This candidate thinks you have "too damn many rights"
- Details
- Published on Monday, 28 September 2015 22:15
- Written by editor
We received an overwhelming response to this letter we sent out the other day, and it's not too late to donate so we can run a hard-hitting newspaper ad in Liepert’s home city.
It's hard to believe a Canadian politician just said this:
“I know there's a whole group of people...who talk about civil liberties and about the freedom of having the right to pretty much choose to do what you like.
Folks, that's not the country we live in."
–Conservative Candidate for Calgary-Signal Hill Ron Liepert, when asked about Bill C-51 this week.1
We can’t let this go unanswered. If you can chip in right now, we’ll be able to fund a hard-hitting newspaper ad in Liepert’s home city of Calgary to make sure voters know exactly where the parties stand on C-51 and our digital future.
OpenMedia has been working flat out to repeal Bill C-51. Why? Because we live in a country that should respect basic freedoms, like our right to privacy, right to protest, and right to free expression. And experts agree that C-51 threatens all of these.2,3
That’s why we were appalled when Conservative candidate Ron Liepert implied that the innocent Canadians targeted by C-51 were “involved in criminal activities,” and defended the bill by saying people living here already have “too damn many rights”.
If you donate what you can today, we’ll run a hard-hitting newspaper ad in Liepert’s home city to make sure voters know exactly where the parties stand on C-51 and our digital future.
Recent polls show Liepert is in a tightening race,4 and we know that many in his riding have spoken out against C-51’s reckless and expensive spying.
Splashing out with an ad now could make all the difference and send a crystal clear message to politicians that it’s time to kill C-51.
Here’s the bottom line: If we don’t fight back against politicians like Liepert who carelessly dismiss our fundamental rights, we will lose those rights.
But we need to act fast if we’re to keep this in the spotlight. By running this ad we’ll show candidates across the country that they can’t get away with extreme statements like this.
The more we can crowdfund, the bigger we can go with our newspaper ad. Please chip in now and let’s give this candidate a reality check.
For the Internet,
David,
on behalf of your OpenMedia team
P.S. As a crowdsourced organization, we depend on community support for everything we do. If you agree that Liepert’s comments don’t describe the Canada you want to live in, please help us send your message with a contribution today.
Footnotes
[1] Conservative candidate on C-51: Civil liberties? "Folks, that's not the country we live in". Source: PressProgress
[2] Why Internet Privacy Should be a Key Election Issue. Source: Michael Geist
[3] BILL C-51: Our statement to the standing committee on national security and public safety. Source: Forcese and Roach
[4] Source: ThreeHundredEight.com
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