As originally reported by The Rebel’s Sheila Gunn Reid, a CBC expert on fake news defended tweets by Liberal MP Adam Vaughan which implied Andrew Scheer would potentially put immigrant children in cages.
The original tweet included pictures of kids behind fences, saying “We all know where right-wing scapegoating leads us.”
The images were of children being held in illegal immigration detention centres in the United States.
Despite the fact that Vaughan deleted the tweets after a negative public outcry on the platform and apologized for them later, CBC Senior Reporter Kaleigh Rogers said his comments were taken out of context.
Rogers, who covers “disinformation online” tried to insinuate that Vaughan was only talking about the Americans in his tweets.
When contacted, CBC’s Head of Public Affairs Chuck Thompson denies that Rogers defended Vaughan’s tweets.
“As Kaleigh noted on Twitter, she wasn’t “defending” the tweet in question or saying it was ‘okay’, only probing to see if there was any disinformation,” said Thompson.
When asked whether the CBC considered Vaughan’s tweets either disinformation or misinformation, Thompson did not provide an answer.
“My understanding is we won’t be looking into this story any further.”
This is not the first time that the Liberal Spadina—Fort York MP has deleted incriminating tweets against Conservatives.
On February 2, 2019 Vaughan tweeted that Canadians should just “whack” Doug Ford. After the public raised their concerns about the violent connotations behind the MPs language, Vaughan issued an apology for the remarks.
In another instance, Vaughan also tweeted a photoshopped picture of conservative leaders being depicted drowning in a flood.
The image included Conservative Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, among others, beneath flooded waters.
Vaughan has also suggested that the government purposefully censor and mislead Canadians about alternative news sources.
