4 ms·

The "common good" is one of the most fundamental elements of the Canadian perspective and there has never been such a focus on "freedom of speech". Gun rights,

The "common good" is one of the most fundamental elements of the Canadian perspective and there has never been such a focus on "freedom of speech". Gun rights, speech rights, etc, all are weighed against the common good at every juncture. Hate speech has never been considered a personal right in Canada.

swayvil 5y ago
"hate speech". Lol
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inglor_cz 5y ago
Common good strikes me as even more nebulous than most other political concepts, especially in absence of direct democracy which could at least shed some light on what the population really prefers. Not to insult anyone and much less Canadians, but I can see Ghaddafi or Khmer Rouge using this expression to justify whatever they decided to do.
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bsksi 5y ago
Hate speech does not exist.
LegitShady 5y ago
All those rights are weighed against a non specific nebulous common good that can mean whatever it needs to mean at that moment to allow activist judges or the government of the day to get what they want. Freedom of speech would serve Canada better in the long run than censorship and government control of speech
JackFr 5y ago
The "common good" used to include the Indian Residential School system. There's one where maybe a little greater weight on personal freedom was indicated.
- ipaddr 5y ago
  This is what exactly happened. The common good was applied. Today we are making similiar mistakes that future leaders will say sorry for in the future.
switchbak 5y ago
There certainly is a focus on freedom of speech, and it's in our charter of rights and freedoms as one of the fundamental freedoms: "freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication". You're right that we do have a different balance of the common good vs individual liberties as compared to the USA, but of course there are many countries that one could compare to. Canada certainly doesn't abide by free-speech absolutism, and "hate speech" is a good example. That term used to be applied to very specific, extreme examples. Unfortunately that has been watered down in recent years, and we've seen encroachment in others ways on various freedoms. Not Australia levels, but not great.

swayvil 5y ago

"hate speech". Lol

deleted 5y ago
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inglor_cz 5y ago

Common good strikes me as even more nebulous than most other political concepts, especially in absence of direct democracy which could at least shed some light on what the population really prefers. Not to insult anyone and much less Canadians, but I can see Ghaddafi or Khmer Rouge using this expression to justify whatever they decided to do.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

bsksi 5y ago

Hate speech does not exist.

LegitShady 5y ago

All those rights are weighed against a non specific nebulous common good that can mean whatever it needs to mean at that moment to allow activist judges or the government of the day to get what they want. Freedom of speech would serve Canada better in the long run than censorship and government control of speech

JackFr 5y ago

The "common good" used to include the Indian Residential School system. There's one where maybe a little greater weight on personal freedom was indicated.

ipaddr 5y ago
This is what exactly happened. The common good was applied. Today we are making similiar mistakes that future leaders will say sorry for in the future.

switchbak 5y ago

There certainly is a focus on freedom of speech, and it's in our charter of rights and freedoms as one of the fundamental freedoms: "freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication". You're right that we do have a different balance of the common good vs individual liberties as compared to the USA, but of course there are many countries that one could compare to. Canada certainly doesn't abide by free-speech absolutism, and "hate speech" is a good example. That term used to be applied to very specific, extreme examples. Unfortunately that has been watered down in recent years, and we've seen encroachment in others ways on various freedoms. Not Australia levels, but not great.