Juno News - November 28, 2018


Canada's media is being corrupted by the Trudeau Liberals


Episode Stats

Length

6 minutes

Words per Minute

140.68884

Word Count

964

Sentence Count

63


Summary

A free, independent, free-thinking, rigorous, robust, respected media is vital to our free society, but Canada s media is deeply corrupted, and it s time to take a closer look at what s happening in our own media.


Transcript

00:00:00.680 Attacks against the media pose a threat to democracy.
00:00:04.860 This according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
00:00:07.580 One of the institutions that is most under stress right now is a free, independent, free-thinking,
00:00:17.360 independent, rigorous, robust, respected media.
00:00:21.440 This is what Justin Trudeau said during a Remembrance Day news conference with other
00:00:27.440 Western leaders in France.
00:00:29.760 He discussed the important role of a free press in informing citizens and ensuring a well-educated,
00:00:35.520 well-informed populace.
00:00:36.520 And he stated vaguely that these institutions are under attack without really spelling out
00:00:41.760 how or why.
00:00:42.760 Now, I don't say this very often, but on this matter, the Prime Minister is right.
00:00:47.940 A rigorous and independent media is vital to our free society.
00:00:52.260 The only problem is that Canada's media is far from free-thinking, independent, robust,
00:00:58.720 rigorous, or respected.
00:01:00.480 Canada's media is deeply corrupted.
00:01:02.480 Let me explain why.
00:01:04.480 Now, everyone knows that most members of the mainstream media are part of an exclusive
00:01:08.680 club of left-leaning urban elites who live in downtown Toronto, Ottawa, or Montreal.
00:01:14.240 They have a very narrow worldview.
00:01:17.240 Frankly, they don't understand the values or concerns of most everyday Canadians.
00:01:22.240 Worse than their own personal biases, which most of them are completely oblivious about,
00:01:28.000 there is ample evidence that the companies these journalists work for are themselves neither
00:01:34.760 independent nor free.
00:01:37.000 Take the recent political campaign launched by Unifor National President Jerry Diaz.
00:01:41.760 We will stop sheer stupidity, wrote Diaz on Twitter, mentioning Conservative leader Andrew
00:01:47.640 Scheer and unveiling Unifor's new anti-conservative political campaign called The Resistance.
00:01:54.520 This private sector union is taking it upon itself to launch a major campaign to discredit
00:02:00.480 and to attack a political party in Canada, using the forced dues collected from its members.
00:02:07.520 Now, unions waging campaigns against Conservatives is nothing new.
00:02:12.560 The previous federal Conservative government had introduced a law that required financial
00:02:16.960 transparency for unions.
00:02:19.280 These unions hated that law, and so they worked hard to help elect Justin Trudeau and the Liberals.
00:02:25.040 Trudeau and the Liberals then scrapped that financial transparency law immediately after being elected.
00:02:30.920 This type of quid pro quo happens all the time.
00:02:33.800 It's become common in Canadian politics.
00:02:36.680 The problem with this new Unifor campaign is that the union represents thousands of Canadian
00:02:42.040 journalists, including many of my own colleagues at the Sun newspapers.
00:02:45.720 I should note that I am not a member of a union.
00:02:49.000 But according to its website, Unifor is Canada's largest media union, representing over 13,000 workers
00:02:56.160 from coast to coast in printing, graphic arts, newspaper, film and broadcasting.
00:03:01.680 13,000 Canadian journalists pay money to this union.
00:03:07.040 And that money, in part, is going to fight a political campaign.
00:03:10.720 Now, I don't blame journalists for joining a union.
00:03:14.480 Look, it's a tough market out there.
00:03:16.480 Everyone knows traditional media outlets are dying.
00:03:19.200 They're slowly shedding jobs and a lot of people are out of work.
00:03:23.600 But how do Canadian journalists claim to be neutral and unbiased when their own union is openly waging
00:03:30.320 a campaign against a major political party?
00:03:33.760 It's an obvious conflict of interest.
00:03:36.160 It undermines public trust in the independence of those Unifor journalists.
00:03:42.240 Now, it isn't just private sector journalists who suffer from a lack of credibility.
00:03:47.040 Canada's state broadcaster is even more conflicted.
00:03:51.440 During the last federal election campaign, funding to the CBC became a major political issue.
00:03:57.360 Every major political party addressed CBC funding in its election platform.
00:04:03.280 The Conservative government cut the CBC's budget by $115 million.
00:04:07.600 The Socialist New Democrat Party pledged to reverse these cuts.
00:04:12.480 While the Liberals went the furthest, they pledged to not only reverse the cuts,
00:04:16.320 but also to give the CBC an additional $150 million in funding.
00:04:22.320 Lo and behold, with $265 million on the line,
00:04:26.720 the Trudeau Liberals received glowing coverage from the CBC, which helped them win the election.
00:04:33.040 Our senior correspondents, Adrian Arsenault and Susan Ormiston,
00:04:36.880 have been watching the debate with a critical eye and critical ear.
00:04:40.800 And they're going to drill down into some of what the leaders told you tonight.
00:04:44.880 The Liberals now say they'll really boost it.
00:04:46.880 $125 billion over the next 10 years compared to the Conservatives' $80 billion.
00:04:52.560 But here's the crutch.
00:04:53.680 The Liberals will go into three years of deficits to pay for it.
00:04:57.680 And the New Democrats and Conservatives mock Trudeau for that.
00:05:01.360 But economists we've spoken to say modest deficits for infrastructure could be defendable.
00:05:08.720 It's still a hot debate, Peter.
00:05:10.720 A cynic may call this a bribe.
00:05:12.960 A very large and very public bribe using our money, taxpayer dollars.
00:05:18.000 According to the media in Canada, however, it was fair game for the Trudeau Liberals.
00:05:22.800 The problem with our media is far worse than a mere bias from the left-leaning journalists
00:05:26.880 who cover the news.
00:05:28.480 Increasingly, media outlets themselves are the ones that are corrupted by meddling politicians.
00:05:34.400 And it gets even worse.
00:05:36.160 The Liberals are now seeking to expand government's influence over journalists.
00:05:40.720 They are offering a taxpayer-funded slush fund to dole out to more failing media companies.
00:05:48.400 How can journalists remain independent when they're the beneficiaries of government handouts?
00:05:54.160 Can they really be trusted to scrutinize the politicians who fund them?
00:05:59.120 And really, will they remain independent?
00:06:01.680 Will they remain unbiased if another politician down the road threatens to end their funding?
00:06:07.360 How can we claim to have a free press in Canada when so much public cash is doled out to journalists,
00:06:14.080 while other journalists are part of a massive union that openly hates conservatives?
00:06:20.240 Like Justin Trudeau said, a free and independent press is vital to a democracy.
00:06:26.640 Unfortunately for Canadians, our media institutions are already corrupted,
00:06:31.040 and journalists who work for those companies are failing to provide the full story.
00:06:36.400 For the TrueNorth Initiative, I'm Candace Malcolm.