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Trudeau-appointed senator apologizes for asking media to edit Conservative opponent’s op-ed

Published

1 year ago

3 minute read

Senator Lucie Moncion

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Liberal Lucie Moncion disagreed with a piece written by Conservative Donald Plett in the Hill Times about overspending in the Canadian Senate and had her staff submit revisions.

A Trudeau-appointed senator who boasted to colleagues that she was able to successfully get edits made to a commentary piece published by a conservative political rival issued an apology.

“I assure all senators the committee is taking necessary steps to ensure this doesn’t occur again,” said Ontario Senator Lucie Moncion, a former banker and the chair of the Senate committee on internal economy who was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2016. “I wish to offer you my personal, unreserved and unqualified apology.”

Moncion also said that she has “learned from this event,” which made headlines in Canada, after she told the Senate, as reported by LifeSiteNews, that she was able to get a August 21 piece published by Senator Donald Plett, who serves as the Opposition Senate leader, edited from its original form.

Plett, a Conservative, wrote a piece in the Ottawa weekly newspaper the Hill Times titled “Trudeau’s Experimental Senate Changes Are Turning Out To Be A Dud.”

Moncion took issue with what was written in Plett’s piece, telling senators “inaccurate information was presented” and that they had to “remain vigilant.”

According to Moncion, she had members of her staff make the revisions to Plett’s commentary, which included complaints about overspending in the Senate.

Moncion claimed that “(o)nce a newspaper has the facts it is free to change an article, remove it or leave it as is,” adding, “I repeat: The newspaper is free to make corrections.”

Senators were told that the corrections made to Plett’s piece were not due to libel or misstatement but because of a technical aspect, according to Moncion.

The Hill Times is one of Canada’s most heavily subsidized weekly newspapers, receiving more than $1 million in the last 18 months from grants, subsidies, and sole-sourced government contracts.

Trudeau has pumped billions into propping up the mostly state-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as well as providing large payouts for legacy media outlets ahead of the 2025 federal election. In total, the subsidies are expected to cost taxpayers $129 million over the next five years.

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Rogers called it “a perverse blessing” that the dispute is forcing a renewed transatlantic conversation about free expression, observing that “Britain and America did develop the free speech tradition together.”
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