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Ann Coulter’s

Ottawa Speech

_.axed

By Justin Sadler

and Doug Hempstead

QMI Agency

Ann Coulter’s campus speech axed

It’s just the thing

conservative author,

commentator and

self-described polemicist

Ann Coulter is known for:

Dividing her audiences.

Coulter was scheduled to speak

before an audience gathered at

the University of Ottawa’s

Marion Hall Tuesday evening.

Instead,

security concerns raised by

the university kept the

Republican firebrand from

speaking.

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Organizers pulled the plug

on the speaking engagement

because there were just

too many people —

too many of whom

were just too rowdy.

“At a university,

instead of free speech,

censorship,”

said Ezra Levant,

a Canadian conservative writer,

lawyer and blogger who was

scheduled to introduce Coulter.

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Coulter was at the university

for the second stop of her

Canadian speaking tour to

dish on political correctness,

media bias and

freedom of speech.

Police were called by the

university to assist after

students of all political stripes

descended upon the auditorium

to hear the talk —

some of them lining up for more

than two hours in the rain —

only for it to be cancelled

a half-hour after it was

due to begin.

More than 2,000 people

tried to get into the event,

several times the capacity

of the venue.

“We were called to ensure the

crowd left in an orderly fashion,”

said Ottawa police

Sgt. Rob Gilchrist.

No arrests were made

and no injuries were reported.

Hundreds of people pooled

into the lobby in an attempt

to get into the auditorium.

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Organizers,

who turned away those who

didn’t register ahead of time,

had allowed about 200 people

into the auditorium when the

fire alarm was pulled minutes

before the talk was set to start.

The cancellation is regarded

as a victory among those who

showed up to protest the

presence of Coulter,

who is known for her

inflammatory comments.

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She recently said Muslims

shouldn’t be allowed to travel

in airplanes and should use

flying carpets instead.

Groups gathered outside

the building chanting

“This is what free

speech looks like”

while the crowd inside

could be heard chanting

“We want Ann”

after it was announced the

event was cancelled at 8:15 p.m.

Organizers painted the

cancellation as disgraceful.

“Francois Houle got his wish,”

Levant said of the University’s

provost and vice president.

“He telegraphed to the

community that University

of Ottawa is not a place

for free debate.”

Houle had earlier sent

Coulter a letter suggesting

she brush up on the limits

of free speech in Canada,

adding that promoting hatred

could lead to criminal charges.

Coulter reacted

angrily to the letter,

saying Houle had

threatened to charge

her with a crime.

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The university’s student

federation also vehemently

opposed Coulter’s appearance,

banning posters advertising

the talk from the University

Centre building.

The event followed her

Monday visit to London,

Ont.

where little of her speech

touched on Canadian issues.

Instead,

she verbally attacked

gay rights activists,

the mainstream media

and the Barack Obama

administration.

Her Canadian tour will

wrap up at the University

of Calgary on Thursday.

justin.sadler@sunmedia.ca

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