Right-leaning respondents were more likely to believe there should be no limits on speech, including the right to express hateful and offensive views. The national telephone survey by the Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research at the University of Saskatchewan was conducted between June 1 and June 27. It asked 1,000 people about their political leanings and their views on free speech. Survey director Jason Disano said he wanted to get a sense of where people stand on the issue “given the prominent role the phrase ‘liberty’ plays in the current Conservative Party of Canada leadership campaign.” He said overall, eight in 10 respondents — or nearly 86 percent — said they believe they have, or somewhat have, freedom of speech. Most respondents also said they believe governments and companies like Twitter and Meta — formerly known as Facebook — should step in to curb the spread of misinformation and hate speech. “But when you break it down to someone’s political leanings, that’s when you really see differences in Canadian views and opinions on the extent to which that freedom of speech should be (restricted),” Disano said. About one in four right-leaning to far-right respondents believe Canadians have very little or no freedom of speech compared to about 3% of left-leaning respondents who feel the same. “It’s not surprising,” said Barbara Perry, director of the Center on Hate, Bias and Extremism at Ontario Tech University. “If you look at the narrative over the last few years, there’s been an emphasis on cancellation culture. Free speech has become a rallying call for the far right. It’s always been there, but I think it’s really been amplified by the emergence of the alt-right in particular.” Disano said the Prairies had the highest percentage of people who identified as right-wing at 31.5 percent, with people in Quebec having the lowest at 18.6 percent. In Canada, hate speech is illegal. But in the United States, the First Amendment protects free speech, including the right to express hateful comments and offensive opinions. Survey respondents were asked whether they agreed with the Canadian or American approach to speech limits. Disano said eight out of 10 respondents agreed with Canada’s approach. However, about one in three respondents, or 31 percent, who said they were on the right supported America’s borderless approach, with the most respondents — 22.4 percent — coming from the prairies and the fewest from the Atlantic Canada at 4.5 percent. As for those who lean left, 2.5 percent of respondents said they also don’t want limits on speech. Perry said the “American absolutism of free speech” has emerged in Canada and can be linked to social media. “We’re not just talking about speech that’s offensive or hurts someone’s feelings, we’re really talking about dangerous speech and speech that has the potential to do real harm,” Perry said. “It’s back to the internet and having what they think is ease of access to spread whatever hate and misguided ideas they want.” The survey was reliable within plus or minus three percent, with a confidence level of 95 percent. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 11, 2022.
