Kim McConnell Is Not One To Be Deterred

The Language Fairness meeting that was supposed to be held at the Ottawa Citizen Building Tuesday night (March 11, 2008) was canceled by the Ottawa Citizen.

It appears that the radio ads I ran on CFRA to promote my attendance at this meeting scared them.

Although the Citizen’s explanation for canceling the free conference room, which they always provide to the Language Fairness people as a public service, was murky, it was their right to cancel.

Nevertheless, I can understand their concern, since they are not the only politically correct cowards in the media. They are just one of most of them.

When I arrived at about 6:45, there were several dozen people standing in the Citizen parking lot, which seemed strange to me, since it wasn’t all that warm outside. When I approached them, I was told the Ottawa Citizen had canceled the meeting.

Not to be deterred, the person who is the heart and soul of the Language Fairness Group, Kim McConnell, said this will not stop us from having a meeting and hearing our two speakers (myself and Elizabeth Trudeau). Beth is fighting proposed forced bilingual signs in Russell.

True to her word, Kim, with the help of some of her “people”, found a Tim Horton’s on Greenbank Road that was only too happy to accommodate all of us in exchange for selling coffee, doughnuts, soup and sandwiches.

I was reluctant to stand and speak in this venue. It was so off the wall, that I would have been far more comfortable to come back at another time, and speak in a “more appropriate” location. I even offered to rent a hotel meeting room.

But Kim would have none of that.

Beth Trudeau and I were invited to speak. And she would be damned if her group would be denied the opportunity to hear what Beth and I had to say, just because we were locked-out by the Citizen, or because I didn’t feel “right” about speaking there.

As Kim spoke, she told us of her story of coming to Canada from tyranny ruled Malaysia many years ago. She had to learn and adopt Canadian customs that were at that time foreign to her.

But she adapted, and absorbed the essence of the Freedoms Canada offered. The kind of Freedoms she would never know in the land of her birth. And she was not about to let a simple lockout take her Freedom of Speech and Assembly away from her in her adopted country.

I will say this with great humility. I AM ASHAMED OF MYSELF for feeling uncomfortable and reticent to speak in such an odd place as a Tim Horton’s.

Kim, who paid a real price and made a real effort to come to Canada in search of FREEDOM, reminded me that a FREE VOICE must be heard from wherever it is possible to speak.

Kim shook me to my core Tuesday evening by showing me that I too have become too conventional. BUT THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!

Our FREEDOMS OF SPEECH, ASSOCIATION and ASSEMBLY are far too precious to waste, and be too politically correct to exercise.

It is when we are denied the venue, or are maligned by the media, or intimidated by thugs, that we have to speak even louder, make our selves even that much more visible, and stand that much closer together as a group.

A great many lessons were learned, especially by me on Tuesday night (March 11, 2008) courtesy of the Ottawa Citizen and their cowardly approach to Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly, two Freedoms that are the very foundation of who they are.

Without Freedom of Speech, there is no FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. Their decision to lock out our voices was reprehensible.

From this rag-tag meeting at Tim Horton’s, we all walked away that much stronger and determined.

I met people I had never met before. I sold all of Jimmy K’s ANGRYPHONE DVD’s that I had brought with me. And people at that meeting have already begun organizing for the campaign to get me into Parliament as their Independent Member.

I also had a chance to speak with another dynamo, who, like Kim McConnell, will not be silenced. Beth Trudeau has agreed to work with me as a senior manager in “our” upcoming campaign for me to win an Independent Seat in Parliament.

I said at the meeting: “I have no chance whatsoever of winning an Independent Seat in Parliament on my own. It will take a real team effort with real team leaders.”

Because of the Ottawa Citizen lockout, I have found some of those leaders, and many who want to do whatever they can to help carry the team.

I have to say this:

Thank you Kim McConnell for reminding me that Freedom isn’t FREE.

Thank you Beth Trudeau for reminding me that courage is found wherever one is prepared to be courageous.

And thank you cowardly Ottawa Citizen for setting the conditions to make all of this happen.

If you want to become active in our campaign to win an Independent Voice in Parliament that will speak for all Canadians on the issues that concern all of us the most, please click on the red link under my signature and read my policy platform.

It doesn’t matter where you live in Canada. All that matters is that you get an Independent Voice that will represent you in Parliament. We all have either a lot to lose, or a lot to gain.

Together – WE WILL WIN BACK CANADA!

Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov.