The Department of Public Safety in internal emails complained it had “better things to do” than take reporters’ questions about its use of the Emergencies Act. Records show the department instead wanted news media to focus on discrediting the Freedom Convoy, according to Blacklock's Reporter..The internal emails followed a February 15 technical briefing with media, where six among scores of reporters were allowed to ask questions. The briefing came one day after cabinet invoked emergency powers to end the protest outside Parliament..“Just too many reporters for the time we had,” wrote one staffer. “The briefing was bananas,” said another..“It is not clear to me why we won’t take their written questions and send them a response,” wrote Talal Dakalbab, assistant deputy minister. “Officials are managing a crisis and these briefings take a lot of time and effort. My two cents.”.“I like Talal’s thinking,” wrote Deputy Minister Rob Stewart. “We can’t be technical experts.” Department managers had “better things to do,” wrote Stewart..Documents show political aides exchanged texts in which they considered ways to promote news coverage to discredit protesters rather than scrutinize the Department of Public Safety. “Some of their more extreme comments, i.e. calling for a January 6 style insurrection, are getting more coverage in the media,” staff wrote in a January 24 text. “There could be an opportunity to get in on this growing narrative of the truckers.”.“There’s a danger that if we come down too hard they might push out the crazies,” wrote an aide. “That’s fair,” replied another..Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino earlier testified at the House of Commons public safety committee that he personally contacted unnamed reporters to advise they “be very careful” in dealing with the Freedom Convoy. “As for journalists, trust me, I reached out to some of them and urged them to be very careful,” Mendicino testified last February 25..Records indicate several media corporations acted on advice that protesters were violent. The Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in a February 1 letter to the House of Commons Speaker complained that the demonstration was unsafe..“Some of our members have been harassed by protesters of the truck convoy in the last few days and we cannot afford to be left exposed without protection for hours outside the building,” wrote Catherine Levesque of the National Post, then-Press Gallery president. .Reporter Elizabeth Thompson of CBC News told a February 15 Press Gallery meeting she felt unsafe. “Personally I felt a little uncomfortable because there were all these guys roaming around the street,” said Thompson..MPs who voted to invoke the Emergencies Act repeated claims that protesters abused media. “They have been sworn at,” New Democrat MP Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona) told the House of Commons. “They have been subjected to slanderous slogans hung from vehicles,” said Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, ON).
The Department of Public Safety in internal emails complained it had “better things to do” than take reporters’ questions about its use of the Emergencies Act. Records show the department instead wanted news media to focus on discrediting the Freedom Convoy, according to Blacklock's Reporter..The internal emails followed a February 15 technical briefing with media, where six among scores of reporters were allowed to ask questions. The briefing came one day after cabinet invoked emergency powers to end the protest outside Parliament..“Just too many reporters for the time we had,” wrote one staffer. “The briefing was bananas,” said another..“It is not clear to me why we won’t take their written questions and send them a response,” wrote Talal Dakalbab, assistant deputy minister. “Officials are managing a crisis and these briefings take a lot of time and effort. My two cents.”.“I like Talal’s thinking,” wrote Deputy Minister Rob Stewart. “We can’t be technical experts.” Department managers had “better things to do,” wrote Stewart..Documents show political aides exchanged texts in which they considered ways to promote news coverage to discredit protesters rather than scrutinize the Department of Public Safety. “Some of their more extreme comments, i.e. calling for a January 6 style insurrection, are getting more coverage in the media,” staff wrote in a January 24 text. “There could be an opportunity to get in on this growing narrative of the truckers.”.“There’s a danger that if we come down too hard they might push out the crazies,” wrote an aide. “That’s fair,” replied another..Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino earlier testified at the House of Commons public safety committee that he personally contacted unnamed reporters to advise they “be very careful” in dealing with the Freedom Convoy. “As for journalists, trust me, I reached out to some of them and urged them to be very careful,” Mendicino testified last February 25..Records indicate several media corporations acted on advice that protesters were violent. The Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in a February 1 letter to the House of Commons Speaker complained that the demonstration was unsafe..“Some of our members have been harassed by protesters of the truck convoy in the last few days and we cannot afford to be left exposed without protection for hours outside the building,” wrote Catherine Levesque of the National Post, then-Press Gallery president. .Reporter Elizabeth Thompson of CBC News told a February 15 Press Gallery meeting she felt unsafe. “Personally I felt a little uncomfortable because there were all these guys roaming around the street,” said Thompson..MPs who voted to invoke the Emergencies Act repeated claims that protesters abused media. “They have been sworn at,” New Democrat MP Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona) told the House of Commons. “They have been subjected to slanderous slogans hung from vehicles,” said Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, ON).
