Moon report calls for repeal of section 13; Lynch wants a do-over

Richard Moon’s report was released this morning. To my surprise, he called for the repeal of section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, the so-called “hate speech” law:

The principal recommendation of this report is that section 13 be repealed so that the censorship of Internet hate speech is dealt with exclusively by the criminal law.

I’m surprised, because Moon was hand-picked by Jennifer Lynch, the Canadian Human Rights Commission’s chief commissar, and was paid more than $50,000 by her for his 42-page report (nice work, if you can get it.)

Last night, I expressed extreme skepticism that Moon would do anything more than to offer up some cosmetic changes to section 13. I’m delighted to have been proved wrong.

Despite the contractual obligations on Moon to have his report cleared (twice) by Lynch, he apparently stuck to his guns.

There remain other flaws with this report, and I’ll discuss them later. But that’s not important right now. What’s important is that Richard Moon, Jennifer Lynch’s hand-picked white-washer, didn’t do what he was expected to do (expected to do by me or by Lynch!)

Will Lynch and her fellow bullies now concede defeat? Are you kidding? And admit that they’ve been conducting themselves inappropriately for thirty years? And admit that they are violators of human rights, not protectors of them? And lose all that power over people – the power to destroy and humiliate? And lose staff and budgets?

If so, then you don’t understand that being a bully is in the DNA of human rights thugs.

Lynch is already trying to throw Moon under the bus.

In her press release announcing his report, which you can see here, you’ll notice something is missing: Moon’s recommendation to repeal section 13. He uses the phrase repeal again and again in his report – but you won’t find it in Lynch’s revisionist press release. It’s like the chapter in George Orwell’s 1984, where Winston is busy cutting out embarrassing items from old newspapers, and replacing them with the new, politically correct truth. That’s what Lynch is doing already.

She’s also trying for a do-over, a mulligan. She’s clearly furious at Moon for his betrayal. So she’s announcing – surprise! – further reviews. She’s going to keep doing this until she gets the result she wants. If she has to burn up another $50,000, $100,000, a million dollars of taxpayers’ money, she’ll do it – anything to keep her iron grip on power, and to avoid embarrassment in front of her best friends in Cameroon and Kenya. They haven’t given up their powers, so why should she?

Lynch has become a gross embarrassment to the government. Hand-picking Moon to do a very narrow and selective review – in the face of Parliament’s own reviews – was an act of insubordination, and an act of political usurpation. She’s a bureaucrat, not a lawmaker. But she was acting like an MP. She’s not. She’s a second-rate appointee, who presides over a corrupt agency. She prefers damage control and PR to actually fixing the problem in her rotting agency.

It’s the Prime Minister’s move now. He was too tolerant with Lynch, letting her upstage Parliament. Now she proposes to have hearings and consultations – clearly Parliament’s function. How much longer will Lynch  continue to give her bosses orders? How much longer will they allow her to play MP?

I’m surprised by Moon’s recommendation, and I’m glad I was proved wrong. Lynch was surprised, too, and now she wants a do-over. Lynch has made herself the chief obstacle to reform.

We’ve seen how Stephen Harper has excised other media-hounds, prima donas and saboteurs from the civil service before. Will he apply the same standard to Lynch? Or will he continue to allow his government to be led around by the nose?

Lynch isn't part of the solution, she's part of the problem – and now she’s a cover-up artist. It’s time for Harper to show leadership.

Fire. Them. All.