The act was attacked by opposition politicians as evidence of the government's supposed fascism, and alienated even the Albertan.[23] The international press was also cutting: one British paper referred to Aberhart as "a little Hitler".[24] Later commentators have been no more favourable: Finkel calls the act evidence of the "increasingly authoritarian nature of the Aberhart regime",[3] and even Barr, generally sympathetic to Social Credit, calls it "a harsh blow to free speech".[24]