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

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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Trump signs executive order banning government censorship

Published on January 20, 2025

Todayville

From The Center Square

By Dan McCaleb

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order banning the federal government from taking any action to restrict Americans free speech rights.

The order ensures “that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.”

It also ensures “that no taxpayer resources are used to engage in or facilitate any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen” and “identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the Federal Government related to censorship of protected speech.”

Meta earlier this month ended its practice of censoring posts on Facebook, Instagram and Threads after CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the Biden administration pressured the company to remove posts related to COVID-19, the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections – including suppressing the New York Post’s explosive story on Hunter Biden’s laptop – and other matters.

“We started building social media to give people a voice,” Zuckerberg said in announcing the decision. “What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far.”

Twitter, now X, also removed posts under pressure from the Biden administration before Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk bought the social media platform in 2022.

Trump’s executive order also instructs the U.S. Attorney General to investigate past cases of government censorship.

“The Attorney General, in consultation with the heads of executive departments and agencies, shall investigate the activities of the Federal Government over the last 4 years that are inconsistent with the purposes and policies of this order and prepare a report to be submitted to the President, through the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, with recommendations for appropriate remedial actions to be taken based on the findings of the report,” the order states.

Dan McCaleb is the executive editor of The Center Square. He welcomes your comments. Contact Dan at [email protected].

Dan McCaleb

Executive Editor

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UK lawmaker threatens to use Online Safety Act to censor social media platforms

Published on January 20, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Didi Rankovic

Labour MP Lola McEvoy defended the Online Safety Act’s censorious measures, including bans and fines for social media platforms which ‘don’t comply’ with the strict age verification law.

Politicians from the U.K.’s ruling Labour party are starting to openly “out” the country’s Online Safety Act for the sweeping censorship law that its opponents have all along been warning it is.

The extreme case of using the law to completely ban social media platforms in the U.K. is now being promoted as a possibility by Labour MP Lola McEvoy.

“If these big platforms that have huge users don’t comply with the Online Safety Act, then they have no right to be accessed in this country,” the MP said while appearing on a podcast, adding, “So I think that’s what the law’s about.”

The masks are coming off, prompted by the latest clash between the government and Prime Minister Keir Starmer in particular and X owner Elon Musk – who criticized their role in a historical child sex exploitation scandal in the U.K.

In addition to saying that failure to comply with the law could result in the platforms getting banned, McEvoy suggested that “unelected citizens from other countries” should not be allowed to criticize U.K.’s government – she justified this by saying the criticism of Minister for Safeguarding Jess Phillips created “a very dangerous situation,” equating it to “bullying and harassment.”

McEvoy even made a point of public figures needing to be even more aggressively protected through censorship – effectively from whatever the government backing those figures decides to pack into the vague categories such as “bullying” and “harassment,” and in that way deal with critical, including legitimate, speech.

And where would any controversial call to step up online censorship be without getting served to the public as a way to above all – protect children?

McEvoy spoke about regulator Ofcom’s powers, which she described as “really significant” in enforcing the fines under the law that is being gradually implemented.

And as that is happening, this MP wants the Online Safety Act to be “strengthened” where it concerns the focus on things it treats as harmful to children, such as access to illegal content or pornography.

Reprinted with permission from Reclaim The Net.