Juno News - February 02, 2026Legacy media ADMITS to protecting Carney
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Summary
Mario For the North joins me to talk about his trip to the Canadian Media Producers Association's annual convention in Ottawa, Canada, and why the legacy media has aligned itself with the Liberal government. We also talk about why the media should get out of the way of our government, and what we should do about it.
Transcript
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Well, a Canadian media organization isn't even pretending to be non-partisan anymore.
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They've publicly declared their support for the Liberals, telling Prime Minister Mark Carney,
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we've got your back. The Canadian Media Producers Association held its convention in Ottawa on the
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weekend. CEO Reynolds Mastin had this message for Carney, who was in attendance.
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And Prime Minister, know that every person in this room and the 180,000 people who work in this
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industry have your back, just as we know that you have ours.
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The Conservatives took notice. They were having their own convention in Calgary and Alberta MP
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Rachel Thomas says it's proof the Liberals and media are in bed together.
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Look, folks, regardless of whether you want to acknowledge or not, there is a love affair going
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on between the current media landscape in this country and the Liberal government of Canada,
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and we need to put a stop to that. Currently, this weekend, there was a summit of all media,
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and this is a direct quote from the stage. Prime Minister, we have your back, just as we know
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you have ours. This is what is said by the mainstream media just yesterday. Further to that,
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the Minister of Heritage has said that the CBC is responsible for social cohesion. Folks,
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this is propaganda at its finest. It needs to stop.
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Well, it's not hard to see why the legacy media has aligned itself with the Liberals. It boils down
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to money, lots of it. The Liberals handed almost $600 million in bailout money to struggling news
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media outlets. One prominent conservative online influencer accused CTV News of giving conservative
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leader Pierre Polyev an orange skin tone, a not-so-subtle likeness to that of Donald Trump.
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More summits, more laws, more agencies, more corporate buzzwords, or more abracadabra.
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What we need from this prime minister is one thing. Get out of the way.
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Well, influencers like that, including, you know, Mario for the North, held a gathering
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in Calgary and got a rousing welcome. Let's listen.
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Well, they're loved in Calgary, but the Liberal government has them in the crosshairs.
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Black Lock's reporter has this headline. Feds blame political actors. Heritage Minister Mark
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Miller says they are political actors using the internet to undermine Canadians' trust in public
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institutions. Turns out some conservatives are not particularly happy with them either.
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Now that CPC26 is over, I want to be very clear about something. The free influencers' access was a
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complete disgrace to the grassroots movement, while hardworking delegates paid thousands to attend.
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Hand-picked influencers got free access to attend the entire thing.
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And joining me now is Mario Zalaya, AKA Mario for the North. He's back from Calgary. He's back in
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You too. It's great to see you, Mark. Appreciate the time.
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I know you were responding to that post by Blaine Badiuk that, you know, the free influencers,
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AKA you and your colleagues, are getting a free ride, basically. And it's apparently
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a disgrace to the grassroots movement. I know you were responding, but what's your take on that?
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I mean, I'm obviously very surprised that this is the position that anyone would take,
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because people like myself, I think people need to understand, I don't get paid by the party.
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I don't get paid by anyone. And I would say, you know, virtually, not only am I, you know,
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building trust, but I'm knocking on a hundred million people, a hundred million doors a month.
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And so, you know, when we're talking about grassroots, grassroots movements, and, you know,
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for them to say, this is a disgrace to the grassroots movement. I mean, I think it's just
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completely insulting to everything that we do and what we stand for. And I think it's just a really,
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really bad take. And I didn't have a great interaction at the convention either. And
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neither did some of my colleagues. So there's an area that's designated for delegates. It's called
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the leader's lounge. And it's a complete separate area. It's away kind of from everyone else.
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And a couple of members of parliament said, Mario, let's go. And they, in the way they say,
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because I was on my feet most of the time. And I'm taking a lot of pictures, talking to a lot of
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people because they see me a lot online and, you know, people just want to have conversations and I
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want to meet people, but I was really tired. And one of the MPs, I think picked up on that and they
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said, Mario, come up with us, you know, come with us. And they helped literally
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escort me off to the leader's lounge. And so I was with them having conversations with about three
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different members of parliament and other individuals of the party. And it was just a
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great break. I was there for about an hour or so. And as I walk out, Blaine actually yelled at me
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and made a bit of a scene saying, you're not supposed to be here. You're not allowed here.
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And they didn't even let me throw in a single word. And it was pretty, I was more embarrassed for
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Blaine than anything else, because if we had a discreet conversation, it would have been a
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quick realization that I was actually a delegate and I wasn't an influencer. And I was there to
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vote for Pierre. I was there to vote for national council and I was allowed and entitled to actually
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be there. And I was escorted by multiple members of parliament to actually join them and have a good
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conversation and get to know them a bit better. And so I think that there's something potentially more
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that's going on because this whole take of influencers being there for free as a complete
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disgrace also doesn't make sense because what we do is on social media, which is a form of media,
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even mainstream media is adopting heavily as part of their viewership strategy to go on social media
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because they're not getting the views that they used to on TV. And so to say that we shouldn't be in
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there for free, it's a disgrace makes absolutely no sense when media is getting in there for free as well.
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So there's just, there's no logic to the whole argument. I thought the whole thing was just a
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bit silly. Now you did get a rousing welcome. There was that video of you on stage with your
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friends and people were cheering. They seemed very happy to see you. That was probably, I think,
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the closest thing I'll ever know what it feels like to be a rock star. It was honestly, I've never
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experienced anything like that in my life. It was so incredibly humbling. I think the audio and the
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sound that gets picked up, you know, by phones or, you know, by even cameras, it drowns out the
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intensity of how loud it actually was. And people were going crazy. Like it was very, it was significantly
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louder than any sort of audio I've ever seen of the recordings. And anyone that was there would tell
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you the exact same thing. And it was really kind for, you know, Brett Wilson was there,
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Brian Lilly was there. And, you know, I think they got a great idea of, you know, the impact that,
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you know, influencers or, you know, conservative content creators actually have in the movement
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and how many people were there. It was about a, I believe the capacity was 800, 900 people.
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It was at capacity before the event even started. People started showing up at two o'clock. It wasn't until
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630. People had booked out tables. And so when we got all this for free, we got security for free.
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I had security following me around while I was taking pictures on the floor for free.
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And I think this, it was a great testament to, I guess, the work that we've been doing for the
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last year or two for, you know, Canadians and really just getting the word out and wanting to enact change.
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Well, that's fantastic. I mean, I've been in media for literally decades. I've never needed security.
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Yeah. But I have to ask you, I mean, you haven't been at this that long. I mean, realistically,
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Yeah. So, so I would say TikTok is probably slightly over two years. My first account got banned.
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And then the second account is probably maybe a year, maybe two years old. And then I, what I did is
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last year, I actually created my accounts on the rest of the social media channels on X, on Instagram,
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and on Facebook. And in the last year between those accounts, I think I probably gained maybe 700,000
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followers. And who knows, maybe I average, I don't really look at the numbers in detail. But I think
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between those three, maybe it's close to 80 million views a month, potentially more. But yeah, it's
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something that just started slow and everyone starts at zero. And then it just kind of happens
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And the Liberals have noticed you now. There was that story in Blacklock's reporter,
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Feds blame political actors. Heritage Minister Mark Miller says that people like you and your
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colleagues are political actors using the internet to undermine Canadian trust in public institutions.
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He just declared war on all political influencers. And it should actually be very concerning, I think,
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to everyone in Canada, because making statements like that is something that you would expect from
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a communist regime. It's not something that you expect from a democracy. And free speech is
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I guess a threat to the Liberals. And that's what effectively he's saying. And that's the only
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interpretation of it. When you start looking at the bills that they're looking at implementing,
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and I can't remember if it's C8, C9. I have them a bit jumbled in my head a little bit. But
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there is one where they are proposing to be able to cut someone off the internet.
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We covered it in detail. I remember I went into it in detail. And I was told you're a liar. You have no
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idea what you're talking about. This is misinformation. Then Dr. Leslie Lewis, who's got her PhD in law,
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literally said the exact same thing. And then you have other members of parliament coming out and
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saying this is the craziest thing in the whole world. You have the constitution, I think it was
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the JCCF or CCF. One of them, one of their lawyers put out a statement being like this,
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basically saying this is crazy. Like this is not something that we do in Canada, and we all need to
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stand against this. And the reality is, what they want to do is they want a minister to have the
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ability to kick someone off the internet. And if they do, and you tell people about it,
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they will find you $25,000. And so my response to Mark Miller is, I will pay that $25,000 if you do
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it to me, because I will tell the world, if I get kicked off the internet, and you try to deny me that
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access, because you don't agree with the things I'm saying, and maybe it doesn't meet up to
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his journalistic interpretations of what he calls standards. I mean, I'm absolutely going to keep
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doing what I'm doing. And I'm going to tell the world if I get kicked off the internet, I will pay
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that $25,000 without a problem. Well, the Liberals certainly have their favorites, and they have
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their people whom they don't like. The Canadian media organization, the CMPA came out, I guess,
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they are the Canadian Media Producers Association. They came out and basically said,
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Prime Minister Carney, we have your back. And we know that you have our back. So the implication
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there is, keep giving us the money. And, you know, we'll direct our content into supporting you and
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your electoral, your electoral aims. It's very disturbing. The Conservatives raised that during
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the convention. What do you think of that? I'm actually going to be making a video on that today.
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Because what's most interesting is the fact that they scrub that out. And the evidence that exists
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is literally someone who recorded it. And they recorded that little portion of it, which we've
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all seen on the internet now. But it's something that apparently you just cannot find. And it's not
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easily accessible anymore. Because they want to kind of, they want to walk back that statement,
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because it's very, very damaging, not only to the Liberals, but also to the reputation of the
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industry, which is what we've all been basically saying for quite some time that, you know, the
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trust in mainstream media has been eroded, not by me. And it's not by any sort of, you know,
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conservative voice, content creator, or influencer. They did it to themselves.
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Yeah, absolutely. And then they keep doing it. Because of course, you did a video and we played part of it,
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where it appeared that they turned Pierre Polyev into more of an orange skinned tone person.
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I mean, it was a not so subtle likeness to Trump, you know, as a way to equate him. I mean, the,
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the subtext is like, you know, hammered to the head, obvious, you know, you don't like Trump. Well,
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this guy is another Trump. And just to show you, you know, it's almost subliminal, you know,
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if you're not looking for it, you're not really paying any attention, you know, you can sort of
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make the equation here. What drew you to that story? Well, it, I actually randomly saw it on
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TikTok. And I was like, you've got to be kidding me. So I downloaded the video and I reposted it
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on X, I was completely shocked by it. And it reminded me a lot of what they did to what CNN did to Joe
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Rogan. And I was always surprised Joe Rogan didn't sue them for it. But they put a green filter on him
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when he decided to take Ivermectin. And so they put this green screen to make him look sick,
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and he didn't look healthy. But the original didn't look like that at all. And this is,
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this I feel is exactly the similar tactic in that video that I had reposted where it shows,
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I can't remember if it was supposed to be CTV, I have to say, you know, allegedly or supposed to be
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because I didn't see it for myself. But I saw the comparison of it. And what they did was,
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was the exact same playbook is, you know, let's turn him a little bit orange. And the New York
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Times just put out a hit piece on Pierre Polyeva as well, just saying that, you know, they, you know,
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conservatives reelect a mini Trump, I can't remember what the title was. But they're trying to make,
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it's always these kinds of, yes, and it's always the same type of publications institutions that are
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always trying to draw that same conclusion, like, you don't want to elect this guy, he's just like
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Trump, and Trump is very scary. And you don't want that in Canada. And that's the narrative that
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they're going with. And it's, it's actually a, I think it's disgraceful. And it's a very disgusting
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It's interesting. I mean, as I said, I've been in this industry for a long time, and I've never seen
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it quite like this. It's like the Wild West, you know, you guys kind of doing your own thing,
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generating incredible number of views, you got the dying legacy media, basically taking hundreds of
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millions of dollars from the government, and then kind of pledging their support to that government.
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And then you've got the government itself tabling legislation that is designed to target people
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like yourself. I mean, it's just absolutely crazy these days. I mean, you're coming into it at a
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fascinating time, Mario. I am. And obviously, I don't have the depth or institutional
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knowledge or experience that you have in the industry. So it must be I think it's actually
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must be mind blowing to see it from your side of things. Because for me, this is kind of all I've
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known. Like, it's funny, my norm is being is being comfortable and used to being attacked,
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not only from the media, but also from the liberals. And to me, this is just kind of
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everyday life for me. And so it's nothing new. But I can only imagine seeing it from your end,
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it must just be the weirdest, craziest thing in the world.
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It's interesting, very interesting times indeed. But where are you going with this? I mean, do you
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see you have an aim? Because you're very goal oriented guy. You're a businessman. I mean, what's
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what's the future for you? Is it politics? Is it just more media?
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Or honestly, and here's the interesting thing, like, I don't, I'm not making any sort of
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monetization efforts on media, and I'm not getting paid by anyone. So the media component aspect of it
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isn't, it's truthfully not, I don't think it's really of interest for me. And truthfully, I think
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I've been very explicit about me. As odd as this might sound, I actually don't like politics. I think
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it's a very dirty, dirty game. And I think it needs a lot of cleaning up to do. And I wouldn't rule it
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out completely. But I would just say it's, it's a no for now. And I think I would rather focus my
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efforts on trying to educate Canadians with the things that I'm now aware of. And I think the reason
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that's important is I think people need to keep in mind the fact that I was a liberal at one point,
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and I was actually a liberal supporter nearly my whole life. At least I thought I was. And then I
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come to the realization being like, wait a second, the party that I thought I wanted to support in my
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ideals and what I want this country to be, it's not part of a liberal party platform at all. In fact,
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it aligns so much more, like almost with 100% overlap with a conservative party. And I think
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people need to realize that it's very difficult to find someone that you will agree 100% of the time
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on. It's difficult to find a party that you will agree 100% of the time, even if you get 60, 65% of
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the time on key issues like healthcare, you know, crime reform, you know, immigration, doing it
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responsibly, growing responsibly, making sure that our taxes aren't going up, that life is affordable,
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inflation, food costs, you know, all these things that none of that lines up with the liberal party.
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What lines up with them is the promise with these nice sounding words, but the actions are not so nice.
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And I think that's what people really need to come to the realization to. And my efforts
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are really about now educating people. And I think I've significantly changed my style over
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even the past three, three to six months, where before is more like, you know, this is why they're
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bad, bad, bad, bad. And I don't, I don't think that lands very well with Canadians. And I'd rather just
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strictly even more than what I've been doing before is fully focused on facts. This is what's happening.
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This is why this is the truth. I can show you the door, but I'm not going to push you through it.
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It's kind of up to you to be able to kind of walk through that door. I think that's what my goal is.
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And ultimately at the end of the day, I do this because I want the same opportunity in the same
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life that I had growing up in Canada for my kids.
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In the meantime, the liberals think you're a threat. Otherwise they wouldn't be attacking you with
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legislation that could boot you off the internet and, you know, calling you names. Do you have any
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concerns about having made an enemy out of the liberal party of Canada?
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I've made a lot of enemies in the process and I think it just unfortunately comes with the territory.
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But I also do think to a slight degree that there is impact in the voice that I'm making,
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whether they like me or not. I think they're starting to see that some of the topics I've
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talked about and been quite, I guess, a major advocate for are slowly starting to see the light
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of day. And I'll give you a perfect example. For the past maybe year, I've been such a strong
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advocate for a child offenders or a sex offenders registry list. We need to have one that is publicly
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available to people. I need to know if down the street, there's someone that I need to worry about
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making sure that my child isn't alone or isn't around. And I think it's a normal thing. And I think
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when people harm young kids in general, and they are a violent sex offender, that the public has
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the right to know. And they've basically foregone their ability to remain anonymous and live
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effectively freely among us without us knowing. I think they got rid of that right for themselves
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the second they did that to a child. And so I've been a huge supporter of that. And I talked about how,
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you know, the US has had this on a federal level, each state has their own, and Canada needs their
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own. And so, you know, a lot of things have happened recently, and the RCMP actually recently
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launched one. And they said, look, we have a sex offenders list. And these are people who are,
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you know, high, they're at a high degree of risk. And you go on the website, it is garbage. There's
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four people on it, it's completely useless. And so this is very consistent with what the liberals do,
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like, they're not serious about a lot of these things. They do it to try to shut you up to make
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headlines. Because, you know, maybe people only will read the headlines and scan the headlines.
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But when you look underneath, there's only four people in Manitoba, what about the thousands that
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exist in Ontario, or the maybe 10s of 1000s across the country, the only people that have access to
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that list is the RCMP. And so how does that help anyone? It doesn't, because it doesn't prevent
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crime. It only allows people to, it only allows the RCMP to track the person after they commit to
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the crime. And that, that to me is a huge injustice that I think needs to be rectified.
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And I think if you're going to build something like this, and you have government resources,
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and you're saying, hey, look, we have something, you do it right, or you don't do it at all.
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And the consistent thing that the liberals have done is they've never really done anything
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correctly at all. They tried taking portions and pieces of conservative policies, but they don't go all
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the way. They don't. It's almost like you're up, you're up the plate. You know, the conservatives
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want to hit a home run, and they're up the plate, and they bunt, and they decide to bunt, and then
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they end up getting being out on first base. It ends up getting nowhere.
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All right. Mario, thank you so much for coming on the show. We really appreciate it.
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Thank you. All right. Now, if you enjoyed this show and you want to support the work we do here
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at Juno News, consider heading over to junonews.com backslash straight up. That's junonews.com
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We'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much for watching.