Conservative Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre took a political swing at CBC News and the Canadian Press (CP) during a quick stop in Edmonton on Thursday.. CBC LogoCBC logo .During a scrum, Poilievre was asked by a Canadian Press reporter if he's prepared to change the law and create a public broadcaster that only serves one group in Canada and if he will support French language programming..The law requires the corporation to provide programming in both French and English..“You work for CP? So your biggest client is CBC, right? I just want to be careful that we don't get you into a conflict of interest here,” Poilievre said..“Have you checked with the ethics commissioner on whether you're in a conflict of interest and asking about CBC funding given that's the principal source of money for CP.”.The CP reporter then asked the question again..“The CBC frankly is a bias propaganda arm of the Liberal Party, and frankly, negatively affects all media,” Poilievre said..“For example, CP is negatively affected by the fact you have to report favourably on the CBC if you want to keep your number one taxpayer-funded client happy with a neutral and free media, not a propaganda arm for the Liberal Party.”.Poilievre said when he is prime minister, Canada will have a free press..“Defund the CBC and save a billion dollars,” Poilievre told the Western Standard exclusively after the press conference..“When I'm prime minister, we're going to have a free press, where everyday Canadians decide what they think, rather than having Liberal propaganda jammed down their throats.”.Poilievre recently called on Twitter to identify CBC as “government-funded media.”.“We must protect Canadians against disinformation and manipulation by state media,” said Poilievre in a tweet..“And Canadians deserve the facts.”.READ MORE: Poilievre asks Twitter to label CBC 'government-funded media'.The letter Poilievre wrote to Twitter starts off with him acknowledging its Platform Use Guidelines that say government-funded media are outlets where the government provides some or all of their funding and might have some degree of involvement in editorial content..Twitter’s Platform Use Guidelines refer to a source which describes the CBC as a publicly-funded broadcaster. The CBC’s 2021-2022 annual report disclosed it received about $1.2 billion — the majority of its funding — from the Canadian government..“As a result, and in the interest of transparency, I believe Twitter should apply the government-funded media label to the CBC’s various news-related accounts, including @CBC, @CBCNews, and @CBCAlerts,” he said.
