The Liberal government has refused accreditation to True North to attend and report on its caucus retreat in London, Ont.
True North’s Andrew Lawton applied to the Prime Minister’s Office to attend the three-day retreat earlier this week but received no reply. When he went to the retreat venue, he was told at the media registration desk that he was not on the list and that “registration is closed.”
Lawton, a journalist and broadcaster with more than a decade of experience in the industry, is True North’s managing editor and resides in London.
According to Lawton, no reason was provided for the denial of accreditation.
“I spoke to someone from the Liberal whip’s office who reiterated that I was not accredited but refused to offer a rationale or the name of the decision-maker,” Lawton wrote on X about the ordeal.
This comes only days after Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez complained to the media about not being allowed to attend the Conservative convention in Quebec City.
“They didn’t invite me inside, usually, traditionally, parties invite people from other parties. We invited them last convention, they didn’t come, so I’m forced to be outside. He’s talking about freedom when I’m not even free to get in there.” Rodriguez told reporters.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault also complained to reporters about not being allowed to attend the Conservative convention, saying, “As you know, even some media were denied access to coming here.”
In 2019, True North sued the Leader’s Debates Commission after it refused to accredit True North to cover the federal election debates. True North took the commission to court and won an injunction that granted media accreditation for True North.
The Leader’s Debates Commission claimed that they denied True North accreditation because of “advocacy,” however it provided no definition for the term.
“I find that the decisions are lacking in discernible rationality and logic, and thus are neither justified nor intelligible,” wrote Justice Russel Zinn about the Leaders’ Debates Commission’s decision.
