The
Bloc Québécois accused the unofficial parliamentary committee of an unwillingness to hear diverse voices. When the party withdrew from the committee, it criticized "the inequality of opinions presented before the coalition" and "the refusal of the steering committee to hear groups with opposing viewpoints." Bloc parliamentarian
Michel Guimond has said that the committee's approach "was not sufficiently balanced." A number of critics asserted that the Coalition's goal is to conflate
criticism of Israeli policy with antisemitism. For example: • Joanne Naiman, a former Professor of Sociology at
Ryerson University argued that the CPCCA "is effectively a done deal" and that it aimed "to create a serious chill on university campuses and in the media" as a deterrent to
criticism of Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people. In an article posted on The Socialist Project, Naiman sharply criticized
Jason Kenney and
Irwin Cotler for their roles in the CPCCA. • Michael Keefer, a Professor of English at the
University of Guelph charged that the CPCCA is "an attempt to curtail freedom of speech and academic freedom across Canada, and to possibly criminalize certain kinds of human rights discourse." •
Independent Jewish Voices (Canada) likewise described the CPCCA as an "attempt to attack free speech and silence
criticism of the Israeli government's oppressive and illegal policies" and "to label
criticism of Israel and its behavior, as well as organized efforts to change them, as anti-Semitic and to criminalize both." ;Response The CPCCA denied any intention to limit legitimate
criticism of Israel. In particular, it stated that, while it affirmed others' alarm at "the resurrection of the old language of prejudice and its modern manifestations – in rhetoric and political action – against Jews, Jewish belief and practice and the State of Israel", nonetheless "dissent and opposition to individual actions of the Israeli government are both permitted and encouraged in and outside of Israel, just as political dissent is permitted and encouraged with respect to any democratic nation." Steering Committee Chair Scott Reid rejected the suggestion that the group's focus on antisemitism is misdirected, since he argued that these will not use up all of the goodwill that exists on the part of Canadians for resolving issues related hate directed at minority groups: "I think the best way to think of this is [that as a result of our hearings into antisemitism, Canada's] anti-xenophobic, anti-racist, anti-bigotry muscle gets exercised and the more it gets exercised, the stronger it is for dealing with all of those other forms of racism, xenophobia and bigotry." == 2011 Release of Inquiry Panel Report ==