Canadians are polite and deferential.

We think that’s virtuous.
But what if we’re just sheep?

 

An Impolite Report on the State of Freedom in Canada

Few things are more precious in a democratic society than individual freedom, and few things are easier to take for granted. In this timely, provocative essay, Philip Slayton argues that Canada, in ways large and small, is frittering away the liberties on which a free and open society depends.

 

We give too much power to our politicians and unelected judges. We paper over our divisions and stifle voices that challenge conventional wisdom. We tolerate inaction on the most pressing issues of the day.

 

It is time, writes Slayton, for Canadians to throw off their self-imposed chains, to stand up and fight for what we believe in before we lose our ability to do so—a prospect, he warns, that is far more likely than we realize.

 

 

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^{PHILIP SLAYTON is a Canadian lawyer and the former dean of law at the University of Western Ontario. He is the best-selling author of Lawyers Gone Bad: Money, Sex and Madness in Canada’s Legal Profession and Mighty Judgment: How the Supreme Court of Canada Runs Your Life. Married to writer Cynthia Wine, he lives in Toronto and Nova Scotia.}