What is the current state of the law on freedom of expression in Canada?

Hogg, Constitutional law of Canada, 2nd ed. (1985), p. 713, states: What is the rationale for guarantee of freedom of expression? Perhaps the most powerful rationale for the constitutional protection of freedom of expression is its role as an instrument of democratic government. The rationale was well expressed by Rand J. in Switzman v. Elbling, 1957 CanLII 2 (SCC), [1957] S.C.R. 285, when he said that parliamentary government was "ultimately government by the free public opinion of an open society", and that it demanded "the condition of a virtually unobstructed access to and diffusion of ideas". In the same case, Abbott J. said that "the right of free expression of opinion and of criticism" were "essential to the working of a parliamentary democracy such as ours". Canadian judges have always placed a high value on freedom of expression as an element of parliamentary democracy and have sought to protect with the limited tools that were at their disposal before the adoption of the Charter of Rights. It is obvious that political speech is at the core of s. 2(b) of the Charter, and could be curtailed under s. 1 only in service of the most compelling governmental interest.