The NDPs privately petitioned the prime minister for a Royal Commission into some Canadians’ “deep distrust” of legacy media in the wake of the 2022 Freedom Convoy. Access to Information records requested by Conservative MP Arnold Viersen, per Blacklock’s Reporter, show NDPs quietly petitioned for a Royal Commission into the issue on March 21, 2022 — a little more than a month after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s invocation of the War Measures Act (Emergencies Act) on peaceful protesters in Ottawa.Party organizer and then Ottawa City Councillor Catherine McKenney, who was a frequent critic of Freedom Convoy protests in her run-up to a 2022 mayoral bid, privately complained after the convoy that some Canadians no longer believed the news put forth by legacy media.“There are several questions that must be answered,” McKenney at the time wrote in a letter to the prime minister. “What is the reason for the rise in the deep distrust some Canadians have of our media and government?” “How has foreign-influenced social media played a role in increased misinformation and conspiracy theories?”“How can we combat the misinformation trend?”“How did foreign money support the occupation?”The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) replied with a formal acknowledgement and referred McKenney to the Department of Public Safety. No Royal Commission was called..McKenney lost the mayoral race by 42,442 votes. She told local reporters March 16 she was now considering seeking the NDP nomination for parliament in Ottawa Centre.At a 2022 judicial inquiry into the Trudeau Liberals’ unprecedented use of the Emergencies Act against protestors, McKenney testified she was “terrified” of truck drivers but acknowledged she saw no acts of violence.“I was terrified,” she said, explaining she heard accounts of criminality “mostly through social media.”“We saw the messages coming out of more Western provinces,” said McKenney, without clarifying which provinces west of Ontario she was referring to. “It was a general sense of fear, terror and dismay.”Parliamentary hearings attempting to investigate claims of violence against media cited a 2022 internal memo by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre that said journalists were “verbally harassed on camera, chased and sent racist death threats.” None of the incidents were documented by police.The allegations were traced to a single January 28, 2022 news release by the Canadian Association of Journalists, a volunteer group based in Toronto. All the allegations involved social media posts predating the January 28 arrival of the Freedom Convoy on Parliament Hill.Then-Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson also alleged the Parliament Hill protest saw “lawlessness,” calling it “a horrific situation.” “I saw reports in the media,” replied Watson when asked for details of what he had witnessed.François Daigle, then-deputy justice minister, testified he too relied on media accounts of mayhem in recommending that emergency powers be used against protestors. “What I saw by watching TV is that police in Ottawa, for example, because I live in that area and I followed that closely, they had trouble enforcing even municipal bylaws,” Daigle told a June 8, 2022 hearing of the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency.“You know that because you saw it on TV?” asked Sen. Claude Carignan.“We received information every day from colleagues,” replied Daigle.
The NDPs privately petitioned the prime minister for a Royal Commission into some Canadians’ “deep distrust” of legacy media in the wake of the 2022 Freedom Convoy. Access to Information records requested by Conservative MP Arnold Viersen, per Blacklock’s Reporter, show NDPs quietly petitioned for a Royal Commission into the issue on March 21, 2022 — a little more than a month after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s invocation of the War Measures Act (Emergencies Act) on peaceful protesters in Ottawa.Party organizer and then Ottawa City Councillor Catherine McKenney, who was a frequent critic of Freedom Convoy protests in her run-up to a 2022 mayoral bid, privately complained after the convoy that some Canadians no longer believed the news put forth by legacy media.“There are several questions that must be answered,” McKenney at the time wrote in a letter to the prime minister. “What is the reason for the rise in the deep distrust some Canadians have of our media and government?” “How has foreign-influenced social media played a role in increased misinformation and conspiracy theories?”“How can we combat the misinformation trend?”“How did foreign money support the occupation?”The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) replied with a formal acknowledgement and referred McKenney to the Department of Public Safety. No Royal Commission was called..McKenney lost the mayoral race by 42,442 votes. She told local reporters March 16 she was now considering seeking the NDP nomination for parliament in Ottawa Centre.At a 2022 judicial inquiry into the Trudeau Liberals’ unprecedented use of the Emergencies Act against protestors, McKenney testified she was “terrified” of truck drivers but acknowledged she saw no acts of violence.“I was terrified,” she said, explaining she heard accounts of criminality “mostly through social media.”“We saw the messages coming out of more Western provinces,” said McKenney, without clarifying which provinces west of Ontario she was referring to. “It was a general sense of fear, terror and dismay.”Parliamentary hearings attempting to investigate claims of violence against media cited a 2022 internal memo by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre that said journalists were “verbally harassed on camera, chased and sent racist death threats.” None of the incidents were documented by police.The allegations were traced to a single January 28, 2022 news release by the Canadian Association of Journalists, a volunteer group based in Toronto. All the allegations involved social media posts predating the January 28 arrival of the Freedom Convoy on Parliament Hill.Then-Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson also alleged the Parliament Hill protest saw “lawlessness,” calling it “a horrific situation.” “I saw reports in the media,” replied Watson when asked for details of what he had witnessed.François Daigle, then-deputy justice minister, testified he too relied on media accounts of mayhem in recommending that emergency powers be used against protestors. “What I saw by watching TV is that police in Ottawa, for example, because I live in that area and I followed that closely, they had trouble enforcing even municipal bylaws,” Daigle told a June 8, 2022 hearing of the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency.“You know that because you saw it on TV?” asked Sen. Claude Carignan.“We received information every day from colleagues,” replied Daigle.
