Just a reminder that #DanielleSmith and the #UCP are welcoming #tuckercarlson for a visit this month. It would be a shame if this man was denied entry into Canada because he is a danger to Canada.
IS he a danger to Canada? Well, he’s openly called for the US to invade and depose our democratically elected government.
There’s a change.org petition to deny him entry:
CSIS has a non-emergency reporting system, or you can phone them at 613-993-9620.
I don’t like the man any more than you do, but let’s not forget that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms explicitly protects freedom of association: the freedom to gather in groups for a collective purpose.
Of note is that the actual activities are not considered in this section. Other laws can protect or prohibit the activities themselves and possibly even support conspiracy charges if the gathering is expressly organized to plan illegal activities.
Carlson is not a Canadian citizen or resident. Presumably he must declare his purpose for entering Canada, but I don’t think that giving a speech is legitimate cause for exclusion.
My opinion is that the appropriate response is to organize groups of people to legally attend whatever events are hosted and to mount protests and opposing events. In a perfect world, the majority of space open to the public would be filled with those who oppose his ideology and message.
Freedom of association is protected only after he is allowed into the country. I’m suggesting that CBSA has the authority to deny him entry, based on his previous claims that Canada is a dictatorship, and that the US could (and possibly should) invade us to liberate the country, “as they did in Iraq and Libya.” He also promotes and supports white supremacist conspiracy theories, has publicly shared the works of Holocaust denier and white supremacist David Cole, and is facing a sexual assault lawsuit in his home country.
Here’s a direct quote from Carlson: “I’m completely in favor of a Bay of Pigs operation to liberate that country. Why should we stand back and let our biggest trading partner … why should we let it become Cuba? Like, why don’t we liberate it? We’re spending all this money to liberate Ukraine from the Russians. Why are we not sending an armed force north to liberate Canada from Trudeau? And I mean it.”
British MP George Galloway was barred from entering the country in 2009 for similar reasons. So were William Ayers and pastor Terry Jones. There are many others who have been legally turned away for encouraging behaviour or expressing values deemed harmful to Canada. I think that Carlson fits pretty easily into this category.
Fair enough on all points. I stand by my opinion that the best approach is to stack the audience. It’s about time the left and progressives started doing deliberately what the right and regressives do.
They’re not afraid of buying tickets to events they want to disrupt or buying memberships in organizations whose direction they want to control.
They’re not afraid of coordinated action to stack school boards and municipal councils and other organizations.
The nice thing about that strategy is that it does not depend on the whims or biases or competence or investigative knowledge of enforcement agencies, but on the direct collective will of the people.
And that is exactly why it will fail. Coordinated action to stack boards, audiences etc. is stupid. Reasonable people know that it’s stupid and don’t participate. Stupid people can be hyped up to do this sort of thing by the politicians they worship. Things need to get (much?) worse before reasonable people will start to take that sort of action.
I think I understand and partly agree with what you’re saying, but I’m sure that there is room for some nuance. If good people stand around doing nothing to participate in the process of setting direction and policy, then only bad people will ever be in charge.
Everyone who ever serves does so with a vision. Some visions are as simple as making sure that there are people to execute on projects. Some are about achieving personal goals, for good or ill. Some are about playing a role in creating or reinforcing policies they believe are good for society.
Sometimes we can sit back and let others do the work. Sometimes we have to energize those around us to get something done. The latter is exactly what the far right is doing. Apart from those leaders and funders who have purely selfish motives, everyone involved thinks that what they are doing is to protect a way of life they cherish and serve the community in what they imagine are healthy ways to create the society they want to live in. Those that disagree have to make their voices heard and coordinate their efforts in opposition.
The very existence of every organization ever is to coordinate efforts toward shared goals. If only one side is organizing, only one side will control the narrative and only one side will set policy.
Unions organize in opposition to capital. Political parties organize to promote ideologies and in opposition to each other. Community service groups organize for the betterment of their community. Protest movements form in opposition to policy. It past time for progressives to organize in every way possible to counter the regressive movements that are gaining more power every day.
I struggle to support stacking his events because he’s just saying these things for money and the tickets cost 100 smackers.
All he wants is fame and money, and attending or protesting gives him both.
Excellent point!