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

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1 month 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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Censorship Industrial Complex

Police Probe Journalist Over Year-Old Social Media Post

Published on November 14, 2024

By

 By Cindy Harper

British Journalist Allison Pearson of The Telegraph has found herself under an unexpected police investigation following a social media post she made last year. According to Pearson, the inquiry began with a knock on her door at 9:40 am when two officers informed her that she was under scrutiny for allegedly inciting racial hatred in a post on X. Yet, they won’t tell her what the supposedly offending post was.

Pearson recounted the visit in an article, describing her surprise as the officers delivered the news. “I was accused of a non-crime hate incident. It had to do with something I had posted on X a year ago. A YEAR ago? Yes.

Stirring up racial hatred apparently,” she recalled one officer telling her.

Despite her attempts to understand the specifics, the officers refused to reveal the details of her alleged offense or identify the complainant, noting only that the individual in question was designated as “the victim.”

Essex Police has since clarified that the investigation is based on a report from another police force and is being pursued under section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986, which addresses materials potentially inciting racial hatred. In a statement, a spokesperson confirmed that officers had attended Pearson’s residence “to invite a woman to attend a voluntary interview on the matter.”

This approach, however, has drawn criticism from free speech advocates who argue that police intervention in non-crime incidents has a chilling effect on public discourse. Pearson’s experience follows recent shifts in policing policies, stemming from a Court of Appeal decision favoring former officer Harry Miller. Miller had argued that police tracking of gender-critical opinions as hate incidents without criminality stifled free expression.

Current UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is exploring ways to reinforce police surveillance of non-criminal hate incidents.

Meanwhile, X owner Elon Musk, who has previously condemned Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s attacks on free speech, has publicly criticized British law enforcement for investigating social media posts, raising further questions about the role of police in moderating online speech.

This incident has sparked a wave of criticism from various corners, including Chris Philp, the Conservative shadow home secretary, who argues that the police should focus on actual crimes rather than policing thoughts and opinions. Echoing this sentiment, Liz Truss, former prime minister, and Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, have also voiced their concerns, with Truss decrying the investigation as a direct attack on free speech.

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, pointed out the irony of the police’s timing, noting that such actions on Remembrance Sunday, a day dedicated to democratic values and free speech, were particularly egregious.
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Business

Trudeau gov’t threatens to punish tech companies that fail to censor ‘disinformation’

Published on November 13, 2024

By

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

A report from the House of Commons Heritage Committee claimed that ‘some individuals and groups create disinformation to promote political ideologies including extremist views and conspiracy theories or simply to make money.’

A report from a Canadian federal committee said MPs should enact laws to penalize social media and tech companies that don’t take action to quell so-called “undesirable or questionable” content on the internet.

MPs from the ruling Liberal, New Democratic Party (NDP), and separatists Bloc Québécois party on the House of Commons Heritage Committee summarized their opinions in a report.

“The Government of Canada notes some individuals and groups create disinformation to promote political ideologies including extremist views and conspiracy theories or simply to make money,” reads the report titled Tech Giants’ Intimidation and Subversion Tactics to Evade Regulation in Canada and Globally.

“Disinformation creates ‘doubt and confusion’ and can be particularly harmful when it involves health information,” it continues.

The report notes how such “disinformation” can cause “financial harms as well as political polarization and distrust in key institutions,” adding, “The prevalence of disinformation can be difficult to determine.”

As noted in Blacklock’s Reporter, the report claims that many of Canada’s “major societal harms” have come from “unregulated social media platforms relying on algorithms to amplify content, among them disinformation and conspiracy theories.”

Of note is the committee failed to define what “disinformation” or “conspiracy theories” meant.

Most of the MPs on the committee made the recommendation that Google, Facebook, and other social media platforms, which ironically have at one point or another clamped down on free speech themselves, “put mechanisms in place to detect undesirable or questionable content that may be the product of disinformation or foreign interference and that these platforms be required to promptly identify such content and report it to users.”

“Failure to do so should result in penalties,” the report stated.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, Canadian legal group The Democracy Fund (TDF) warned that the Liberal government’s Bill C-63 seeks to further clamp down on online speech and will “weaponize” the nation’s courts to favor the ruling federal party and do nothing but create an atmosphere of “fear.”

Bill C-63 was introduced by Liberal Justice Minister Arif Virani in the House of Commons in February and was immediately blasted by constitutional experts as troublesome.

Jordan Peterson, one of Canada’s most prominent psychologists, recently accused the bill of attempting to create a pathway to allow for “Orwellian Thought Crime” to become the norm in the nation.

Conservative MPs fight back: ‘A government bureaucracy should not regulate content’

Conservative MPs fought back the Heritage Committee’s majority findings and in a Dissenting Report said the committee did not understand what the role of the internet is in society, which is that it should be free from regulation.

“The main report failed to adequately explore the state of censorship in Canada and the role played by tech giants and the current federal government,” the Conservatives wrote in their dissenting report, adding, “Canadians are increasingly being censored by the government and tech giants as to what they can see, hear and say online.”

The Conservative MPs noted that when it comes to the internet, it is “boundless,” and that “Anyone who wants to have a presence on the internet can have one.”

“A government bureaucracy should not regulate which content should be prioritized and which should be demoted,” it noted, adding, “There is space for all.”

LifeSiteNews reported how the Conservative Party has warned that Trudeau’s Bill C-63 is so flawed that it will never be able to be enforced or become known before the next election.

The law calls for the creation of a Digital Safety Commission, a digital safety ombudsperson, and the Digital Safety Office, all tasked with policing internet content.

The bill’s “hate speech” section is accompanied by broad definitions, severe penalties, and dubious tactics, including levying pre-emptive judgments against people if they are feared to be likely to commit an act of “hate” in the future.

Details of the new legislation also show the bill could lead to more people jailed for life for “hate crimes” or fined $50,000 and jailed for posts that the government defines as “hate speech” based on gender, race, or other categories.

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