Free speech on the freeways? Not on this police officer's watch

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From the censorious thugs running Silicon Valley, to our federal Liberal government that is so obsessed with proposed censorship laws — free speech is now under attack like never before. But just wait until you hear the story of Kamil Wojcik of Kitchener, Ontario.

Kamil cruises the highways and byways of southern Ontario behind the wheel of his Ford Taurus. And when he does, he likes to display cheeky messages on a video board that is mounted next to the car’s rear window. Sometimes the messages are political, sometimes they're about COVID-19 and sometimes they're simply jokes.

But earlier this month, Kamil was pulled over by a member of the Waterloo Regional Police Service. Apparently, this constable took a dim view to Kamil’s scrolling message that day, which was: “Breaking News! Stores are running out of tampons due to rise of pussies in the country!”

Now, was the message impolite or even vulgar? Perhaps. But being impolite and vulgar are not crimes in our great Dominion. And a good thing, too — for if impoliteness and vulgarity were deemed to be criminal acts, construction would have to begin immediately on thousands of new penitentiaries.

In any event, the officer handed Kamil a ticket for $110!

But why? After all, we reached out to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation regarding the legality of video message boards on motor vehicles. And the MTO told us there is no law prohibiting such devices. Indeed, from time to time, Rebel News rents a Jumbotron-equipped truck to promote various campaigns. And we've never experienced any blowback from law enforcement.

But the story gets even more intriguing and bizarre. Since there is no law banning video message boards in or on vehicles, the stated violation on Kamil’s ticket reads: “Drive without proper rear light - motor vehicle.”

Just one hitch, alas: the car’s taillights and brake lights were functioning perfectly.

Says Kamil: “Not a single light out. I [made] a video of all the lights working when I came home after [getting] the ticket. I make sure all lights are working just so no one has a reason to pull me over when I drive with it [video message board] on.”

So, what’s going on here?

We reached out to the Waterloo Police and a spokeswoman passed our message on to Traffic Services. We have yet to hear back.

Regardless, we will get to the bottom of this in the months ahead, given that Kamil plans to fight this ticket in court. And we think he has a great case — after all, he was written up for a non-existent crime!

As for the snowflake cop who was a triggered by Kamil’s cheeky menstrual message: get over yourself. And grow a thicker skin. And embrace free speech — even speech you don’t agree with — as opposed to shutting free speech down. We have enough censors already, and we certainly don’t need censorious thugs bearing badges and firearms.