously there comes a point in the Canadian charter where such speech does cross a line. Much like you can't defend yourself with "free speech, bitches!" if you start a panic by yelling "FIRE" in a crowded theatre, at some point such statements can become hate speech. Where that line is, I wouldn't care to say. But I do think it is quite a bit past "all gays will burn in hell". Afterall, to borrow your trick, would "all Christians will burn in hell" constitute hate speech in your mind? Probably not.

Related to this election, I can say that I would much rather trust the judgement of a judge to decide where that line is than the idiots that make up the AHRC. The legal system, at least, tends to be held to precedent, allowing for a more defined understanding of where that line is.

While I see what you're saying, because the US has no hate speech legislation in place(they don't) it is different for them. They can literally say anything they want and be protected, whereas here we do have hate speech legislation and laws, making it a more slippery slope.