Canadian Politician Threatens To Sue Critic Of Her Fundraising Habits

from the chilling-effects dept

It would appear that Canadian politician Sam Bulte is not happy about people questioning her impartiatility towards the big content industry. We've mentioned already the fact that she's called anyone supporting users' rights zealots, and how she's denying tonight's fundraiser is a fundraiser, despite calling it a fundraiser on her own website. What's odd about all this is she keeps claiming she "won't be silenced" when no one is trying to silence her -- just suggesting that she's blocking out an important point of view which just happens to be opposed to those who have donated a fair amount to her election. However, for someone so worried about being "silenced" she's now trying to silence her critics. Michael Geist, who clearly ticks off a list of provably false points made by Ms. Bulte also points to an article in the Globe and Mail where Bulte threatens to sue Geist after the election: "I am not going to sue him before the election but dammit, watch me after the election." That certainly would seem to be a "chilling effects" type of threat implying if Geist doesn't shut up, he's going to face a lawsuit. Of course, with Geist being a law professor who has a pretty good grasp on the law, he doesn't seem too worried. However, it is amusing to see her so vigorously trying to silence her critics after demanding they stop silencing her (something no one has tried to do).
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    jdw242, 19 Jan 2006 @ 11:51am

    ...

    damn I wish she'd shut up.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2006 @ 11:59am

    Re: ...

    quit trying to silence her

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    ZOMG CENSORED, 19 Jan 2006 @ 1:08pm

    Canadian Politics...

    ...They're like the sitcom version of the West Wing. You really can't take many of the Canadian Politicians seriously as most of them seem to be so uninformed that it really makes us civilians wonder why the Hell people elect them in the first place.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Mikester, 19 Jan 2006 @ 1:09pm

    Typical...

    Unfortunately for us here in the north, this is how our governing party operates. They're going down and are likely to be replaced in our national election on Monday so they've resorted to FUD attacks on their opponents.

    For example, on her website under the heading, "Latest Liberal News" both of today's headings start with, "Stephen Harper..." who is the opposition party leader. Of course, both articles are more FUD attacks since that's last option the Liberals have left in these dying days of their campaign.

    Judging by this submission, it appears to have spilled over to non-election issues as well.

    Sorry for the rant

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    haggie, 19 Jan 2006 @ 1:15pm

    No Subject Given

    I wish I could say that U.S. politicians are generally smarter, more well-informed, or less compromised by special interests, but, sadly, I can't.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Joe Snuffy, 19 Jan 2006 @ 1:15pm

    Re: Typical...

    If your Canadian, shouldn't you have written your post in French as well?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    JSM, 19 Jan 2006 @ 1:30pm

    Re: Canadian Politics...

    Not to worry, they're just keeping our oil and fresh water safe until we need it. If they mess up too badly we'll just go up there are run it ourselves.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Rikko, 19 Jan 2006 @ 1:37pm

    Re: Canadian Politics...

    Dude, you've never seen a Commons session. It's like a group of 7 year olds quibbling over who gets the Play Doh.

    - An embarrassed Canadian

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2006 @ 2:36pm

    Re: Typical... La version française suit

    Il s'avérerait que le SAM canadien Bulte de politicien n'est pas heureux au sujet des personnes interrogeant son impartiatility vers la grande industrie contente. Nous avons déjà mentionné le fait qu'elle s'appelle n'importe qui les fanatiques des droits des utilisateurs de support, et comment elle nie le fundraiser du ce soir est un fundraiser, en dépit de l'appeler un fundraiser sur son propre website. Ce qui est impair au sujet du tout c'est elle la continue réclamer "ne sera pas amortie" quand personne n'essaye de l'amortir -- juste proposant qu'elle bloque hors d'un point de vue important qui s'avère justement juste être opposé à ceux qui ont donné une quantité considérable à son élection. Cependant, parce que quelqu'un s'est ainsi inquiété d'être "amorti" elle essaye maintenant d'amortir ses critiques. Michael Geist, qui fait tic tac clairement outre d'une liste de points provably faux a fait par mme. Bulte se dirige également à un article dans le globe et le courrier où Bulte menace de poursuivre Geist après l'élection: "je n'vais pas le poursuivre avant l'élection mais le dammit, m'observent après l'élection." Ce certainement semblerait être un "refroidissement effectue" le type de menace impliquant si Geist ne ferme pas vers le haut, il va faire face à un procès. Naturellement, avec Geist étant un professeur de loi qui a une prise très bonne sur la loi, il ne semble pas trop inquiété. Cependant, elle amuse pour la voir essayer tellement vigoureusement d'amortir ses critiques après exigeant eux cessent l'amortissement d'elle (quelque chose personne a essayé de faire).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2006 @ 5:01pm

    Re: Typical... La version française suit

    Gosh, I wish you bigots would stop using babelfish to translate texts in foreign languages. It doesn't make any sense, and it makes you look like a fool to those who can actually understand it...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Mark, 19 Jan 2006 @ 6:56pm

    Re: ...

    If I could make her be quiet, I sure would. Is "dork" a genderless term? If you haven't seen the online video of her "performance" you should. It's enough to make you switch parties.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Mark, 19 Jan 2006 @ 7:00pm

    Re: Canadian Politics...

    but at least it's not as bad as Taiwan, is it? Those characters got into a brawl on the floor not too long ago, it was definately more like 17yr olds...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Fazookus, 19 Jan 2006 @ 7:39pm

    Re: No Subject Given

    I wish I could say that U.S. politicians are generally smarter, more well-informed, or less compromised by special interests, but, sadly, I can't.

    Funny, U.S. politicians say that about themselves all the time...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
    MadJo (profile), 20 Jan 2006 @ 2:18am

    Re: Canadian Politics...

    You really can't take many of the Canadian Politicians seriously as most of them seem to be so uninformed that it really makes us civilians wonder why the Hell people elect them in the first place.


    This is not only limited to Canadian Politics. Same goes for the Dutch. They are so incompetent, that you wonder how in earth they could be given the responsibility of steering a country.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    thecaptain, 20 Jan 2006 @ 5:34am

    Re: Canadian Politics...

    Its easy. There's no perfect democracy and we always, ALWAYS end up voting for the lesser evil (or the smartest moron)

    Take Canada for example. There are 3 major parties and dozens of really tiny ones. Sure..you COULD vote for the green party, but they won't win..not even close.

    So in practice, the only real choice is to choose between 3 corrupt idiots.

    The way to break the cycle is for someone else to rise up and give us a real choice...but that means money, power, etc...all the things that pretty much means you'll be a run of the mill politico anyway.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Mousky, 20 Jan 2006 @ 7:11am

    Re: Canadian Politics...

    I guess bad is a relevant term. I like it when politicians go after each other in Parliament. That is the primary purpose of Parliament: to vent and attack. The business of running the country is done outside the chamber.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Scott, 20 Jan 2006 @ 7:52am

    Re: ...

    Depends on which definition of dork you choose.
    One is definitely not, the other is.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    ZOMG CENSORED, 20 Jan 2006 @ 8:12am

    Re: ...

    At least the former means you're as big as sedan...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    ManintheUSA, 20 Jan 2006 @ 8:29am

    Re: Canadian Politics...

    at least you get THREE

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    Guse, 24 Jan 2006 @ 11:07am

    moron

    I tried to silence her, but she wouldn't shut up about it

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.