MORGAN: Industry associations are crushing careers on behalf of the left

There is a Canadian trend developing of professional associations targeting outspoken conservatives for minor offences.The most high-profile case of course is of Dr. Jordan Peterson who will be forced to undergo some form of re-education on his views expressed on social media or he could lose his licence to practice. The views Peterson espoused online may have been offensive to hypersensitive souls married to woke narratives, but they weren’t beyond the pale by any measure. Peterson’s views had no bearing on his ability to practice as a psychologist and most importantly none of his patients had any complaints about him.The pressure must have been strong upon the College of Psychologists of Ontario for them to feel they must pursue Dr. Peterson with such vigour. If the pressures weren’t coming from fellow doctors or his patients though, why did the association feel compelled to discipline Peterson?It appears the members of the College of Psychologists of Ontario has a political bias and were happy to act as a hammer to punish a man who upset the sensibilities of the left.Most recently, former Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis has been found guilty of professional misconduct over a case with a conflict of interest in which Denis appears to admit fault but says was inadvertent, and another case where a cease-and-desist letter sent to a woman who had allegedly been harassing his client and his client’s wife was deemed to be a threat. The recipient of that letter has since been charged with criminal harassment. Perhaps she should have heeded the warning Denis sent rather than going to the law society to complain of it.Denis will be receiving a letter of reprimand and a minor fine. It seemed like a rather minor sanction in light of the time and effort put into the case. I figured I should check with an expert and asked MRU Associate Professor in Justice Studies and visiting scholar at the University of London’s Royal Docks School of Business and Law Dr. Kelly Sundberg his thoughts on the case. According to Dr. Sundberg, “While Jonathan Denis was found in violation of law society standards, it’s telling that at the end of the day Denis only received a sanction that could be considered nothing more than a slap on the hand thus highlighting the minor nature of the matter. The ruling could undoubtedly be appealed on a number of grounds.”Denis' lawyer Alain Hepner hasn’t ruled out appealing the decision.Dr. Sundberg went further, “Woefully, a disturbing trend has become commonplace whereby alt-left activists, often embedded in academia or other institutions of civil society seek to advance their toxic identity politics by filing complaints against those they view as being a threat to their woke ideology.”Former Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro was dragged before the law society recently though he was found not guilty and former Alberta Justice Minister Kacee Madu has been in front of the law society over his calling police to inquire about a ticket he had received. The ruling in Madu’s case hasn’t been released yet.All three former justice ministers appear to have exercised some poor judgement but it’s questionable if the alleged offenses warranted the prosecution they endured.The process is often the punishment in cases before professional associations. When a person has been accused of something, it lands on them to prove themselves innocent. They don’t have the same remedies they would have in a formal court and defending themselves can turn into a time consuming, stressful and expensive ordeal.The left thrives on chilling contrary views and discourse however they can. They flooded advertisers at media outlets with threats and complaints to ensure Caylan Ford couldn’t publicly defend herself against a character assassination. The accusations made against Ford proved to be unfounded but were terribly damaging to her reputation since she wasn't able to make a public case for herself. It was an unprincipled but effective tactic. The same vindictive and vicious leftists have learned that if they can threaten the careers of conservatives through complaints to professional associations and they are using that tool as a means of political intimidation. Many people with strong views may choose to keep those views to themselves for fear of complaints to their associations. This is not a healthy development in a democracy.Conservatives aren’t violating professional standards more than others are. It’s just that prominent conservatives are under a microscope as leftist activists will stop at nothing to tear them down.Part of the problem is the associations themselves. Industry associations often aren’t populated by the best and brightest in their respective industries. It’s quite to the contrary. When in the oilfield, I know we didn’t send our most productive people to represent us within the association. We sent the person we could most do without. Often a brother-in-law of the owner or someone with a token position was sent to the association. It felt like we got a problem out of the way but what we did was put somebody into a position with some authority within the industry even if they weren’t the best qualified to represent it. These folks climb the ranks of associations and enjoy the power they have garnered in their roles that they never could have acquired working in the field. They also often hold grudges and can be easily influenced to take it out on others.Industry associations are important and maintaining professional standards within those industries is an essential role. Because of that importance though, these associations should be held to a high degree of scrutiny and companies need to work harder to put better people into roles within those associations. They can’t be used as a dumping ground for the petty and non-productive anymore. That will return to bite good professionals in the butt.You don’t have to like Peterson, Denis, Madu, or Shandro but they should feel free to express their political views without possible sanctions from their professional associations. Perhaps the actions of the associations is justified in these cases, but from all I can find the accusations appear to be petty and nothing that couldn’t have been sorted out with some communication rather than prosecution.Agenda driven industry associations are harming individuals and industries alike as the left has found them to be a useful weapon in their culture war.

MORGAN: Industry associations are crushing careers on behalf of the left

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