But not everything in Shakedown reads like fantasy. His story of the terrible abuse of power at the Canadian Human Rights Commission is a bone-chilling horror story. God help you if you get caught in its crosshairs, because if it investigates you, the ordinary rules of justice don't apply, including the normal legal protections for the accused.Well, it would have been much better if he had taken his time to take closer look at the abuse of power by the HRCs when he was still in the Cabinet. But... better late, than never.
After reading Shakedown I am embarrassed for not doing nearly enough to take up this cause when I was in government.
Secondly, I'm angry. Now that all has been laid bare I hope current federal and provincial cabinet ministers are also embarrassed at this outrage, embarrassed enough to rein in human rights commissions who long ago quit caring about real human rights.
And here's another review, by Salim Mansur, one the contributors to the Proud To Be Canadian blog. The message is simple: Ezra Levant defends us all.
Canada is one of the oldest democracies, rightfully proud of its traditions among which is the hard won and constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech. But social engineering of the 1960s gave Canadians the human rights commissions, with legislatively provided power to monitor free speech and punish those who run afoul of their codes. This is a stain on Canadian democracy.
Freedom of speech is the foundation of liberal democracy and the ground on which rests all other freedoms. Of this Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-born writer and winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize for literature, noted bitingly, "The origin of freedom lies in breathing."
The lamest excuse for constraining free speech is preventing people from being offended.
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