Juno News - September 02, 2025


Ottawa Targets Juno News： Criminal Probe Into Our Report on Liberal Candidate

Mentioned
Thomas Keeper Justin Trudeau Mark Carney Juno News
When unions stop representing workers (ft. Brian Lilley) Candice and Keean discuss a letter he received from the Commissioner of Elections Canada

Episode Stats


Length

5 minutes

Words per minute

178.71

Word count

896

Sentence count

77

Harmful content

Toxicity

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Juno News is the largest independent news outlet in Canada, with a staff of over 200, and a mandate from the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to protect the press during an election. Now, after reporting on a story that embarrassed the Liberal Party of Canada candidate, Thomas Keeper, Juno News has been accused of assault.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 I am being criminally investigated.
00:00:05.000 I just received the letter from the government,
00:00:08.000 from the Office of Canada's Election Commissioner,
00:00:11.000 informing me that I'm being investigated for my reporting
00:00:14.000 during Canada's 45th general election.
00:00:17.000 The stories in question detail the alleged history of Thomas Keeper,
00:00:20.000 someone you probably know of by now.
00:00:23.000 He's the now-fired Liberal candidate for Calgary Confederation.
00:00:27.000 Juno News worked diligently to ensure the accuracy of what we published,
00:00:31.000 and nothing then or now undermines its truth.
00:00:34.000 We went above and beyond to ensure that we were reporting facts
00:00:37.000 that were in the public interest.
00:00:39.000 We not only gave the Liberal candidate, Thomas Keeper,
00:00:42.000 chance after chance to answer very troubling allegations, he refused.
00:00:46.000 I even hand-delivered an envelope with our questions to his office,
00:00:50.000 and instead of responding, he called the police on me and lied,
00:00:55.000 accusing me of assault.
00:00:57.000 Now, the entire encounter was recorded, caught on camera,
00:01:00.000 and the video makes it abundantly clear that his allegation was false,
00:01:04.000 and within hours of our publication, what do you know,
00:01:06.000 the Liberal Party fired him.
00:01:08.000 Some Conservatives wished that we had waited,
00:01:10.000 that our newsroom had held the story until after the nomination,
00:01:13.000 so that Keeper would be stuck on the ballot after the nomination deadline,
00:01:17.000 and it would secure the seat for Conservatives.
00:01:20.000 But journalism is not about party strategy, it's about informing the public,
00:01:24.000 during an election, no less, and that's what we did.
00:01:27.000 Now Mark Carney, he's furious, and he's using an authoritarian law
00:01:30.000 implemented by Justin Trudeau to investigate me for the crime of reporting news
00:01:35.000 that humiliated the Liberal Party of Canada.
00:01:38.000 In Iran, I'd be executed for embarrassing the regime. 0.88
00:01:41.000 In North Korea, I'd be sent to a labor camp.
00:01:43.000 In China, I'd be carted off to some off-the-book black site and never heard from again.
00:01:47.000 And in Canada, in Canada, I'm threatened with up to five years in federal prison
00:01:52.000 and a devastating $50,000 fine.
00:01:56.000 I don't know how long this fight will last, or if I'll be imprisoned by this time next year,
00:02:00.000 but I do know this.
00:02:01.000 If it goes to trial, I will take it to the Supreme Court of Canada.
00:02:04.000 And those justices, six of nine who were appointed by Justin Trudeau,
00:02:08.000 will be forced to declare once and for all whether freedom of the press still exists in this country.
00:02:13.000 A more complete picture of this investigation, including the commissioner's letter that I just read,
00:02:17.000 will be published at defendjuno.com.
00:02:20.000 You can read it for yourself. It's all there.
00:02:22.000 Canada once stood as a beacon for press freedom, and today I join journalists in Afghanistan and Sudan
00:02:28.000 who face prison for reporting the news during an election.
00:02:33.000 I'm innocent.
00:02:35.000 Section 2B of the Charter guarantees freedom of expression and the press,
00:02:39.000 and this investigation is meant to scare me, and you.
00:02:43.000 The liberal machine may try to twist the law and silence me, but they will fail.
00:02:48.000 They may try to break me, but they will not.
00:02:52.000 I will fight this investigation. I will protect my sources.
00:02:55.000 And I will never waver in my pursuit of the truth, wherever it leads me.
00:03:00.000 Now, our legal bill is going to cost tens of thousands of dollars.
00:03:04.000 But this is not a fundraiser. Don't get me wrong.
00:03:06.000 If you want to donate to our legal fund, you can. It's on our website.
00:03:09.000 And seriously, thank you.
00:03:11.000 But really, this is a rallying call.
00:03:13.000 We need an army of supporters who will stand up and speak out.
00:03:17.000 Ottawa is not going after us because they think we're inconsequential.
00:03:21.000 They're going after us because they fear a strong, independent, and fearless voice.
00:03:27.000 One that is, frankly, replacing the CBC that they rely on.
00:03:31.000 We're able to maintain our independence because of our subscribers, because of you.
00:03:36.000 And if you're not a subscriber yet today, I ask that you go to defendjuno.com,
00:03:41.000 read about this fight, and most importantly, subscribe.
00:03:44.000 Join the team. Join the fight.
00:03:46.000 And show Ottawa that Canadians will fight to defend our most basic freedoms.
00:03:51.000 And we will not let them trample on us.
00:03:53.000 Juno News is the largest independent newsroom in Canada.
00:03:56.000 And that is why they want to stop us.
00:03:58.000 We refuse to trade our independence for their grant money.
00:04:02.000 Our news reflects that. We punch up, and we punch hard.
00:04:06.000 And when we do, the boot of tyrants comes down pretty quickly.
00:04:09.000 Together, we can fight back.
00:04:11.000 Become a Juno News member today at defendjuno.com.
00:04:17.000 Read about the full investigation for yourself.
00:04:19.000 Join me. Join the fight.
00:04:22.000 And stand up against Mark Carney and the cronies who are trying to destroy this country,
00:04:27.000 destroy the press, and stop us from hearing the truth.
00:04:31.000 Not tomorrow.
00:04:33.000 swallow the call of甚麼 to ajat has.
00:04:35.000 Stop leavingguards.
00:04:36.000 Stop speaking to hear your death.
00:04:37.000 We ask one for hours inpol loneliness.
00:04:39.000 We are trying to establish ourselves.
00:04:41.000 Goodbye.
00:04:42.000 I need to try it again.
00:04:43.000 You tell my unique stung.
00:04:44.560 You tell everybody to stay somewhere and go on with me.
00:04:46.560 OK, you've got to try it again.
00:04:47.360 I'm going to check the film.
00:04:49.360 I will go see the mic and remove myrespect.
00:04:50.360 You walked in the queue to lock your driveway.
00:04:52.420 With the pipe Weil.
00:04:54.320 Well, now, change the tape comes in.
00:04:55.960 But now.
00:04:58.360 I'm looking for the waterproof drums.