Articles by Brendan Steven

For once, dear reader, I get to take off my conservative colours and write about something agreeable. Last week, the Crown in Britain announced the engagement of His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales to Kate Middleton, his girlfriend of eight years. I am absolutely overjoyed at the news, as[Read More…]

Our justice system is meant to be a principled and morally upstanding approach to crimes committed against our fellow human beings. Being tough-on-crime isn’t just a game of political pandering, and criminal justice isn’t a game of bureaucratic tinkering to reduce costs. The media, the Liberals, and the NDP have[Read More…]

I liked George W. Bush. I know this is a blasphemous thing to admit nowadays. The anti-Bush faith continues to flourish. Indeed, I didn’t like every single thing he did. But with the release of his new memoir Decision Points, it’s timely to elaborate my defence of him and his[Read More…]

Two weeks ago, the Students’ Society held its  annual General Assembly. The whole thing was depressing. I went at precisely the time it was to begin, and the first thing that struck me was the line. Remember the GA last semester? If you weren’t there at least an hour early,[Read More…]

Liberal incompetence on national defence is nothing new—it’s been pointed out to them for more than a decade. Former Chief of the Defence Staff General Rick Hillier perhaps put it best when he referred to the 1990s as the “decade of darkness.” In that decade, everything was subject to budget[Read More…]

“How am I going to celebrate? I’m going to spank some ass.” -Terri Jean-Bradford Terri has a lot to celebrate. She is a dominatrix, and last week the Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck down three provisions of the Criminal Code related to the operation of a “bawdy house” (a[Read More…]

Unlike some students at McGill, I have been largely satisfied with Heather Munroe-Blum as our Principal. Her administration has brought common sense and innovation to a university defined by bureaucracy and hierarchy. The recent creation of the Service Point, for example, is a welcome change.

Our justice system is meant to be a principled and morally upstanding approach to crimes committed against our fellow human beings. Being tough-on-crime isn’t just a game of political pandering, and criminal justice isn’t a game of bureaucratic tinkering to reduce costs.

Ann Coulter is a bit of a troublemaker, isn’t she? I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with the firebrand conservative columnist. A strong advocate for small government, Coulter is also an unapologetic advocate for Western society’s ethics. She decries the silencing tendencies of political correctness and never gives in to moral relativism.

A culture that refuses to allow Canada’s intelligence service to do its job is putting the safety of Canadian citizens at risk. Canada’s state intelligence agency, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, has come under attack for defending national interests abroad.

On February 9, Max Silverman wrote an article that viewed the aid effort in Haiti through the prism of Naomi Klein’s “shock doctrine” theory. The shock doctrine posits a theory of “disaster capitalism,” where practitioners take advantage of emergency or upheaval to force free market reforms onto a rebuilding country.

SSMU further resolves to condemn any group, student association, or organization whose goals and methods compromise the safety and health of any person or engage in acts of discrimination such as, but not limited to, pro-life groups; SSMU will not grant full or interim club status to any such group.

SSMU further resolves to condemn any group, student association, or organization whose goals and methods compromise the safety and health of any person or engage in acts of discrimination such as, but not limited to, pro-life groups; SSMU will not grant full or interim club status to any such group.” – Motion Re: Discriminatory Groups.

Tomorrow, at the Students’ Society Winter General Assembly, students will have an opportunity to vote on freedom of speech. Very rarely in our lives do we get such an opportunity, as most of us are fortunate to come from liberal democratic countries – where our right to stand up and speak our minds is held dear.

But on Wednesday, a motion will be presented at the GA entitled “Discriminatory Groups” that threatens those very rights. This motion makes some wild claims. It claims that denying a woman access to abortions is “an act of discrimination.” On the grounds that pro-life groups are therefore “discriminatory,” it seeks to alter SSMU’s equity policy to include a clause that would prevent SSMU from granting full or interim club status to any pro-life group. The motion also claims that Choose Life utilized coercive tactics at the now-infamous “Echoes of the Holocaust” event.

This entire motion offends me.

The claim that pro-life groups are fundamentally discriminatory is absurd. It has no rational justification. I make this statement as a person who is fundamentally pro-choice. But that doesn’t prevent me from understanding the sincere arguments of the pro-life side of the debate. How is the belief that a fetus is a child discriminatory? Whether life begins at conception is both a scientific and a spiritual question, not a question of sexism.

Furthermore, the notion that Choose Life utilized “coercive” tactics at its “Echoes of the Holocaust” event is obscene. The event was open to anyone who wanted to attend. If you felt insulted by the notion of an academic comparison of genocide to abortion, then you didn’t have to go. “Echoes of the Holocaust” was not the first time a group has invoked the Nazi genocide: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals launched a “Holocaust on your Plate” campaign in 2003, in which they compared factory farms to concentration camps. While I disagree with their message with every fibre of my being, it’s PETA’s right to make the comparison, just as it was Jose Ruba’s right to do so at “Echoes of the Holocaust.” No one hired a political correctness police force to shout him down. No one has the right to shut him up.

In fact, the only people “coercing” anyone at that presentation were the protesters who interrupted Ruba by singing and yelling for two hours, silencing debate and denying their fellow students a forum for their opinions.

Canada has a wonderful legal document called the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. That document ensures four fundamental freedoms – the four most significant freedoms a human being can exercise.

The first is freedom of conscience and religion. Those against abortion are free to hold that moral belief, as they are free to practice any faith that opposes abortion.

The second is freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression. Those opposed to abortion have the right to think that abortions are wrong, and they have the right to tell people that they think so.

The third is freedom of peaceful assembly, and the fourth is freedom of association. Those against abortion have the right to create an organization based on that belief, and no one has the right to stop them.

With the stroke of a pen this resolution promises to suffocate the fundamental freedoms of any pro-life student who comes to this school. Think I’m being a hack for quoting the constitution? This seems like one of the rare occasions where it is incredibly appropriate.

I strongly encourage anyone who loves their fundamental freedoms to come to the GA and vote no to this resolution. It offends the very rights its authors are trying to protect.

I refuse to hand over a penny of my money to the Quebec Public Interest Research Group. The McGill chapter of QPIRG collects a student fee of $3.75 per semester from all McGill undergraduate students. They use those funds to support working groups who advocate for “social and environmental justice.

Contrary to what some of you may believe, proroguing parliament is not the “democratic travesty” that many are making it out to be. Canada is supposedly stirring with “grassroots fury,” according to the Toronto Star. More than 100,000 people have now joined a Facebook group in opposition to Stephen Harper’s decision to prorogue Parliament, united by their hatred of our prime minister.