Ottawa

Vic Toews parses himself

In an interview with CTV, the Public Safety Minister maintains there’s a difference between saying someone “stands with” child pornographers and saying someone is a child pornography “sympathizer.”

Speaking with the CBC yesterday, Mr. Toews similarly complained when it was suggested he had said opponents of the government’s legislation supported child pornographers.

Evan Solomon: That’s pretty explosive language, minister, do you think anyone who disagrees with this legislation is standing with child pornographers?

Vic Toews: You know, I said that in the context of a vote in the House of Commons. But the point is, even your introduction, you indicated that I had used the word “support,” which was misleading. I think we have to be very clear. You torque up the rhetoric in order to make a point. And that’s unfortunate, so let’s…

Evan Solomon: With all due respect, minister, when you say you either support, or stand with us…

Vic Toews: No, I didn’t, see you said it again…

Evan Solomon: You said, you either stand with child pornographers, you stand with child pornographers. I just showed the quote. Isn’t that, aren’t you the one that;s torquing the rhetoric up, not me?

Vic Toews: No, you just, in fact what you indicated was to try to slide it into another issue. The issue
of supporting child pornographers is an entirely different issue. And I’m glad you played the full quote. At least you played the full quote, so that Canadians could see exactly what I said and why I said it.

Evan Solomon: But minister, my point here is in a sensitive issue that has to do with judicial oversight, by using that kind of language, standing with child pornographers, does it all of a sudden polarize an issue and mean that we cannot have a dispassionate discussion because you are calling the opposition to this standing with child pornographers? Meaning, delegitimizing some legitimate questions about this bill.

Vic Toews: Look, we will entertain any concerns or legitimate questions about this. But it is clear that presently the legislation does nothing to stop the proliferation of child pornography, which is a huge problem in this country. It’s a huge problem worldwide. Canada, in fact, is out of step. What we are doing is bringing legislative framework into place that places us exactly in the same place that the Americans are in and that the Europeans are in, in order to deal with an international problem.

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