OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — The Foreign Interference Commission in one of its many recommendations suggested that the Canadian government hand out millions of additional dollars to legacy media outlets for combating supposed “misinformation and disinformation.”
The suggestion to pump up legacy media with more taxpayer money was made by Foreign Interference Commission Justice Marie-Josée Hogue in her final report on election interference that was released last week. It was one of 51 recommendations from her investigation into election meddling in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
Hogue’s 44th recommendation reads that the federal government, which already spends billions to support legacy media, “should pursue discussions with media organizations and the public around modernizing media funding and economic models to support professional media, including local and foreign language media, while preserving media independence and neutrality.”
According to Houge, “Traditional journalism is struggling,” and because of this “Media organizations are facing financial challenges as citizens turn away from mainstream media, and towards social media or non-traditional platforms that may, for a variety of reasons, be more susceptible to misinformation and disinformation.”
Houge noted that she was on board with a Department of Canadian Heritage witness who testified at a commission hearing that Canadian media should be supported to make sure news is “trustworthy and of good quality.”
“I share their concern about Canada’s professional media. Canada must have a press that is strong and free,” Hogue said.
“It is crucial to have credible and reliable sources of information to counterbalance misinformation and disinformation,” she added.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, the final report from the Foreign Interference Commission concluded that operatives from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) may have had a hand in helping to elect a handful of MPs in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections.
Hogue urged in her January 28 final report that Canada “remain vigilant because the threat of foreign interference is real,” but stopped short of saying CCP interference was influential enough to tilt the outcomes of the elections.
When it comes to legacy media in Canada, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that it will spend millions more propping up the mostly state-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
This extra funding comes despite the fact the Department of Canadian Heritage has admitted payouts to the CBC are not sufficient to keep legacy media outlets running.
There have been many cases where the CBC has appeared to push ideological content, including the creation of pro-LGBT material for kids, tacitly endorsing the gender mutilation of children, promoting euthanasia, and even seeming to justify the burning of mostly Catholic churches throughout the country.
Furthermore, in October, Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge’s department admitted that federally funded media outlets buy “social cohesion.”