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Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada – July 21, 2018: CBC employees march downtown in the city's annual 'Pride' paradeMikeMartin/Shutterstock

(LifeSiteNews) — Canadians are going to endure a bitter and acrimonious election this year, as the Liberals – led by whichever placeholder prime minister they hastily appoint in the hopes of salvaging their once-great party – leverages every smear, insinuation, and accusation they can find to stave off Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives. They will be assisted in this endeavor by much of Canada’s mainstream media, which will see this election as existential for their own survival. Poilievre, after all, has promised to defund the CBC, and the federal media subsidies doled about liberally by Trudeau could end up on the chopping block as well. 

So be prepared for a lot of bloviating and sanctimony from the press about the essential nature of the fifth estate, about an “independent press,” about the key role the CBC and other media companies play in shaping Canadian identity. And then remember that as much as you distrust the media, it probably isn’t enough. Canada’s media – with notable exceptions – has become the propaganda arm of the LGBT movement, and sees those of us who oppose the LGBT agenda as bigots at best and extremists at worst. That is why the CBC has spent taxpayer money creating documentaries that celebrate child drag queens in sexualized costumes performing for adults. 

One recent story should suffice as an example. Over the past several months, LifeSiteNews has been covering the story of the small town of Emo in northern Ontario (population 1,100). Borderland Pride, an LGBT group, sued the town after the council voted not to fly the LGBT flag (the city hall doesn’t even have a flagpole) or release a “Pride” declaration. According to the activist group, they have a right to a proactive endorsement of their political agenda and public display of their ideological symbol by their elected government. The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal decided in their favor, fining the town council $10,000 and Mayor Harold McQuaker $5,000. When the mayor stated that he would not give in to extortion, the group had his bank account garnished. The town council has now appealed that ruling and is seeking a judicial review.

A few sane journalists – such as Joe Warmington of the Sun newspapers – highlighted the ugly totalitarianism of LGBT activists calling for the reeducation of politicians who disagree with their agenda (or simply declining to celebrate it publicly). But here is how Global News covered the town council’s appeal on January 17: “‘Ridiculous’: Legal fight over Ontario town’s refusal to mark Pride month ongoing.” If your instinct is to assume that “ridiculous” applies to a town council and mayor being fined for not flying an LGBT flag on the city hall’s non-existent flagpole, then you have far too much faith in Canada’s activist press.

READ: Pro-LGBT human rights tribunals must not be allowed to trample on freedom of speech

From Global News: 

When Douglas Judson asked the Township of Emo to declare June as Pride month and display a rainbow flag for a week in 2020, he never imagined the request would turn into a years-long legal dispute that still has no end in sight. “This is generally a non-controversial thing to ask for,” said Judson, the co-chair of Borderland Pride. “There’s often flag raisings that are done, proclamations are made for various dates or other causes in the community.” 

But the town’s refusal to proclaim Pride month has made the northwestern Ontario community of around 1,300 people, near the Minnesota border, a front line in the battle for LGBTQ+ rights. Every June, rainbow flags are raised in municipalities across the country in recognition of Pride month and to show support for the LGBTQ+ community. As a gay man, Judson said he thought it would be nice if the town where he grew up also offered that recognition. 

You read that correctly – according to Global News, a town taking a neutral position by not flying an ideological flag puts them in “a front line battle for LGBTQ+ rights.” Does this mean that the mayor has publicly announced his opposition to the LGBT agenda? That a wave of violence against LGBT people is sweeping Emo? No. None of that. The position of much of the press is that it is an LGBT right to have their political symbols displayed on government property. This, it must be noted, is not a right any other self-identified group possesses. 

The Global News report makes no pretense of neutrality. It is, instead, a puff piece for LGBT activist Doug Judson, who has been spearheading the lawfare against the Emo town council. Global News notes that “Borderland Pride had no choice but to take the matter to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.” They quote Judson as saying that the council’s decision “boils down to ignorance, bigotry and a complete … I think lack of compassion and understanding towards a vulnerable minority group.” The minority group Judson is referring to, of course, is the one that believes they face persecution when other people don’t fly their flag. 

Judson, predictably, tied his fight to the “political mood in the United States,” which he claims is impacting Canadians. He apparently does not realize that nothing makes ordinary Canadians more fed up with his movement than watching the sort of bullying he is currently engaged in. When Judson claims – as he did – that the council’s appeal was “dangerous” for LGBT people living in Emo and that it displays believes that “object to their existence,” clear-headed, common-sense people can do nothing but snort. Although to be fair, who among us hasn’t felt mortally endangered by not having the flag of our preferred political agenda flown over our town? 

As I have noted often in this space before, the Canadian media has been ruthlessly policing the boundaries of acceptable debate on the LGBT agenda for years. Thus, to this day, the CBC has published precisely one story on the Cass Review commissioned by the UK’s National Health Service, which condemned the use of puberty blockers and other sex change “treatments” for minors. CTV published none. Global News published none. The Toronto Star published one opinion column. A search of the Globe and Mail’s site turned up nothing. A search of the CBC’s site for the Orwellian phrase “gender-affirming care,” however, turns up a whopping 1,351 results. 

The Cass Review was a breaking news story internationally. If you read the Canadian press, it’s as if it never happened. There hasn’t been a debate on many aspects of the LGBT agenda in Canada. There has been a faux consensus, enforced by the Canadian media. Remember that when you hear them insist that an honest, independent press is essential. I happen to think so, too. I just wish we had one.

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Jonathon’s writings have been translated into more than six languages and in addition to LifeSiteNews, has been published in the National Post, National Review, First Things, The Federalist, The American Conservative, The Stream, the Jewish Independent, the Hamilton Spectator, Reformed Perspective Magazine, and LifeNews, among others. He is a contributing editor to The European Conservative.

His insights have been featured on CTV, Global News, and the CBC, as well as over twenty radio stations. He regularly speaks on a variety of social issues at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

He is the author of The Culture War, Seeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of Abortion, Patriots: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Pro-Life Movement, Prairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield, and co-author of A Guide to Discussing Assisted Suicide with Blaise Alleyne.

Jonathon serves as the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

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