There is no such thing as a ‘free press’ when the entire press is subsidized by the government.
For years, the Liberal government has been seeking to turn all of Canada’s media into clones of the state-run CBC.
While Trudeau and his ilk once embraced social media – when it was seen as hip and ‘progressive,’ – he turned decisively against it once he realized it could be used by Conservatives to criticize him and once he realized it was enabling the growth of independent news outlets – like Yours Truly – that held him accountable.
And so, the Liberals have spent years seeking to ensure that independent voices are weakened and state-controlled voices are elevated.
Bill C-11 and C-18 weakened Canadians access to social media, enhanced state control over what we can consume online, and sought to cripple independent outlets.
Increased CBC funding enabled CBC to strip legacy outlets of talent.
And repeated media bailouts made more and more news outlets dependent on state funding, and thus incentivized them to keep the Liberals in power.
And now, the Liberals have taken another step in that disturbing direction.
In the recent fiscal update, the Liberals massively expanded a program that uses taxpayers money to subsidize the cost of employees at media outlets:
“the federal government will now cover 35% of journalists’ salaries up to $85,000 per year, which is equivalent to $29,750 per newsroom employee.”
the federal government will now cover 35% of journalists' salaries up to $85,000 per year, which is equivalent to $29,750 per newsroom employee. pic.twitter.com/Kh1lBOqfwb
— Norman Spector (@nspector4) November 22, 2023
Make no mistake. This is a direct move towards the de facto nationalization of the Canadian media, the kind of thing you expect to see in China, Russia, or Iran, not a country like Canada that is supposed to be free of state propaganda organs.
The Liberals want every media outlet and every journalist to be like the CBC: Biased towards radical leftists, supportive of every big government overreach, and hell-bent on keeping the Conservatives out of power.
This is incredibly dangerous, and it means that the independent media who refuse government funding are now the last bastion of a truly free press in our rapidly declining nation.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
