Reports from Saskatoon -- and plans for Ottawa!

I loved my brief time in Saskatoon. John Gormley was very hospitable, and it was nice to do his show from the studio for the first time. You can see his website here, and listen to the show online (the April 23 edition. I'm not sure which segment I'm on.)

Last night, I attended Premier Brad Wall's annual dinner, along with 1,250 other supporters. Saskatchewan has the strongest economy in the country right now, with positive economic growth, tax cuts and a surplus. If all it took to buck the recession were natural resources, then Alberta wouldn't have its largest deficit in history and Russia's economy would be growing, not imploding. It's not mere resources that determines wealth -- it's business-friendly policies, and Saskatchewan has got 'em.

In the middle of the day was my book talk and signing at the North Saskatoon Business Association. What a great group of folks, including their legendary organizer, Shirley. Here is a brief but friendly report on the meeting from a local news website, and here is a longer article by a reporter with the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, that also ran in Regina's Leader-Post. Some excerpts:

There's an old saying, often quoted by people in the publishing business: "Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel."

That's exactly what transpired in 2006, when a Calgary imam used a section of Canada's hate-speech laws to attack Ezra Levant, former publisher of Western Standard magazine, through a complaint to a Alberta Human Rights Tribunal.

At a luncheon organized by the North Saskatoon Business Association Thursday, the Calgary-based lawyer and media commentator entertained and educated a group of Saskatoon business people with the story of his battle against the human rights bureaucracy.

...Levant... researched and wrote a book, Shakedown: How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights.

Although he's usually known for his right-wing views, critics and commentators at both ends of the political spectrum have praised it.

Every province and territory in Canada has a human rights commission, and there is also a federal level of the bureaucracy. Though well-intentioned when they were created in 1977, they have become "kangaroo courts" used as a tool of censorship, a route to easy money or a weapon of "soft jihad" by radical Muslims, Levant said.

"It's a stimulus package for lawyers and bureaucrats."

The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission is not exempt from the problem, he said.

"Saskatchewan's commission is crazy. It's not as prolific as in B.C., but some of the cases here are so objectionable, if it was brought to the attention of the Sask. Party government in a convincing way to show the problems -- not just the substance but along with it the process -- I think this government would be more open to (changing it)."

I thought that was a very sympathetic report of a pretty spicy speech -- I could tell from the reporter's question in the Q&A session that she had a personal commitment to the journalistic ideal of freedom of the press.

I'm off to Ottawa now, where I"ll be speaking (twice!) at the Writers Festival tomorrow, once at noon (on a panel about Western Canada) and once at 4 p.m., all about Shakedown. You can get details here. Please come by to say hello if you can!