Juno News - August 12, 2021


Journalists are misleading Canadians about vaccine hesitancy


Episode Stats

Length

9 minutes

Words per Minute

167.67705

Word Count

1,595

Sentence Count

90

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.040 The media have created a misleading narrative about vaccine hesitancy in Canada.
00:00:05.160 And for once, that's bad news for Justin Trudeau.
00:00:07.780 I'm Candice Malcolm and this is The Candice Malcolm Show.
00:00:15.160 Conventional wisdom in Canada these days seems to say that the people who have vaccine hesitancy,
00:00:20.800 sometimes pejoratively referred to as anti-vaxxers in the media,
00:00:24.440 but that those people are a fixture of the political right.
00:00:28.000 Many journalists seem to think that those holding out on vaccines and those that are most skeptical
00:00:32.580 and therefore dragging out COVID, making us all at risk of more cases,
00:00:37.320 potentially another wave and more lockdowns,
00:00:39.240 that this is the fault of conservatives and people on the fringe far right.
00:00:44.400 Here is journalist Jonathan Kay making the bizarre case that because people in Prince Edward Island
00:00:49.600 apparently don't trust outsiders, that means that conservatives are the holdouts.
00:00:54.300 Even though every single seat in Prince Edward Island federally is held by the liberals
00:00:59.060 and the liberals have swept PEI for the last two elections.
00:01:03.340 In fact, conservatives have only won two seats out of the last 10 elections.
00:01:08.220 Two seats in 33 years.
00:01:09.720 But somehow Jonathan Kay is blaming conservatives.
00:01:12.760 All right.
00:01:13.540 Look at this CTV tweet and headline,
00:01:15.400 which basically tries to blame vaccine hesitancy on rural conservatives on the prairies.
00:01:19.900 It says this while Canada's vaccination rates are among the highest in the world.
00:01:24.340 Some of the country's lowest can be found in the prairies with Alberta and Manitoba reporting
00:01:28.020 vaccination rates as low as 16% in certain regions.
00:01:32.000 But wait a minute.
00:01:33.180 That isn't even true.
00:01:34.240 And as Danica McClellan points out, she writes,
00:01:37.000 what a misleading headline.
00:01:38.100 The story itself even acknowledges it.
00:01:40.500 So this is buried later in the story.
00:01:41.940 It says, however, Alberta health officials have said that these numbers may be low
00:01:46.500 because First Nations reserves in the province ran their own vaccination drives
00:01:50.960 and those numbers are not included in regional tallies.
00:01:54.820 So the numbers aren't even complete or correct.
00:01:57.340 But I guess accuracy and honesty isn't exactly what CTV is going for.
00:02:02.300 The media insists on this incorrect idea that it's conservatives who are holding out on the vaccines.
00:02:07.260 And then they argue that, therefore, this presents an opportunity for the liberals.
00:02:11.440 This strategy allows liberals in politics and the media to demonize what they call the anti-vaxxers,
00:02:17.440 to condemn what they call selfish right-wingers as potentially being responsible for prolonging
00:02:22.280 the pandemic.
00:02:23.440 And this allows for them to push this idea of forced vaccines and implementing a vaccine passport,
00:02:29.020 which will further divide our society.
00:02:31.140 They think this is a winning strategy.
00:02:32.900 Here's a liberal lobbyist saying just that in the Globe and Mail.
00:02:35.960 The article headline reads, vaccine passports could win Trudeau a majority.
00:02:40.120 This is why Trudeau recently announced that he is looking into forcing employees of the
00:02:45.060 federal government and federally regulated industries to get vaccinated.
00:02:48.960 It is time for people to get vaccinated.
00:02:52.220 Those who are hesitant to go and get their first doses and their second doses.
00:02:57.360 That's why I've asked the clerk of the Privy Council, who is responsible for the federal
00:03:01.280 public service, to look at mandatory vaccinations for federal employees.
00:03:06.660 I thought liberals believed in my body, my choice.
00:03:10.240 I guess not.
00:03:11.380 But it seems increasingly clear that liberals think forcing people to get vaccinated is a
00:03:16.720 winning election strategy and presents a pathway to victory in the forthcoming election, which
00:03:21.800 seems to be imminent.
00:03:22.980 Perhaps it could be starting as soon as this weekend.
00:03:25.820 But hold up just a second.
00:03:27.520 I don't want to give advice to the liberals here, but I think they're all wrong about who
00:03:31.500 is holding out on the vaccines.
00:03:32.820 First, take a look at this report by a longtime liberal insider and strategist.
00:03:37.460 It's actually remarkable just given how self-aware it is.
00:03:40.780 It says, typical vaccine hesitant person is a 42-year-old Ontario woman who votes liberal,
00:03:46.540 according to Abacus Polling.
00:03:48.180 Let me read from this McLean's article.
00:03:50.200 It says,
00:03:50.580 If they were voting in a federal election today,
00:04:20.180 35% would vote liberal, 25% conservative, 17% NDP, 9% green.
00:04:26.980 Pretty similar to overall voting intentions for the entire society.
00:04:30.760 However, compared to the vaccinated, they don't have a lot of trust in government.
00:04:34.720 They also try to avoid prescriptions, dislike putting anything unnatural in their bodies,
00:04:39.040 and 83% say they are reluctant to take vaccines.
00:04:42.080 Most worry that COVID-19 vaccines haven't really been tested for a long time.
00:04:45.620 Just under half hate needles and 43% believe that if others get vaccinated, they don't
00:04:51.300 need to.
00:04:52.260 A third say their doctor could persuade them, and a quarter say friends and family can.
00:04:56.360 A similar number say they will get vaccinated if it makes attending events and traveling easier.
00:05:01.240 So that sort of throws a wrench into the whole concept and narrative that conservatives are
00:05:06.200 the anti-vaxxers, and it gets even worse for the liberals.
00:05:09.980 Take a look at this report from True North.
00:05:12.600 It further bursts the bubble of a potential forced vaccine campaign by the liberals.
00:05:17.380 Headline says,
00:05:18.200 Trudeau ignores impact of mandatory vaccines on First Nations Black Canadians.
00:05:22.720 I'll read from the story.
00:05:23.560 A Statistics Canada COVID-19 vaccine willingness survey from March 26, 2021, reveals that Black
00:05:29.640 Canadians have the lowest willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine, with just 56.6% saying
00:05:35.900 they would, while Indigenous Canadians have the second lowest rate, at 71.8%.
00:05:41.880 Certain subgroups in Canada are more likely to report COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.
00:05:47.040 These include Black Canadians, Indigenous peoples, newcomers, and younger adults, among others.
00:05:52.460 This is according to a federal government backgrounder on vaccine hesitancy intended for
00:05:57.000 healthcare workers.
00:05:58.400 So Black Canadians, Indigenous, newcomers, and young adults.
00:06:01.920 Hmm, that doesn't exactly sound like the French far-right to me.
00:06:06.040 And it gets even more interesting when you think about this in the context of forcing
00:06:10.360 federally regulated employees to get vaccinated, as Trudeau said that he is currently exploring.
00:06:15.060 This again is from the True North report.
00:06:17.480 According to the Government of Canada's website on federally regulated industries and workplaces,
00:06:21.600 First Nations band councils, including certain community services on reserve, are included
00:06:27.300 in the list of organizations that are federally mandated, and therefore would fall under Trudeau's
00:06:31.640 proposed mandatory vaccination scheme.
00:06:34.240 Is Trudeau seriously going to force First Nations band leaders and reservation staff to get
00:06:39.120 vaccinated?
00:06:40.180 What if they say no?
00:06:41.020 What is he going to do?
00:06:42.340 Can you imagine?
00:06:43.760 First Nations people in this country have every right to say no.
00:06:46.640 And frankly, they have very valid reasons to be skeptical or unwilling to trust the federal
00:06:51.720 government with their healthcare decisions, just given the history in this country.
00:06:55.660 I cannot imagine in a thousand years, Justin Trudeau forcing First Nations individuals to
00:07:00.640 get vaccinated against their will.
00:07:02.480 So if he can't force them in that area, can you really enforce it on other employees?
00:07:07.500 Likewise, only about half the Black population in Canada say that they're willing to get vaccinated.
00:07:12.500 So are the Liberals really going to try to demonize this community?
00:07:16.140 I highly doubt it.
00:07:17.240 If the opposition parties in this country have any sense, they'll bring this up and ask Trudeau
00:07:22.060 about it.
00:07:22.420 They'll bring it up every time he talks about the unvaccinated or flirts with the idea of
00:07:26.740 forced vaccination.
00:07:28.160 Is he really going to take communities that are already marginalized, perhaps they're already
00:07:32.700 impoverished and excluded, and exacerbate that chism by saying that Indigenous people,
00:07:38.080 Black Canadians, newcomers, and young people will no longer be able to access certain services,
00:07:43.300 enter certain parts of their society, and potentially get jobs or work in the federal
00:07:47.600 service or federally regulated industries just because they have an aversion to this new
00:07:52.200 vaccine.
00:07:53.100 Now, remarkably, no one in the media has thought to ask Trudeau about this.
00:07:57.460 Nobody asked Trudeau whether he would force vaccines on First Nations leaders, and you
00:08:01.360 guessed it, the CBC even covered for him.
00:08:04.020 Let me read from another Trudeau report.
00:08:05.720 Story says this, a CBC news report on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's announcement that
00:08:09.800 his government would pursue making vaccines mandatory for federally regulated industries
00:08:14.160 omitted the fact that the mandate would also apply to First Nations bans and services.
00:08:18.640 The August 5th article entitled, Trudeau asks top public servant to look into mandatory
00:08:23.560 vaccination for federal workers, made no mention of First Nations communities when listing
00:08:28.080 impacted groups or sectors.
00:08:29.840 So this is what the CBC report said.
00:08:31.840 It says the Prime Minister also said the government is looking into making vaccines mandatory in
00:08:36.860 federally regulated industries such as the airline banking and rail sectors, the article
00:08:41.780 said, failing to mention First Nations ban councils and reserve staff.
00:08:46.000 Now, in an email to Trudeau, a CBC spokesman said that the article was merely highlighting some
00:08:51.620 affected areas.
00:08:52.560 This is what the CBC said to Trudeau.
00:08:54.440 The story was a very broad overview of a new proposal and highlighted some of the areas,
00:09:00.040 but obviously not every area.
00:09:02.080 As the story continues to unfold and policies firm up, we will report on potential impacts
00:09:07.500 where relevant.
00:09:08.640 Right.
00:09:08.980 Well, I won't hold my breath waiting for the CBC to challenge Justin Trudeau or to try to
00:09:13.360 hold him accountable.
00:09:15.000 But Canadians, on the other hand, should challenge the Liberals on this idea of forced vaccines,
00:09:19.820 and they should hold Justin Trudeau accountable for introducing a policy that could potentially
00:09:24.340 be very bad for Black Canadians and for those who are First Nations.
00:09:28.680 I'm Candace Malcolm, and this is The Candace Malcolm Show.