On Monday, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Official Opposition to the government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, took to Twitter to express his support for professor and psychologist Dr. Jordan B.Peterson, who has been told by the Ontario College of Psychologists that he must undergo "retraining" for openly criticizing Trudeau and retweeting Poilievre. Poilievre said freedom of speech "distinguishes Canada, a free country from dictatorships."
"So the Ontario College of Psychologists has told Jordan Peterson that he either undergo retraining for social media etiquette or lose his license to practice as a clinical psychologist," Poilievre said. "This follows a number of complaints by people that don't like his online posts. One of which is a retweet. Something I posted and other is a criticism of Justin Trudeau. Now it should go without saying that in a free country, professionals should not lose their jobs and licenses because they express a political opinion contrary to the licensing body that's mandated by the government."
On Tuesday, Peterson broke the news on Twitter and wrote that the Ontario College of Psychologists demanded he take the mandatory social-media communication retraining. Peterson said, "I have been accused of harming people (although none of the complainants involved in the current action were clients of mine, past or present, or en were even acquainted with any of my clients." Those arguing Peterson was "harming people" had submitted complaints about Peterson's public and online comments over a four-year period and included various tweets and appearances on shows and podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience.
On Twitter, Poilievre noted that his critics would say he's endorsing "everything Dr. Peterson has ever said."
"I don't endorse 100 percent of everything anyone has ever said," Poilievre said. "There's no two people in the world who agree 100 percent of the time on 100 percent of things. And so I'm sure there is something he's posted that I do object to, but that is not the point because freedom of speech only matters when you disagree."
"If we all agreed we wouldn't need freedom of speech because no one has ever tried to censor someone for saying something that they agree with. It is only about when there is a disagreement, that it matters," he added.
Trudeau has been accused of aspirations towards dictatorship by everyone from Russel Brand and Joe Rogan to members of the European Parliament, who said it to his face.
"Dictators don't censor things their citizens say that the dictator agrees with only things they disagree with," Poilievre said. He noted that "cancel culture and the woke movement" along with what's happening at college campuses, in the media, through corporations, and the "professional licensing body" coalescing around opposition to free speech.
"We have section two B of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms," the conservative leader said. "To be or not to be, that is the question and the answer is that as Voltaire has been quoted as saying, I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to my death. Your right to say it."
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