A candidate for the leadership of Canada¡¯s Conservative Party has called for universities to ¡°lose federal funding if they fail to protect freedom of speech¡±, according to reports.

Andrew Scheer discussed free speech on campus in an .

¡°Campuses are no longer the bastions of free speech that they once were,¡± he said in reference to the ¡°troubling trend¡± for protests around controversial lectures.

¡°There are a lot of people who come to campus who say things that are outrageous,¡± Mr Scheer said.

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¡°And I vehemently disagree with them¡­Professors or guest speakers who say terrible things about everything from Christianity to capitalism.

¡°I just don¡¯t go to them. It¡¯s as simple as that. And it doesn¡¯t bother me. It doesn¡¯t keep me up at night. It doesn¡¯t make me want to go and tip a car over.¡±

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The National Post said that under one of Mr Scheer¡¯s proposed policies ¡°fostering and protecting free speech would become a criterion on public post-secondary institutions¡¯ grant applications to federal agencies such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Canada Research Chairs¡±.

Mr Scheer discussed the case of Jordan Peterson, the University of Toronto professor of psychology who has been at the centre of a national furore after he made?two hour-long YouTube lectures?criticising the institution¡¯s policy on ¡°political correctness¡± and objecting to government legislation that would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression.

In response, the university issued a?warning?about speech or acts that ¡°silence or demean individuals or groups¡±, and senior administrators sent Professor Peterson a letter asking him to stop making statements that could be considered discriminatory under provincial human rights legislation.

¡°People can disagree with him,¡± said Mr Scheer. ¡°People can refute his points, and stand up for what they believe in. But what bothers me is this sense of shutting out any kind of dissent on certain issues. I believe that Canada is a mature enough country that we can have these debates.¡±

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The new Conservative leader will be chosen on 27 May.

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com