Two individuals selected to advise on which news outlets deserve federal funding have a history of anti-Conservative and pro-Liberal statements.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, two members of the five-member Independent Advisory Board on Eligibility for Journalism Tax Measures have shown bias in the past.
These individuals are getting paid $450 a day to advise the government on how to disperse nearly $600 million in subsidies promised to news outlets by the Trudeau government.
Karim Karim, a journalism professor who sits on the board, directly attacked both former Prime Minister Stephen Harper on social media in 2015.
“Stephen Harper plays the politics of hate against Muslims,” he wrote in one post.
“Yes, I did write the tweets,” he said in a recent statement.
“No, I do not see a problem regarding my advisory role. If there is the slightest issue of bias against any media applicant, I will discuss it with the Board and recuse myself in the cases of conflict of interest.”
Another panelist, former newspaper editor Margo Goodhand wrote a column in 2013 praising Justin Trudeau and describing the Conservatives as “bullies.”
“I am not a member of the Liberal Party…but I’m watching new Liberal leader Justin Trudeau these days as he goes up against Team Harper, and I have to admit that I wish him well. I need him to stand up to the bullies,” she wrote in the Winnipeg Free Press.
“Canadian politics needs to take a new tack, Trudeau has the power and the momentum right
now to show us the way.”
“He’s not intellectual like his father, Pierre. He is possibly more like his mother Margaret, more emotional and empathetic…”
Karim and Goodhand will be providing advice on requests for subsidies from news outlets. National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier will have the final decision on who receives funding.
Unifor, a labour union that is also advising on the media bailout process, also has a long history of anti-conservative sentiment.
Unifor explicitly vowed to oppose Andrew Scheer and the Conservative Party during the 2019 federal election.
