"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

This morning I woke up to the troubling news that a major Christian event scheduled for the Maritime region had to be cancelled because of a lack of response from the Christian community.

This promised to be an exciting event; the ECP Centre's first Eastern Canada "Ignite Our Culture" conference was launched in order to inform Maritimers about the growing threat to our fundamental freedoms of speech, religion and conscience in Canada. Never before in the history of Canada has this threat been so real yet the organizers couldn't "penetrate the culture" in order to ignite it!

The headline speaker was Ezra Levant, who faced down the Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and triumphed, while he woke a sleeping nation to the growing threat to our fundamental freedoms. Also featured were other Canadians who have refused to be stifled by the insidious advance of public censorship.

The focus of the ECP Centre is to defend, advocate and equip Christians to vibrantly and unabashedly contribute to the public square. ECP was preparing to equip Atlantic Canada with the necessary shields and swords only to find them AWOL. Whatever happened to "Occupy until I return?"

It seems that as the public memory of the cases against Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn fade with the HRCs strategic retreat from the big news human rights cases, that Canadians have dozed off unaware of the HRCs stealthy advance again.

Christian Canadians have forgotten that the CHRC successes of the past few years have placed a chill in the pulpits in Canada. Our pastors must wonder: "Will I be the next Bishop Fred Henry, who was charged with human rights violation for writing to his congregation on the same sex marriage issue?" "Will I be the next Reverend Stephen Boissoin, who lives under a lifetime ban on speaking of homosexuality?" "Do I have the congregational support to preach all of God's Word or only that which will be acceptable to HRCs?"

I recall the words of warning I heard over a morning coffee with CHP candidate Alex Kovalenko, in Toronto, only a few months ago. Alex was born in the Ukraine, immigrated to Canada in 1992, speaks fluently in Russian and Ukrainian. He said, "Jim I lived behind the Iron Curtain. I saw secularization take over our home land; the people were asleep. Our rights to speak out were lost. Our rights to who, what and when our children were educated were lost. It wasn't long before the authorities came into our churches… Jim, tell the people, because Christians don't realize how fast this is happening here in Canada."

Wake up, Canada! While there are still some good men and women willing to lead the charge. Are we unwilling to take up the cry of "freedom" for this country? Will our legacy to our children be an Orwellian society of people led about on the leash of our government while enjoying only the illusion of freedom?

It's Time! It's time to take back our culture of freedom. It's time to take back our culture of life. It's time to fight Canada's battle alongside of the only political party ready to defend our culture. It's Time!