Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman said it's unacceptable the Canadian government provided media subsidies to Arabic newspaper Meshwar Media and magazine Adbusters because of their anti-Israel views. .“This is freely available on the internet,” said Lantsman in a Thursday speech to the House of Commons. .“Either nobody bothered to check or, more likely, nobody cared.” .The Canadian government provided Meshwar and Adbusters with $29,497 through a $60 million emergency relief fund meant to provide media subsidies during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Tuesday investigation by HonestReporting Canada. .READ MORE: Canadian government gave $30,000 in grants to anti-Israel publications.HonestReporting Canada made the discovery after reading a 2021 story in Canadaland. It said Meshwar and Adbusters expressed harmful anti-Israel views and accused them of antisemitism. .The advocacy group sent a letter to Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez calling on the federal government to disassociate itself from these two publications and ensure they do not receive future funding. It requested an investigation be conducted into the process for how these outlets were approved in the first place, which appears to lack meaningful due diligence and proper vetting protocols. .Lantsman said it was disappointing when it was discovered the Canadian government provided funding to Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) consultant Laith Marouf because of his antisemitic views. Rodriguez said it was a mistake and would not happen again. .Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen said in August the CMAC will no longer be working on an initiative for the Canadian government after it was discovered Marouf made antisemitic remarks. .READ MORE: Anti-racism director fired from Canadian government project for antisemitism.“The antisemitic comments made by Laith Marouf are reprehensible and vile,” said Hussen. .“We have provided notice to the CMAC their funding has been cut and their project has been suspended.” .Lantsman said the incidents are not unfortunate mistakes or incompetence. She called them “repeated actions by government that’s coming dangerously close to complicity to the worse antisemitism by spending Canadian tax dollars to proliferate it.” .The deputy leader said Canada has an antisemitism problem. She added Conservatives will stop it. .“More members of the Liberal caucus need to stand up to it,” she said.
