Carleton University’s School of Journalism held a panel discussion with members of the legacy media on Tuesday to discuss their role in covering what the school called “the siege of Ottawa” by “the so-called freedom convoy.”
Before it even took place, the event received backlash online for its biased tone and the apparent exclusion of independent and right-of-centre journalists.
As the federal government was promising to tackle harmful false claims about the pandemic spreading online, it was giving thousands of dollars to a magazine spreading vaccine misinformation — including unsubstantiated claims that COVID-19 vaccines could cause cancer in children.
The CBC has publicly retracted a news story about the trucker Freedom Convoy that erroneously claimed that support for the protests had largely come from foreigners.
After announcing its eviction and launching an online fundraiser, a downtown Ottawa business that supported the so-called Freedom Convoy has raised more than $30,000.
The Iconic Cafe, located on Slater Street just a few blocks from Parliament Hill, stayed open during the weeks-long occupation in downtown Ottawa and was used as a staging area for protesters — in some instances, prominent protest leaders would broadcast on social media from inside the cafe.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine does not change the fact of climate change – a reality brought home again by another stark report from the UN’s climate change panel two weeks ago.
But the ramifications of this war are being used to raise new questions about Canadian climate and energy policy.
With gas prices surging a week after Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown wrote to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to suggest that she delay the annual increase in the federal carbon tax, slated to take effect on April 1. “Now is the wrong time for any new burden,” he said.
While speaking, Rodriguez also promised that there was more the Liberal government could do to “support” the legacy news.
“I think there are even more things we should be able to do. We’re looking into that in the context of supporting the whole ecosystem,” said Rodriguez.
Convoy organizers had extreme aims, says PM’s national security adviser
Extremism was at play amid the trucker convoy protests and blockades, and there is “no doubt” that some of the organizers who came to Ottawa did so with the intention of overthrowing the government, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s top security adviser.
Jody Thomas says in unpacking what went down during the convoy protests, the clearing of them, and the divisions the whole ordeal exposed, Canada needs to take seriously the rise of domestic ideologically-motivated violent extremism.
Two months ago, Thomas took on the key job as Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser after a long career in the federal public service.
Career civil servant. That’s your ruling class at work Canada.
From objective news reporting to media protectionism for the prime minister. This is what $600 Million bought Justin Trudeau for the goal of twisting public perception.
While numerous reports from the United Kingdom are branding Trudeau a fake and fraud, legacy media in Canada continue to believe they are fooling our general population.
In terms of media coverage, silence has ruled the roost since the convoy to Washington, DC began. We speak not of American media, but rather of the media monolith that exists north of the border in Canada.
What are the reasons for the collective silence? An attempt at logic: Justin Trudeau and his draconian Covid measures have been the primary cause for the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa. The People’s Convoy in Washington is an outgrowth of the Ottawa protest. Therefore, the prime minister of Canada is the individual most responsible for the Washington protest.
A small number of physicians in Canada are spreading misinformation and unscientific views about COVID-19, a trend experts say could undermine the response to the pandemic and erode trust in public officials and institutions.
Medical regulators are under pressure to crack down on physicians and other health professionals who say false or misleading things or prescribe unproven treatments.
Both during the time the Freedom Convoy was parked around downtown Ottawa and after police raided the protest zone, polling companies have been pushing out hastily made polls about the event. The polls the companies put out are supposedly gauging what Canadians thought about the Freedom Convoy, but these polls seem oddly disconnected from reality.
There are now 305,200 more government jobs across Canada than there were pre-pandemic
Politicians and government decision-makers are financially divorced from the Canadians they’re supposed to represent — and it shows.
… Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland claims Canada has “more than recovered lost jobs” during the pandemic. But whose jobs have been recovered?
There are now 305,200 more government jobs across Canada than there were pre-pandemic, but 272,800 fewer jobs outside of government.
Then there’s the three-decades-high inflation.
This is why Ottawa was freaked out by the Truckers. Our predator class public servants came face to face with the peons they rob and it scared them.
The New York Times reported last weekend that police in Ottawa had arrested protesters at gunpoint, a claim that was quickly challenged and denounced by prominent Canadian journalists.
“This is wrong,” tweeted freelance reporter Justin Ling, who had been covering the police action from Ottawa. CBC News TV host Ginella Massa called the Times headline “false and incredibly dangerous rhetoric” and CBC radio host Piya Chattopadhyay asked “where are you getting this bs from?”.
Those who most flamboyantly proclaim that they are fighting fascists continue to embrace and wield the defining weapons of despotism.
When it comes to distant and adversarial countries, we are taught to recognize tyranny through the use of telltale tactics of repression. Dissent from orthodoxies is censored. Protests against the state are outlawed. Dissenters are harshly punished with no due process. Long prison terms are doled out for political transgressions rather than crimes of violence. Journalists are treated as criminals and spies. Opposition to the policies of political leaders are recast as crimes against the state.
In a video from Ottawa, a broadcaster stares at the camera in silence as protesters surround him and scream expletives, calling him a liar and bellowing “freedom.”
Near the U.S. border in Surrey, B.C., a cameraman’s equipment is shoved off his shoulder and two men spit on him. A demonstrator follows another journalist closely, yelling that he is a “disgusting, filthy human being,” while police escort the reporter through a jeering crowd.
Experts and advocates say the treatment of journalists, captured in many cases on video, during recent protests against public health measures should be a wake-up call.
Threats of violence and general feelings of ill-will toward the media? I wonder why?
“We would of course line up all kinds of people to write op-eds saying that what she was doing is proper” Katie Telford
Canada’s government paid media is the mouthpiece of the Trudeau regime.
Their job is to support the ruling permanent political class by providing propaganda on demand like trained seals.
