Freedom of the press in Canada has finally come to the Rubicon. Beyond this point, government meddling in the press becomes government control over it..Over the weekend, federal Liberal Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault announced that the Trudeau government would soon begin requiring media outlets in Canada to obtain licensing to continue operating..After dismissing critics of the government-controlled CBC and the $600 million media bailout as conspiratorial kooks for the last four years, the Liberals have finally decided to go down the last road towards government control over the press: deciding who can and cannot be considered press..This is no Alex Jones conspiracy theory. This is not paranoid conjecture on a Reddit thread. This is official Liberal government policy announced on a major TV network during prime time..Statists and Liberal apologists may dismiss media licensing as just another routine licence; but what is licensing others than the government outlawing something, and selling the right to do so back to you with conditions attached?.Liberals will argue that we need a licence to drive a car responsibly, so why not a licence to report responsibly?.There is no shortage of media outlets that report irresponsibly or untruthfully, but can government be the arbiter of responsibility and truthfulness? Governments evade responsibility and the truth as a regular course of business. Can the same people that lied and covered up the SNC Lavalin corruption racket be trusted to ensure that the media who report on it, do so responsibly and truthfully? Can the same people that pump billions into the CBC and the media bailout to encourage more favourable coverage be trusted to be the arbiter of fairness in the media?.The answers to these questions are laughably obvious..When we re-launched the Western Standard in October of 2019, I committed to our readers and members that we would never accept a penny of the Liberal media bailout. It would corrupt our news objectivity, and our opinion page honesty, even if we tried to not let it..If we accepted that the government had any right to approve our content, reporting processes, editorial direction, or opinion direction, we would be guilty of becoming another arm of the state..If we accepted that the government had any right whatsoever to even sit in judgement of our right to exist, or of our legitimacy as a media outlet, we would be traitors to liberty..Let me make things clear right now. Under no circumstances whatsoever – regardless of potential fines or even criminal charges – will the Western Standard comply in any way with media licensing..We will not apply for a media licence. If the government grants us a licence without our application, we will tear it up. We will have nothing to do with the government approval of our content, or right to exist, whatsoever..In 2006, the government tried to shut down the original Western Standard by prosecuting it for being the only media outlet in Canada with the guts to publish the Danish cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. They used Human Rights Commission (HRC) kangaroo courts to try to cow then Western Standard Publisher Ezra Levant and Western Standard Columnist Mark Steyn into silence. Their decision to go on the offensive against the government caused irrespirable damage to the HRC censors, and was a landmark victory for freedom of the press in Canada..The bravery of the original Western Standard in the face of violent terrorism and a targeted attack by the state is the standard by which today’s new Western Standard lives..If the original Western Standard could say “no” to violent thugs and the Human Rights Commission, then today’s new Western Standard can say “no” to government bailout bribes and licensing..Please consider signing up to become a Western Standard Member to support our work as an uncompromising free press..Every free man and woman reading this who stands against government control over the press should make themselves heard..You can email Liberal Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with your thoughts: Steven.Guilbeault@parl.gc.cajustin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca.Derek Fildebrandt is Publisher of the Western Standard, and President & CEO of Wildrose Media Corp.
