In the realm of global politics, Canada’s overall affairs and governance is a relatively bland and uneventful affair compared to those of other democratic nations. Yet the recent revelations from leaked CSIS documents that showed China successfully meddled in our 2021 federal election, and that Prime Minister Trudeau and his chief advisors apparently knew but did nothing, has flipped that narrative on its head. So why isn’t the CBC reporting on it?.The story of China’s election interference was first printed by the Globe and Mail on February 17th, 2023. A few days later it was expounded on in shocking detail by Global News’ Sam Cooper. Yet despite a full week having elapsed since the story broke, our highly vaunted CBC has carried next to no coverage on the topic. In fact the only piece the CBC news website is a deflection piece outlining that the prime minister and his staff doubt the validity and details of the leaked documents. Evidently, that heavy taxpayer subsidization is finally paying major dividends for Trudeau and the Liberals..CBC receives more than $2 billion financial assistance from the federal government. It claims: “CBC News Network is Canada’s most trusted 24-hr news channel. For 30 years, our award-winning journalists have brought audiences the biggest stories from across Canada and around the world.” This should make Canadians incredulous as to why, with a 24-hr news channel and all that money, they haven’t found a few minutes to cover a story that if succinctly summarized amounts to this — the prime minister and his staff were complicit in covering up Chinese election meddling because it benefited them..To be perfectly clear this isn’t a minor trifle to relegate to the third or fourth page of newspaper. This should be a front page, or a nightly leading story until its depths are fully plumbed. It’s only closest comparable is the Watergate scandal, and it should come with Watergate level coverage and consequences for those involved. The fact the prime minister doesn’t think a public inquiry is even required gives further credence to the notion that this has the potential to shake the very foundation of our democracy..Imagine if the roles were reversed and it was Stephen Harper who’d been caught turning a blind eye to compromised political candidates or campaigns and in doing so stacked re-election odds in his favour? It would be like an apocalyptic scene from a low budget sci-fi film — Liberals and left leaning pundits heads would be exploding everywhere in great showers of progressive goo as their whining reached the necessary frequency to trigger said reaction. I jest, but barely..The CBC is certainly capable of covering a story like this, after all, they ran breathless non-stop coverage of the alleged US-Russian election meddling story involving former President Trump and his staff. That story was a big deal, and even though it turned out to be nothing, it didn’t stop CBC media personalities, pundits, and opinion writers from gorging themselves on it for months..But this begs the question, why is it now with actual proof of election tampering and what amounts to nothing less than fraud by the prime minister, his closest advisors and 11 other potentially compromised Members of Parliament, is CBC so quiet? Perhaps it’s some form of shock?.It doesn’t take a PhD in political science to realize that this story has the potential capacity to change not only the Canadian political landscape but the country’s traditional media hierarchy as well. The CBC knows this story will certainly benefit the Conservatives and their leader Pierre Poilievre, and Poilievre has already promised to defund the CBC. Their President Catherine Tait has come out swinging against the CPC leader for his statements in this regard. It makes it hard to deny bias when your leader takes shots against the person who may be the next prime minister of the country..This should be a sobering moment for us all to reflect that the world and our country isn’t a woke happy place just because our leaders and media claim it to be. There are nefarious players both externally, and now shockingly internally, who are looking to influence our politicians, institutions and our democracy for personal gain and other reasons. Perhaps if the CBC did what it’s mandated to do instead of getting lazy and bloated at the trough of the federal government, it could play a role in highlighting that..It may be that the only way to help CBC is to defund it, and conceivably that time has come..John Thomson is a retired veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, children's book author, and aspiring columnist. He lives and writes in Moose Jaw, SK.
In the realm of global politics, Canada’s overall affairs and governance is a relatively bland and uneventful affair compared to those of other democratic nations. Yet the recent revelations from leaked CSIS documents that showed China successfully meddled in our 2021 federal election, and that Prime Minister Trudeau and his chief advisors apparently knew but did nothing, has flipped that narrative on its head. So why isn’t the CBC reporting on it?.The story of China’s election interference was first printed by the Globe and Mail on February 17th, 2023. A few days later it was expounded on in shocking detail by Global News’ Sam Cooper. Yet despite a full week having elapsed since the story broke, our highly vaunted CBC has carried next to no coverage on the topic. In fact the only piece the CBC news website is a deflection piece outlining that the prime minister and his staff doubt the validity and details of the leaked documents. Evidently, that heavy taxpayer subsidization is finally paying major dividends for Trudeau and the Liberals..CBC receives more than $2 billion financial assistance from the federal government. It claims: “CBC News Network is Canada’s most trusted 24-hr news channel. For 30 years, our award-winning journalists have brought audiences the biggest stories from across Canada and around the world.” This should make Canadians incredulous as to why, with a 24-hr news channel and all that money, they haven’t found a few minutes to cover a story that if succinctly summarized amounts to this — the prime minister and his staff were complicit in covering up Chinese election meddling because it benefited them..To be perfectly clear this isn’t a minor trifle to relegate to the third or fourth page of newspaper. This should be a front page, or a nightly leading story until its depths are fully plumbed. It’s only closest comparable is the Watergate scandal, and it should come with Watergate level coverage and consequences for those involved. The fact the prime minister doesn’t think a public inquiry is even required gives further credence to the notion that this has the potential to shake the very foundation of our democracy..Imagine if the roles were reversed and it was Stephen Harper who’d been caught turning a blind eye to compromised political candidates or campaigns and in doing so stacked re-election odds in his favour? It would be like an apocalyptic scene from a low budget sci-fi film — Liberals and left leaning pundits heads would be exploding everywhere in great showers of progressive goo as their whining reached the necessary frequency to trigger said reaction. I jest, but barely..The CBC is certainly capable of covering a story like this, after all, they ran breathless non-stop coverage of the alleged US-Russian election meddling story involving former President Trump and his staff. That story was a big deal, and even though it turned out to be nothing, it didn’t stop CBC media personalities, pundits, and opinion writers from gorging themselves on it for months..But this begs the question, why is it now with actual proof of election tampering and what amounts to nothing less than fraud by the prime minister, his closest advisors and 11 other potentially compromised Members of Parliament, is CBC so quiet? Perhaps it’s some form of shock?.It doesn’t take a PhD in political science to realize that this story has the potential capacity to change not only the Canadian political landscape but the country’s traditional media hierarchy as well. The CBC knows this story will certainly benefit the Conservatives and their leader Pierre Poilievre, and Poilievre has already promised to defund the CBC. Their President Catherine Tait has come out swinging against the CPC leader for his statements in this regard. It makes it hard to deny bias when your leader takes shots against the person who may be the next prime minister of the country..This should be a sobering moment for us all to reflect that the world and our country isn’t a woke happy place just because our leaders and media claim it to be. There are nefarious players both externally, and now shockingly internally, who are looking to influence our politicians, institutions and our democracy for personal gain and other reasons. Perhaps if the CBC did what it’s mandated to do instead of getting lazy and bloated at the trough of the federal government, it could play a role in highlighting that..It may be that the only way to help CBC is to defund it, and conceivably that time has come..John Thomson is a retired veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, children's book author, and aspiring columnist. He lives and writes in Moose Jaw, SK.
