(LifeSiteNews) – The leader of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) criticized the head of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) for demanding the federal government ban Russian news channels.
Maxime Bernier, 59, also called the work of Canada’s own state-funded media “propaganda.”
Media outlets RT News and Sputnik are owned by the Russian Federation and operate news channels in many countries. Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many voices in the western world, including in Canada’s major political parties, have called for the companies to be banned from the airwaves and the web.
Bernier, however, has suggested that doing so amounts to “censorship.”
“LibCons calling for censorship. Better that everyone get their propaganda only from CBC, CTV, and Global, right @CandiceBergenMP?,” Bernier tweeted on Sunday.
LibCons calling for censorship. Better that everyone get their propaganda only from CBC, CTV and Global, right @CandiceBergenMP? https://t.co/RKJgNM9Uxg
— Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) February 28, 2022
The interim leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Candice Bergen wrote a message on Twitter this Sunday, saying, “The Canadian government needs to get Russian Today off Canadian airwaves and they need to do it now. Putin propaganda has no place in Canada.”
The Canadian government needs to get Russian Today off Canadian airwaves and they need to do it now. Putin propaganda has no place in Canada. https://t.co/pEA0YU0Bi0
— Candice Bergen (@CandiceBergenMP) February 27, 2022
On Saturday the CPC wrote in a tweet that the Canadian federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should issue a general “application directing the CRTC to adopt a new broadcasting policy to revoke licenses of state-controlled broadcasters that spread disinformation and propaganda, so that Russia Today is taken off Canada’s airwaves.”
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• Issue an order of general application directing the CRTC to adopt a new broadcasting policy to revoke licenses of state-controlled broadcasters that spread disinformation and propaganda, so that Russia Today is taken off Canada’s airwaves;— Conservative Party (@CPC_HQ) February 26, 2022
Some Canadian broadcasters, such as Rogers and Bell, have already announced they will be yanking RT News from their airwaves.
Telus also said they were pulling RT news from its channels.
Effective immediately, @TELUS Optik TV will no longer be carrying Russia TV in our channel lineup.
— TELUS News (@TELUSNews) February 28, 2022
Canada’s Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez wrote on Twitter that he was happy with Telus’s decision to yank RT.
I applaud @TELUS for joining Canadian broadcasters in giving RT the boot. Canadians stand with the people of Ukraine. https://t.co/hfLjFPJ8hL
— Pablo Rodriguez (@pablorodriguez) February 28, 2022
The European Union has already announced it will ban both RT and Sputnik from its airwaves.
Google and Facebook have said they will demonetize some Russian news outlets by not allowing them to earn ad revenue.
Meanwhile, Canada’s state-run Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) receives some $1 billion per year in funding from the federal government.
Other mainstream media outlets in Canada also receive funding from the federal government.
Both the CBC and other mainstream media outlets were quick to condemn the Freedom Trucker Convoy, which ended after Trudeau used the Emergencies Act to clear out the protesters. .
Former Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leader Andrew Scheer recently criticized Trudeau’s Liberal government for using the “same playbook” as former Eastern European communist regimes with the help of the CBC to enact the Emergencies Act (EA).
In January, a CBC host suggested that Russia was somehow involved in the truckers Freedom Convoy while talking with Canada’s Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino. There is no evidence to support this allegation.
MP Pierre Poilievre, who recently said he wants to become the CPC leader, blasted the broadcaster for spreading the “insane conspiracy theory that ‘Russian actors’ are orchestrating the trucker protest.”
“This clownish statement proves again that the state media will concoct disinformation against anyone who criticizes their leader,” Poilievre said.
CBC is spreading the insane conspiracy theory that “Russian actors” are orchestrating the trucker protest.
This clownish statement proves again that the state media will concoct disinformation against anyone who criticizes their leader.#TruckersNotTrudeau#DefundTheCBC pic.twitter.com/bGWlS3gcTN
— pierrepoilievre (@PierrePoilievre) February 1, 2022
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) recently called for an end to the massive subsidies given to the state-run CBC.