"The tyrannical instinct to censor"...is fine when Tories do it

Senator Doug Finley (formerly Tory war room chief) delivered a speech in the Senate on Tuesday attacking the Human Rights Act, and said of it that "The tyrannical instinct to censor still exists." Apparently Finley didn't get the memo, the Conservatives are fine with censorship, as long as it suits the political ends.

After all, they have shut up climate change scientists:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=d489ec1a-36d4-41fb-b692-6c90faa0dcaa

And now they've gutted vital environmental oversights:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-curtail-key-environment-provisions/article1518844/

Released thousands of censored documents on the Detainee Issue:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/afghanmission/article/785188--tories-table-thousands-of-documents-on-afghanistan-mission

The Senator also quotes George Orwell, saying that "Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear", which given Conservative actions, is also ironic.

One only has to look at the treatment the Tories have given to whistle blower Richard Colvin, or former CNSC head Linda Keen to see what this government thinks of those who speak truth to power.

Heck, the Tories will even ignore those who tell them what they don't want to hear when it is your tax dollars paying for it, such as how they have ignored the taxpayer funded crime research.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2010/03/14/13226061-cp.html

It's a little rich for the Senator to talk about telling people what they don't want to hear when:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has explicitly and publicly stated that his government does not accept peer-reviewed research on criminal matters.

In a 2008 speech, Harper flatly denounced research-based justice policies, accusing the pedlars of such policies of trying to “pacify Canadians with statistics.”


Yes, how dare such things as "evidence" and "facts" play a role when forming public policy on climate change and the environment. Despite Senator Finley's pleas, his government is doing a fine job of censorship.