CBC caught LYING in attempt to smear Sir John A. Macdonald defenders

Well, the Cardi government may be close to cutting Alberta's industrial carbon tax, that according to media reports.The Globe and Mail says Ottawa and Alberta are close to a new deal on industrial carbon pricing.Paper quotes unnamed sources saying the new deal could result in the fee going up to $130 a ton by 2040.So that would roll back the Trudeau -era climate targets of $170 a ton by 2030.It could also conceivably set the stage for construction of another oil pipeline to the B .C.

coast.A lawyer representing Alberta Independence and that movement says Daniel Smith, premier of Alberta, is not listening to the oil industry, which is why investment has dried up.Jeffrey Rath tells Juno News the industry has called for an end to all carbon pricing.Meantime, former Premier Jason Kenney says it's time to drop the gloves with those pushing Alberta independence.Let's listen.

We've allowed the separatists to almost completely dominate the debate in the process for the past year.You know, we are Canadians.We're polite.We don't like having uncomfortable political arguments.And what could be more emotional?than tearing the country apart.

So I think a lot of people have just been downplaying, ignoring it.And I'm sorry, I, for one, do not think that the people trying to destroy our country and wreck Alberta's economy should be getting a pass on this.

Well, Kenny himself once dismissed, downplayed the movement as being run by a fringe group of angry people.Well, despite losing his bid for a provincial liberal nomination, Nate Erskine Smith says he's still planning to quit.his fede government has currently a in parliament.But Erskine news he's quitting this vote counts.

Your party n Yes, I said what I said, and I'm going to stand by what I said.I'm going to do what I said I was going to do.I've talked to the Prime Minister's office.I've been in fairly regular touch.They asked me to stay on, so I stayed on.I mean, you can say I'm not a team player, but I put myself through a lot, in some cases quite a lot of criticism, in order to make sure we supported a really tough parliamentary minority.

We're in an easier space now and the last conversation I had with the Prime Minister's office was, you know, I'll give a farewell speech in June and I'll resign over the summer and they'll have enough time in an orderly way, hopefully have a nomination and I know their nomination will be well run.

Erskine Smith is disputing the results of the Scarborough Southwest nominating meeting, claiming the vote was unfair.Well, this week we learned about a secret meeting held in Ottawa, attended by staff from the prime minister's office, a meeting to discuss a media blacklist.Blacklock's reporter learned of the closed door session March the 10th to talk about which reporters would not be allowed access to government ministers.Our guest today is Rebel News reporter.Actually, not just a reporter.She's editor in chief of Rebel News.

She's also president of the Independent Press Gallery.Welcome to the show, Sheila.

Mark, thanks for having me on.

All right.So we know that there was a secret meeting held.This was back on March the 10th.It was reported by Blacklock's reporter, and they found that the meeting was attended by key members, for instance, of the prime minister's office.And up for discussion was blacklisting reporters and deciding who was going to be grantedaccess to government ministers and who will not be.

This is the kind of stuff that you think of happening in, I don't know, under authoritarian regimes where they ban the kind of coverage that they don't like to see.What do you make of this?

This wasn't just a meeting, because what came of this meeting fell into practice.So subsequent to this March 10th meeting that included Foreign Affairs, Treasury Board, the CRA and the Privy Council, we know that Global Affairs and Immigration both then they went on to decline, taking questions.from independent journalists.So this was not just a discussion.This was a strategy meeting and we saw it play out in real time further down the road.But it's not just these federal government agencies that have a blacklist.

This is a whole of government approach.And I'm including CBC in this because we heard from Travis Donraj that there was a blacklist of people who could and could not appear on CBC panels.And we would, of course, assume that that would include independent journalists or people outside of the media cabal in this country.And and so this just goes on and on and on.And this sort of reinforces the kind of questions we think the government is getting, but also the kind of people who would then go on to analyze the government responses on these CBC panels.And you are right to say that this is the kind of thing that they do in authoritarian regimes in this in in in places around the world.

We were told that the QCJO, the Qualified Canadian Journalistic Organization status, was just about tax treatment.tax subsidies, whether or not your subscribers could write off their subscriptions as a tax credit.But it's gone on to be the stamp of approval now.It's morphed into something larger than a lot of people like us here at Rebel News were raising the alarm bells about.This isn't just about tax status.It will then become the official government approval stamp of whether or not you're a journalist.

And in a free country, the government doesn't get to decide who their critics are and who gets to hold them to account.It is the media's job to hold the government to account.But right now, the way the media landscape looks in this country, there's a two tier media system.One is government approved and one is government excluded.And at the end of the day, the only people who really suffer are the Canadian public, who should have some people holding the government to account.And if you are excluding your critics, then nobody is.

Yeah.And government approved often means government funded, doesn't it?Because first we see hundreds of millions of dollars fuddled into the kinds of organizations that the government likes.You know, they want CBC covering them, that they get billion four or whatever it is, billion five.But it's not just them, certainly.It's many of the newspapers, of course, other broadcasters, legacy media that has just taken and accepted.

I believe it's a $500 billion chunk of cash that has been available to the media, and that continues to climb.And when others have tried to find out who is getting what, the government has been cagey.You know, like, how much money is the Toronto Star getting?We don't exactly know.we can guesstimate, but they're just keeping these figures to themselves.So this is a way, really, as I see it, a way to manipulate and to bring the media into what the government is doing, make them part of what the government is doing, and essentially get rid of those who won't play ball like Rebel News.

Well, it's not just as you rightly point out, CBC.And the number is closer to $600 million going to the rest of the media.It's the complete CBCification of the total media landscape.And Mark Miller has recently testified that he's looking to expand that.So what should be noted here is that whatever they claimed this government support for journalism would do, it's not doing.They said journalism is a danger in this country.

Well, for me, the only danger that we have is from government policy.But they said, you know, the media is failing in this country.And so on behalf of the people, we must prop them up so that they have access to information.But since they started these outrageous programs, The number of journalists in this country has declined.They've actually made it harder for journalists to do their jobs.They shook down MEDA.

MEDA refused to play along.And so that cut off access to a lot of viewers and readers for independent journalists.I want to tell you the number here.It's $30 ,000 plus additional tax credits in funding to every person in the country.in a government approved newsroom in this country.That's the level of support these people are getting.

And independent journalists out there are just trying to do their jobs, unobstructed by the government, and they are doingcut off at the knees every step of the way.And it's playing out in real time in the support and trust that people have in the media.So the more money the government gives the media, the less the Canadian public trusts the media, and then therefore the less people consume the mainstream media.They're turning on mass to independent journalists.Reporters Without Borders measures media freedom every single year.

And for all the saber rattling that the mainstream media did about big old mean Stephen Harper, Canada's fallen from eighth place in 2015 in media freedom to 21st in 2025, and I imagine it's going to be even lower when the numbers come out in 2026.Everything they do to help the media is just things that the government is doing to absorb the media into the government.

Yeah, I mean, I've argued that their business model has changed completely.I'm talking about these legacy media organizations.They went from holding the government to account and providing real journalism for their viewers and listeners and readers.to sucking up the government and getting as much money as he can out of the liberals.And of course, when you also have the leader of the opposition, Pierre Paglia, talk about ending these media subsidies, $600 million, to your point, ending and defunding the CBC, then all of this comes into play.I mean, in the minds of reporters, you know, they don't want to end up stocking shelves at Costco.

It's probably good, honest work.And God bless those who are doing it.But they want to hold on to those jobs.And so all of that is factored into their coverage.I mean, to think that in theirgoing to be covering stories in which they know that one party is going to continue paying them off while the other one wants to defund them.

You know, the independence factor ends right there, doesn't it?

Yeah.You know, you start looking at some of the mainstream media coverage of the Liberals as a grant application, don't you?When you watch it, because it's so outrageous and so one -sided, and you see how viciously they attack Conservative politicians, and I'm not defending Conservative politicians, they can take it.But that viciousness should be leveled at the government as well.I mean, they're they're holding the opposition to account on behalf of the government when you watch these mainstream media reports instead of holding the government to account on behalf of the people.And then these subsidies flooding in are doing something else in the media landscape.

It's preventing innovation here at Rebel News, over at Juno and some of the other upstart independent journalists who are just doing their own thing on the street, bringing the news to the people.We're innovators.We've figured out how to do things effectively and reach our audiences despite the government meddling on a small budget.You've figured out how to build a studio for something less than a hundred million dollars if you're the CBC.This is recycled wood and an HD camera.You figure it out because you don't have the government support.

And so all these government subsidies are doing something else.They're preventing innovation and also they're preventing a market correction.I think the mainstream media so rightly deserves right now.

Yeah, I mean, they want to prop up.the legacy media because they've got the legacy media on their side.I think that's what's going on here.For sure.They want to perpetuate the status quo.And I certainly take your point that by doing that, and the CRTC certainly is involved in that, you know, you know, you're preventing newcomers, the so -called alt media, independent media from essentially, you know, cleaning house and getting rid of the other guys, you know.

letting the market play out, in other words, let the people decide who wins and who loses.And so what the government is doing is trying to hold back the tide, right?Saying by throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at these failing media organizations, they're trying to hold back, you know, the change.And by punishing you, they're trying to discredit you.I think that's what else is going on here, you know, because they're trying to prevent you from having access to newsmakers.The decision makers, people spending the people's money.

And so by doing all of this, they're trying to perpetuate the status quo, you know, keep the legacy guys going.And none of those people on that side of the equation want to stop this from happening at all, do they?I mean, they're all in.They don't like you any more than the government does.Is that so?I mean, you're not getting any support from CTV or Global or any of them.

You know, I imagine it feels a lot like being a candlestick maker at the dawn of the light bulb to work in the mainstream media right now.But it is true that, I mean, we saw this play out in real time at the debates where Juno news journalists, other independent journalists, us at Rebel News, we were in the media room and we were subject to some of the most vile workplace harassmentI think most people would experience in their lifetime.If we worked in the mainstream media, we'd have a cry room.We were being yelled at, screamed at, and then when we were the newsmakers of the hour, really, we had CBC about 90 yards away telling complete lies about us and also denying us the right of reply.You know, if you have somebody who's making news or who is the apex of a news story 90 yards away, why wouldn't you go talk to them?

And instead they talked about us and then had to issue retractions on an obscure CBC page where they post their retractions that like everything at CBC, nobody reads anyway.But that's that's the protectionism that you see from the media.If you're an independent journalist, like those of us here at Rebel News, and you want to go to a press conference on Parliament Hill, you know what's going to happen?You're going to be denied because a couple of your competitors have gotten together to have a little witch trial for you and decided that you can't join the Parliamentary Press Gallery.And if you are not a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, whether it's a conservative politician holding a press conference or a liberal politician holding a press conference, your competitors can block you from attending to protect their exclusive access to the politicians.So not only are they well funded, but they have all the access and you're just supposed to take it.

And now we have the CBC situation involved in the shady Francis Widdowson sting operation.I mean, how weird is that?It's just hard to fathom.that they have money you know taxpayers money in order to indulge in this kind of behavior there really needs to be a complaint against the CBC and those are placed with the CRTC not with the CanadianBroadcast Standards people.And we'll have to see if that happens.

Thank you for being part of the show, Sheila.Did you want to add any more to this?

You know, if people want to learn more about the Independent Press Gallery, that's I'm the president there.And what we do is advocate for the rights of independent journalists in this country.We also provide security for independent journalists as work on the street is getting increasingly more dangerous because you have the politicians demonizing you and blacklisting you.And that just mobilizes your enemies on the street.They can go to independentpressgallery .ca.

And if you are an independent journalist and you need support, legal support, moral support, security support.It's only 10 bucks a month to join.

Sheila Gunray, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Appreciate it.Thanks, Mark.

If you enjoyed this show, consider supporting great independent journalism by becoming a premier member of Juno News.Go to junonews .com backslash straight up.You can find the link below.Helps us do what we do.Thank you so much.

We'll see you next time.