No Space for Hate - Exposing the Left

No Space For Hate - Exposing the Left

August 19th, 2026

No Space for Hate? When the People Preaching Tolerance Become the Ones Doing the Attacking

By Jason LaFace | Alberta Radio

There is a phrase we hear constantly in Canadian politics and activism:

“No Space for Hate.”

On its face, I agree with it.

There should be no space for racism. No space for hatred. No space for attacking people because of who they are. No space for threatening families or trying to destroy someone's life because they hold a different political opinion.

But after what I have experienced since 2018, I have a question:

Does “No Space for Hate” apply to everyone—or only to people who agree with the political movement using the slogan?

For me, this isn't an abstract political debate. It has affected friendships, my reputation and, most painfully, my family.

And this week, while my mother is in the ICU fighting for her life, I have been reminded again of just how ugly political tribalism can become.

It Started With Asking Questions

Since 2018, I have publicly challenged government policies surrounding homelessness, addiction, harm reduction and other social issues.

Then COVID arrived.

Like millions of Canadians, I questioned government decisions, restrictions, mandates and the enormous social consequences that followed.

People are free to disagree with me.

That's democracy.

What I wasn't prepared for was the extent to which disagreement could turn personal.

Over the years, I have found myself in conflicts with activists, political supporters and others associated with various organizations and institutions. In my experience, that has included people connected with Pride activism, BLM/BIPOC activism, university communities and anti-racism initiatives, as well as supporters of Liberal and NDP politics.

I have also had serious disputes involving individuals associated with institutions such as Laurentian University and McGill University and people in the Sudbury community.

I want to make something very clear: I am not claiming every member of these organizations, universities, movements or political parties behaves this way.

I am talking about specific experiences with specific individuals and the broader political culture I believe enabled their behavior.

When Political Disagreement Reaches Your Family

The worst part wasn't being called names online.

I've been called racist. Bigot. Extremist. And virtually every other fashionable political insult imaginable.

People who know me can judge those accusations for themselves.

What crossed the line, in my view, was when the political battle stopped being about me and began affecting members of my family.

I believe people who wanted to discredit me attempted to use personal relationships and media attention against me. I experienced what I regarded as attempts to smear my reputation rather than engage with the issues I was raising.

Whatever someone's opinion of me may be, families should not become collateral damage in political warfare.

Yet mine did.

When COVID began, existing tensions became worse. My sister and I became divided, and for approximately six years we didn't speak.

Think about that.

Six years.

Six years that neither of us can get back.

Then Everything Changed

My mother is now in the ICU fighting for her life.

Suddenly, arguments that once seemed enormous don't seem very important.

My family made a decision: we will not allow ourselves to be divided again.

My sister and I finally talked.

We put our differences aside.

We began comparing our experiences and discussing what had happened over those lost years. She showed me material and information that gave me a very different understanding of events and of the people she believes had been involved.

There will be time to examine all of that carefully.

Right now, our mother comes first.

But something remarkable happened in the middle of an awful situation.

Our family came back together.

After six years, my sister and I are speaking again.

Instead of destroying us permanently, everything that happened ultimately taught us something.

Blood is thicker than politics.

Family matters more than Twitter fights.

And nobody gets to divide us again.

And Yet the Attacks Continue

What has shocked me most during the last few days is seeing people continue making cruel comments and apparently attempting to provoke arguments while my family is dealing with a genuine medical crisis.

You don't have to like me.

You don't have to agree with Jason LaFace.

You don't have to agree with a single political position I've ever taken.

But there should still be a basic level of humanity.

When somebody's mother is fighting for her life, politics can wait.

If your political philosophy is supposedly built around compassion, inclusion, kindness and fighting hate, then those principles should matter most when dealing with someone you don't like.

Otherwise they're just slogans.

Sudbury Was Always About the People We Were Losing

One of the issues that drove my advocacy was addiction.

This wasn't theoretical to me.

I watched people I knew die.

Over the years, I have lost more friends and acquaintances to overdoses than I ever imagined possible. Behind every statistic was someone's son, daughter, brother, sister, mother, father or friend.

I became increasingly critical of what I saw happening around homelessness, addiction and harm reduction in Sudbury.

My argument was never that people suffering from addiction should be abandoned.

It was the opposite.

I believed we were watching people die while governments and organizations congratulated themselves for maintaining a system that wasn't producing acceptable outcomes.

I began asking uncomfortable questions about where public money was going, how programs were being administered, whether adequate treatment and recovery options existed, and whether the policies being defended politically were actually saving lives.

I have also raised serious concerns about drug trafficking and organized crime in the community. Those questions deserve evidence-based investigation rather than assumptions about guilt by association.

These are legitimate subjects for journalism and public debate.

If public money is being spent, the public has the right to ask whether programs work.

If overdose deaths remain intolerably high, Canadians have the right to demand better.

And if somebody believes my conclusions are wrong, show me the evidence.

Debate me. Don't dehumanize me.

Compassion Cannot Be Selective

This is where I believe parts of the modern activist left have lost their way.

We hear:

Love is love.

Be kind.

Tolerance.

Diversity.

Inclusion.

No Space for Hate.

Those are admirable ideas.

But they mean nothing if they disappear the moment somebody questions your politics.

Tolerance isn't agreeing with people you already like.

Tolerance means accepting that another human being can disagree with you without automatically becoming evil.

Anti-racism cannot become an excuse for casually branding opponents racists.

Compassion cannot apply exclusively to members of your political tribe.

And “No Space for Hate” cannot mean:

No space for anyone we hate.

Labels Are Not Arguments

Calling someone a racist doesn't automatically make them one.

Calling somebody a bigot isn't evidence.

Calling someone “far right” doesn't answer their question.

Calling somebody a conspiracy theorist doesn't prove the government's position.

And screaming a label loudly enough doesn't make inconvenient facts disappear.

This tactic has poisoned political discussion.

Labels can be used to make another person socially untouchable so nobody has to engage with what that person is actually saying.

I reject that game.

If I am wrong, demonstrate where I'm wrong.

If my statistics are wrong, bring better statistics.

If my interpretation of a government policy is wrong, challenge it.

That's what serious adults should do in a democratic society.

Science Isn't a Political Team

The same principle applies to science.

Science is not a collection of conclusions that citizens are forbidden to question.

Science is a process.

Hypotheses are challenged. Evidence is examined. Results are replicated. Conclusions change when better evidence emerges.

COVID should have taught us the danger of turning scientific disagreement into political identity.

Whether the subject is addiction, public health, homelessness or any other policy area, governments should never be afraid of scrutiny.

Neither should activists.

Neither should journalists.

And neither should I.

Put everyone's claims under the same microscope.

This Isn't About Hating “The Left”

Despite the headline, my argument isn't that every person on the political left is hateful.

That would be exactly the kind of sweeping generalization I'm criticizing.

There are compassionate liberals, conservatives, socialists, libertarians, centrists and people who couldn't care less about political labels.

There are also cruel people in every political movement.

My criticism is directed at hypocrisy: people who publicly demand tolerance while privately or publicly engaging in behavior they would immediately condemn if their opponents did it.

If you campaign against bullying, don't bully.

If you condemn harassment, don't harass.

If you preach compassion, demonstrate compassion.

If you say there is “No Space for Hate,” don't create exceptions for people whose politics you despise.

The standard has to apply to everyone.

Six Years Later, My Family Is Together Again

There is one thing the people who tried to divide us didn't accomplish.

They didn't destroy my family.

My sister and I lost six years.

That hurts.

But we are talking again.

We are sharing information, comparing experiences and beginning to understand each other again.

Most importantly, we're standing beside our mother.

That's where our energy belongs right now.

Whatever happens politically after this, my family has made its decision.

Never again.

We will disagree. We will argue. We're family—that's inevitable.

But outsiders, political movements and internet mobs will never again be permitted to turn those disagreements into walls between us.

My mother is fighting for her life, and somehow, in the middle of that darkness, something that had been broken for six years began healing.

Maybe that's the lesson worth taking from all of this.

Political movements come and go.

Hashtags disappear.

Governments change.

Today's outrage becomes tomorrow's forgotten social-media post.

Family remains.

And when somebody tells you there is “No Space for Hate,” don't judge them by the slogan on their profile.

Judge them by how they treat the human being standing on the other side of the political divide.

Because compassion that only applies to people who agree with you isn't compassion.

It's tribalism wearing a kindness T-shirt.

Alberta Radio Independent commentary. Uncomfortable questions. Your voice matters.