Yale professor who alleged impending U.S. “fascist dictatorship” moving to Canada

A left-wing American professor who has made a name for himself by claiming the U.S. is on the verge of a “fascist dictatorship” is headed to the University of Toronto.

Source: Yale

A left-wing American professor who has made a name for himself by claiming the U.S. is on the verge of a “fascist dictatorship” is headed to the University of Toronto.

Jason Stanley, an American professor of philosophy at Yale University, has announced that he is leaving the United States to take a position at the University of Toronto.

Stanley has been a regular pundit on Democrat-affiliated media in the U.S. where he frequently denounces what he calls ‘rising facism’ within the U.S. political climate. Stanley cited this as his primary reason to leave for Canada, believing that the U.S. is destined to become a "fascist dictatorship.”

For Stanley, the responses to student protests at Columbia University were the tipping point.

Following a series of pro-Palestinian protests on campuses across the U.S., Columbia University implemented a series of measures, including suspending or expelling students involved in actions deemed illegal or against student code of conduct.

Stanley told Daily Nous, a philosophy-focused publication, that his decision to leave Yale and move to Canada was “entirely because of the political climate in the United States.”

He added, “I am very happy at Yale, with the department and the university, but I want to raise my kids in a country that is not tilting toward a fascist dictatorship.”

While Stanley’s departure has garnered attention, it also raises questions about free speech in Canada.

Stanley has had little to say on heavy-handed government actions by Canada’s own government including the invocation of the Emergencies Act during the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests.

In February 2022, the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act to quash peaceful protesters in Ottawa, a move that was later ruled unconstitutional by the Federal Court.

The Court found that the invocation of the act did not meet the legal criteria necessary for such an unprecedented measure, its first use in modern Canadian history.

The Liberal government continued to appeal the court's decision, as recently as last month.

While Stanley sees Canada as a safe haven from the supposed ‘rising authoritarianism’ in the US, the majority of Canadians believe free speech is threatened here at home, according to a leger poll from last year.