Canadian HRC Drops Prosecution of MacLean's/Steyn

Not because they believe in free speech, of course. But rather because they believe in their own continuing power, and don't want to fight someone who can and will fight back.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission, like any petty tyranny, has a strong instinct for survival. As I predicted last week on the Michael Coren Show, that instinct would cause them to drop the complaint against Mark Steyn and Maclean's. And so they did.

With an RCMP investigation, a Privacy Commission investigation and a pending Parliamentary investigation, they're already fighting a multi-front P.R. war, and losing badly. Not a day goes by when the CHRC isn't pummelled in the media. Holding a show trial of Maclean's and Steyn, like the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal did earlier this month, would be writing their own political death sentence.

So they blinked. Against everything in their DNA, they let Maclean's go. That's the first smart thing they've done; because the sooner they can get the public scrutiny to go away, the sooner they can go about prosecuting their less well-heeled targets, people who can't afford Canada's best lawyers and command the attention and affection of the country's literati.

The BC HRC, the one taking that comedian to "trial," may still "convict," though. (You can and will be prosecuted for the same offense in several jurisdictions.)

Thanks to jdub.

posted by Ace at 02:05 PM

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