Roundup: Andrew Scheer, media critic

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In the wake of Bill C-11 receiving royal assent, Conservatives have been doing a full court press on social media to denounce this supposed “censorship” bill (which is nothing of the sort—it obligates web giants and streaming services to report Canadian revenues and pay into media creation funds based on a percentage of those revenues). And because he’s a wannabe fourteen-year-old shitposting edgelord, Andrew Scheer is taking shots at the media about the reporting on this.

What you might notice is that Scheer is calling The Canadian Press newswire “CBC’s news service” because CBC is one of CP’s clients and the content they buy from the wire funds its operations. This, of course, taints CP in the Conservatives’ estimation, and Pierre Poilievre bullied a CP reporter about this at a press event a couple of weeks ago, and tried to insinuate that this means that they somehow fit stories to the government narrative in order to get that CBC money. It’s a complete fabrication, but it’s intended to be—this is all about flooding the field with bullshit.

Scheer goes on to complain about how the story is covered—because he’s a media critic, don’t you know. The story doesn’t quote a Conservative source, but it cites their (misleading) position that the bill is “censorship” (again, this is a lie), but because it’s CP, it rather obsequiously both-sides everything. It doesn’t actually call out the Conservative position as the bullshit that it is, but because it’s not complete stenography of the Conservative line, it must be “bought media” and advances this farcical notion that the government is “shutting down dissent.” Hardly.

But truth doesn’t matter to Scheer. He’s been trying to delegitimise mainstream media for years now (recall that he called True North (aka Rebel Lite™) and Post Millennial “credible” sources, which should tell you everything you need to know about Scheer’s media literacy skills and judgment). Even though the Conservatives have learned how to manipulate mainstream outlets with their persistent both-sidesing, and knowing that it lets them get away with lying, it’s not enough, because occasionally, that both-sidesing can showcase how much the Conservative narrative is full of falsehoods, and they couldn’t possibly have that. Best to have their own stenographers and ensure that only their narratives get out.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russians made an overnight attack against civilian targets in a variety of cities, leaving at least five dead. Russian forces are also trying to cut off supply lines to Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut, but the Ukrainian forces have managed to resist these attacks, and take back some other sections of the city that Russians have been occupying. Ahead of the spring counteroffensive, some 98 percent of promised NATO aid has arrived in Ukraine, amounting to over 1550 armoured vehicles, 230 tanks, and “vast amounts” of ammunition. Here’s a look at mental health supports available for Ukrainian soldiers.

https://twitter.com/gerashchenko_en/status/1651785146142453765

https://twitter.com/defencehq/status/1651456287408832512

Good reads:

  • There remains no movement on the civil servants’ strike, particularly on work-from-home, but the government isn’t making any moves toward back-to-work legislation.
  • At the Global Citizen Now conference in New York, Justin Trudeau faced pointed questions about Canada’s waning international development spending.
  • Thus far, we have seen two Canadian evacuation flights out of Sudan while the current ceasefire holds, but details remain scarce.
  • Sean Fraser says that the civil service strike is hampering enforcement efforts to stop poaching in the elver fishery.
  • Bill C-11, which obligates web giants and streaming services to pay into CanCon media funds, finally received royal assent last night.
  • It looks like the government’s official languages bill could pass in the next few days, with the somewhat reluctant support of the Bloc.
  • The RCMP released a timeline of the deadly stabbings that happened on the James Smith Cree Nation last year.
  • Justin Trudeau’s brother, Alexandre, has said he’s willing to appear at committee to defend the Trudeau Foundation (except the committee has no business doing this).
  • Marco Mendicino and the head of CSIS appeared at PROC, and the focus was on Mendicino around Chinese “police stations” and the new interference office.
  • Jean-Yves Duclos was at health committee to insist he didn’t interfere with PMPRB’s decisions and can’t by law, while its former Chair said the Board is divided.
  • NDP MP Randall Garrison has announced that he won’t run again in the next election (which is a loss for Parliament and for LGBTQ+ representation).
  • Ontario is planning to roll out new “bail enforcement teams” and a bail monitoring system, because remember, this is entirely the federal government’s fault.
  • Emmett Macfarlane explains the context for when disruptive protests are allowed, and when they cross the line into illegality.

Odds and ends:

Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill reopens to traffic today, and the city thinks they’ll placate naysayers with bike lanes along it.

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