Canada: Election chatter grows amid talk of devastating Gomery testimony( Testimony banned)

Canadian Press ^ | 03/01/05 | Alexander Panetta

[fanfan]

a conservative government in canada? starring Stephen Harper as the android leader? Stockwell Day as foreign affaris cruitic? that's quite funny....and it'll never happen...funny how Bush loving, Fox watching hayseeds and wing nuts can clamour and shout about winning anelection when all the facts are not out...the only conservative votes that'll be forthcoming in any fed electionwill be a few from BC,all of the Alberta vote and a few from Ontario...the Conservatives in Canada are at best, laughable, even if the Liberals did go overboard with sperading cash around PQ in a fit of soverign desperation, they still have the experience and the will to stop the scary fundamentalist hayseeds...

Why can't trolls spell?

Go back to Rabble, troll.

[FormerACLUmember]

Not a very impressive democracy up north. VERY weak civil liberties

[conservative in nyc]

Thanks for the information. You're right about what would happen here in the States - the witness would just plead the Fifth unless granted immunity. I see why a publication ban might be useful under the Canadian system. But it just seems like an undue violation on press freedom.

[gstq]

Thanks for the information. You're right about what would happen here in the States - the witness would just plead the Fifth unless granted immunity. I see why a publication ban might be useful under the Canadian system. But it just seems like an undue violation on press freedom.

Canada does not have absolute freedom of speech and freedom of the press such as that guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Instead, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are balanced against other rights, such as the right to a fair trial in this case.

An extreme example of this difference is the legality of so-called "hate speech". In Canada someone advocating "Kill all the [some identifiable group]" might be convicted of promoting hate (assuming that the various legal tests specified by the legislation have been met). In the U.S. the First Amendment puts hate speech beyond prosecution.