This is not tolerance. It is a blatant Liberal double standard.
Diversity is celebrated only when it mirrors the government's ideology and the Charter of Rights. Millions of Canadians are dismissed as an inconvenience. Bill C-9 directly targets their freedom of expression, yet the Liberals still claim to be the party of the charter even as they systematically attack the very freedoms the charter guarantees.
We're now getting close to the part where we engage the witnesses.
Witnesses who appeared before the justice committee debunked the Liberals' claim entirely. Numerous constitutional experts explained that the religious text defence is narrow, specific and constitutionally necessary. It is not a blanket protection. It applies only to good-faith expressions of sincerely held religious belief, not to violence, not to incitement and not to hatred.
The courts have been clear on this point for decades, but Liberals now believe they know better than the constitutional jurisprudence and better than every witness who has testified before them. Their ideological agenda matters more than evidence or constitutional balance.
If Bill C-9 passes, the consequences will be severe. I have a question for Liberal and Bloc members of this committee. Would a priest reading the scheduled Sunday mass, a reading set years in advance, face persecution or prosecution if the passage is deemed offensive?