'Liberals fear backlash': Bloc says Liberals stalling debate on removing religious defences in hate speech laws

OTTAWA — The  Bloc Québécois says the Liberals cancelled a scheduled meeting of the parliamentary justice committee on Thursday, where they were expected to discuss an amendment to remove the religious defence for Canada’s hate speech laws, out of fear of “backlash” for supporting the move. 

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves Francois-Blanchet appeared before reporters Thursday morning, alongside Rhéal Fortin, the party’s MP on the committee currently studying Bill C-9, the Liberals’ bill aimed at tackling hate. 

Fortin has been set to bring forward an amendment to the bill, which proposes scrubbing from the Criminal Code religious defences which are available for certain hate speech charges which, as National Post reported this week, the Liberals had struck a deal to support in exchange for the Quebec party helping pass the bill. 

However, that meeting, which was set for Thursday afternoon, was cancelled.

“We fear that because representatives, or would be representatives, of some groups, came to the committee and sat there, that the Liberals fear backlash against them within some communities, and that because of that, they have cancelled today’s meeting,” Blanchet told reporters.

He added that the party worries the Liberals could do the same for the two meetings scheduled for next week, putting the study of the bill off until 2026.

Losing potential Bloc support for the bill could jeopardize its passing, with the Opposition Conservatives stating they oppose it.

During Tuesday’s meeting, when the bill was last discussed, the Canadian Council of Imams came to watch, where they circulated a statement that they opposed the removal of the religious defences.

That meeting ultimately ended shortly after its scheduled time at the request of the Liberals, with support from the Bloc, despite an expectation that MPs were willing to stay late to complete the clause-by-clause study of the bill.

At the time, Liberal MPs on the committee explained that they had brought things to a close because they felt the meeting had been productive.

However, Fortin told reporters on Thursday he was told that it had to do with “pressure” that they received.

Blanchet said he had earlier informed Steven Guilbeault, the Liberal MP who had served as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Quebec lieutenant before he resigned from cabinet last week, that the Quebec party’s support for the government bill depended on amendments, with the main one being to remove the religious exemptions.

Afterwards, Blanchet said Justice Minister Sean Fraser told his MP on the committee that “we will do it.”

Blanchet is now calling on the Liberals to let the justice committee sit to deal with the bill and the amendment at hand.

“We invite them to go on with it next week. If not, there’s a huge political tag attached to this issue.”

The Opposition Conservatives have been vocally opposed to the removal of the religious defences from the Criminal Code, saying that doing so amounts to an attack on “religious freedom.”

Conservative MPs on social media on Thursday accused the Liberals of stalling the government’s justice agenda, following the Liberals’ accusation that the Opposition party had prevented debate on the bill.

With files from Christopher Nardi

National Post

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