CTV discussion about freedom of speech

Mike Duffy had me on his CTV show on Tuesday, not as a Conservative strategist, but rather to talk about freedom of speech.

I can't find the video on CTV's website (a friend says he'll YouTube it and send it to me that way), but here's a copy of the transcript.

Those CTV transcripts -- they're so accurate, all of my uh's and um's are in there! Here it is:

MIKE DUFFY: Well, now let's go to a commentator who has had his own share of dealings with human rights commissions. Ezra Levant is a lawyer, and he's joining us now from Calgary. Ezra we've got these two things happening on one day, the Carleton University cystic fibrosis is the white male disease, and then we have Queen's University with these dialogue facilitators. Where is this going to end?

EZRA LEVANT: Well I think it's political correctness run amuck. And I think that the danger is that people like Mark Freiman and the Canadian Jewish Congress would stop us from being able to criticize it. I would just like to point out that I happen to be Jewish too, and the Jewish Congress doesn't speak for me. They've never done a survey of Canadian Jews. It's just a handful of radical censors who, you know,they dress it up in legal language, but they want to stop people from speaking out. Listen, I think that one of the great things about Canada is that we can have wide ranging raucous debates. And it starts from, you know what they say, a fish rots from the head down. If the Canadian government has these censors in the human rights commission, it's not surprising, Mike, that you see, for example, these student eavesdroppers at Queens University listening in to see if they hear someone say something and then ratting on their friends. It's because they see this example. That's why I'm such an advocate for free speech. And, by the way, Mike, you and me normally talk, and I'm a Conservative strategist or whatever. This isn't a partisan thing. Whether you're left wing or right wing or no wing, you believe in freedom of speech if you're a Canadian, and that's part of our plurality, our diversity of views. So I think these universities are on the wrong track, and the Jewish Congress is offside. In fact they're sort of the 21st equivalent of book burners. They should know better.

DUFFY: Well, one of the things that strikes me in talking to people here in the precincts of parliament today about these stories that are going on, I've had a number of Conservative MPs say to me, Duff, this will be used by people at Queens of a left wing persuasion to go after Conservatives. They'll try to bait the Conservatives into conversation and then have the speech police have them up on charge for daring to defend their political point of view which is at odds with the lefties.

LEVANT: Well that could happen, and a left winger could be in trouble too. You know what, let me give you a couple of left wing examples for free speech. There's a gay rights lobby called EGALE, and they're against all these speech codes, they're against the human rights commission, because they remember that not long ago if you said something pro-homosexual you'd be censored. And PEN Canada, that's a pretty lefty group, Mike. The Canadian Association of Journalists, even the Toronto Star may be the most Liberal paper in the country, they have all come out for free speech because even the lefties know that today it might be a Conservative who's under the gun in human rights commissions, and I think you're probably right, it's mainly Conservatives and Christian pastors, but it could be anyone tomorrow. Because once you set the precedent that some busy body from the Jewish Congress or some student eavesdropper can tell you what you can say or not, everyone's a potential target. And you know it's not just universities. Even the media. Even CTV and other networks are under the thumb of the Broadcast Standards Council. I think Canada has too many people listening in and censoring. I think we should be more robust. I think Canadians are strong enough to have vigorous debates. We're the most tolerant country in the world, we don't need to be walking around on eggshells. Let's have free discussions in this country, Mike, that's the true Canadian way.

DUFFY: That's Ezra Levant, he's joining us tonight from Calgary, appreciate it very much for you joining us. Stay with us.