With files from John Ployer.
If there was ever any doubt that the mainstream media had a liberal bias, this past federal election put that doubt to rest.
There are many examples, both subtle and overt, of the mainstream media being biased against Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer to the benefit of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.
Here are ten examples of the mainstream media showing its partisan bias during the election.
1. CBC sues the Conservative Party.
The public broadcaster, which gets $1.5 billion annually from Canadian taxpayers, sued the Conservative Party of Canada during the election.
Days before Canadians went to the polls to vote, the CBC decided to sue the Conservative Party for using CBC footage in a Conservative ad. CBC wanted the Conservatives to remove the footage and admit that they “violated the moral rights of the applicants, Rosemary Barton and John Paul Tasker, who are the authors and performers of the copyright-protected material.”
CBC claimed the lawsuit was to protect their copyrighted material, CBC did not, however, sue the Liberal Party for doing the exact same thing.
2. Mainstream media ignores Trudeau values test idea of immigrants.
During the election, Trudeau said Quebec had the right to use a values test in its immigration system. The mainstream media was silent, there was hardly even notice of his comment.
No scathing editorials, no Trump comparisons, no pearl clutching over how we could possibly ever define “Quebec values.”
This silence stands in stark contrast to the hysterical criticism and indignation Kellie Leitch received when she proposed the same thing as a Conservative leadership candidate.
3. CBC fact check misrepresents Conservative platform point.
In September, a CBC “fact check” called the Conservative plan for a universal income tax cut “imprecise.”
The reason? Because not all people pay income taxes.
It should’ve been painfully obvious that tax plans only affect those people who pay taxes. The CBC, being the CBC, went out of its way to nitpick over a Conservative pledge and find an excuse to criticize it and imply that Scheer was somehow lying.
Fact: Scheer’s plan would have universally lowered taxes for all people who actually pay the federal income tax.
4. Media hounds Scheer on gay marriage and abortion
Despite the fact that Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer repeatedly said he was going to maintain the status quo on abortion and gay marriage if he was elected Prime Minister, reporters constantly asked Andrew Scheer about his personal beliefs and if his government would limit abortion or gay rights.
The mainstream media insisted on reporting on a video of Scheer speaking on gay marriage in 2005 as if it were breaking news.
Meanwhile, the media gave Trudeau a pass on the fact that in 2011, Trudeau said he was personally pro-life. That’s the same position as Andrew Scheer, but you would never know that from watching the CBC.
5. Media critical of Scheer’s dual citizenship
When the mainstream media found out that Andrew Scheer had dual citizenship through his father, the media launched a string of news and opinion articles theorizing on Scheer’s passport and American roots.
They repeated unfounded rumours and asked Scheer absurd questions about made-up connections between Scheer, the Republican Party, the NRA and the U.S. military.
Meanwhile, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May was born in the U.S. and most likely still has US.. citizenship, but she never had to “defend” her American connection. Oh, and about half a dozen Liberal cabinet ministers hold dual citizenship, but we never hear about that.
6. Reporter Tweets that Scheer tripped as if it was news
Instead of reporting Scheer’s platform, in the last week of the election a CBC journalist decided to report that Scheer had tripped on a step. CBC’s Katie Simpson tweeted that Scheer had tripped while getting off the campaign bus. She added that Scheer caught himself and did not actually fall.
“It happened on the pool camera though, which he won’t like,” she said, which was not true. No footage of this apparent stumble ever surfaced.
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, however, actually did trip while walking into a campaign event. It happened on camera, but no CBC journalists reported on the incident. Canadians had to find the footage through U.S. news outlets because no Canadian reporter dared to mention it.
7. Reporter cuts Scheer quote to make Scheer look dishonest
In a news article, CBC’s Katie Simpson cut a quote from Andrew Scheer and took it out of context to suggest that Scheer was accusing the Liberals of raising the GST.
“At no point in this campaign have either the Liberals or the NDP mused about raising the GST. Despite that, Scheer dug in when challenged by reporters,” Simpson wrote.
But here’s the problem: Scheer didn’t say they would.
Here is what Scheer actually said: “We are showing Canadians the types of costs that will be associated with this massive amount of new deficits. They will have to make choices…. Raising the GST from 5 to 7.5 per cent is one option.”
Scheer said that the Liberals and NDP may need to raise the GST in order to pay for their many promises. He said it was “one option.”
Simpson spun his words to make it seem like Scheer was alleging that the Liberals proposed a GST hike, misinforming Canadians on what he actually said.
As Graeme Gordon points out, this misinformation was only clarified after the CBC received an official complaint.
8. CBC stalks man who released Trudeau blackface picture
While Canadians were shocked and disappointed by the multiple incidents of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in blackface, the state broadcaster decided to harass the person who shared the images with the media.
While Canadians were wondering why Trudeau would wear blackface, and what other skeletons he had buried in his closet, the CBC decided to track down and publish personal details about the man who shared the yearbook that exposed Trudeau’s racist past.
Reporters even went to his home and lobbed him with loaded questions, as if he’d something wrong.
What kind of message does this send to potential whistleblowers in this country? If you go after Trudeau, the CBC will go after you!
9. Global News host channels her inner Trudeau to go after Andrew Scheer
While pretending to be an unbiased news host, Global’s Neeta Garcha followed an unhinged line of questioning that led to her calling Scheer a liar and invoking his children to try to shame him for a claim he didn’t even make.
The reporter said that Scheer’s alleged claim about the Liberals raising the HST is not verifiable (see #7), and asked him how he would explain his lies and dirty campaign to his children.
This reporter did not invoke Trudeau’s children or call him a liar over the SNC-Lavalin scandal, his broken promises over deficits, electoral reform, normalizing relations with Iran, or the dozen other lies Trudeau has told over the past four years.
10. Trudeau buys poutine for CBC reporter
While on the campaign trail, Justin Trudeau bought CBC political reporter David Cochrane a poutine, and handed it to him in the middle of a photo-op with dozens of cameras rolling.
“The Liberal Party always supports the CBC,” said Trudeau, openly celebrating his special relationship with the state broadcaster.
Cochrane laughs and smiles while accepting the gift from the Liberal leader, while completely ignoring the CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices on conflicts of interest. Oops.
The CBC receives $1.5 billion annually from the Trudeau government, so what’s a little poutine between friends?
