Montreal’s municipal opposition leader and a civil rights group are accusing Mayor Valérie Plante of censoring Canadians’ free speech rights after she defended her decision to block replies to her social media posts.
The mayor currently only allows limited comments from her followers on Instagram.
Plante posted screenshots of vulgar names she’s been called in a post to X on Thursday, saying that her posts have been dominated with insults for months, prompting her to block people altogether.
“Some people may believe that there is a fundamental right to call someone a “bitch” or a “stupid” and to normalize online violence. I do not,” wrote Plante.
Depuis des mois, les commentaires sur X sont dominés par les insultes, au point où j’ai décidé de fermer cette section.
Certains peuvent croire qu’il existe un droit fondamental à traiter une personne de « conne » ou de « bitch » et à normaliser la violence en ligne. Ce n’est… pic.twitter.com/vJBHgxV0sd
However, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Aref Salem, leader of the city’s official opposition argue that elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms. Montreal is one of the few cities in Canada that has party politics at the municipal level and an Official Opposition leader.
“This is not the way of democracy,” said Salem in an interview Tuesday. “This is really unethical, even, to not let the population of Montreal interact with the mayor.”
Salem said that social media is one of the avenues that citizens have to interact with Plante and the residents should be permitted to express their concerns outside of the limited 90 seconds few can have during question period at city council meetings.
“Having a social media feed is to connect with the population and ask the population about their opinion,” said Salem. “It has to be an interaction.”
Plante and her party’s Projet Montreal currently only allow comments from people or organizations mentioned in posts by those accounts. Plante’s Instagram posts also limit comments and users may not tag her in their stories.
True North contacted Plante for comment and a spokesperson said that the decision was made earlier this summer to the “limit discriminatory, violent, racist, harassing, hateful, homophobic, disrespectful, sexist and defamatory comments” she was experiencing on social media.
“Although all of the mayor of Montreal’s digital platforms are places for discussion, it is essential that the tone of the exchanges remains respectful,” said the spokesperson.
However, Salem said elected officials must engage with their constituents, arguing that Plante is free to block specific individuals who are engaging in online harassment.
“When we decide to be public figures, that goes with the position,” he said. “When we want to be representative of the population, we have to be representative of the whole population.”
Director of the fundamental freedoms program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association Anaïs Bussières McNicoll agrees with Salem that a “blanket prohibition on comments” is an unreasonable limitation of people’s freedom of expression.
“I would say that elected officials with significant resources shouldn’t have their cake and eat it too,” she said. “In that if they choose to have access to and to use social media platforms in the context of their public work, they should also accept that their constituents might want to comment on their work on that very public platform.”
In June, the Quebec government implemented a law that included fines of up to $1,500 for anyone who intimidates or harasses a politician, despite critics arguing that the legislation suppressed free speech.
A Federal Court judge ordered Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to unblock Ezra Levant, founder of Rebel News, from his X account for as long as he remains a Member of Parliament last September.
“It might sound like a small thing, but if Guilbeault can cut us off from receiving news and other information from the government, what else can he cut off?” wrote Levant at the time.
Justice Zinn also ordered the federal government to reimburse Rebel Media’s legal fees, to the tune of $20,000. Levant initially filed an action against Guilbeault in 2021, alleging that the Liberal minister’s block violated his constitutional rights.
A Pakistani man arrested in Quebec in an alleged terror plot to massacre New York City Jews entered Canada last year on a student visa, according to Immigration Minister Marc Miller.
Plus, Oshawa City Council will soon meet to change a downtown street name because of the namesake’s alleged connection to the establishment of residential schools in Canada. However, some historians doubt the accuracy of claims made by activists.
And following the end of the Liberal-NDP coalition, nearly half of Canadians support an early election according to a new poll.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Lindsay Shepherd and Isaac Lamoureux!
Despite the Edmonton Oilers being one of the few hockey teams to refrain from putting advertisements on their jerseys over the last few years, they have done a complete reversal to the dismay of loyal fans.
The team recently announced that player jerseys and helmets would be emblazoned with gambling advertisements and people on social media are up in arms over the ordeal.
A short video was put out by the Edmonton Oilers introducing their “home jersey partner” – Play Alberta, the only regulated online gambling service in the province. The video quickly garnered hundreds of negative feedback comments as of Wednesday afternoon.
Shortly after releasing the video, the Oilers shared a post to X containing a press release describing the partnership. As of Wednesday afternoon, that post to X was ratioed, receiving more comments than likes.
Positive comments were far and few between, and many of the replies complaining of the advertising contained vulgar language alongside terms like “trash”, “disgusting” and “gross”.
Various teams revealed ads they would feature on their jerseys for the 2022/23 season in Sep. 2022. The Oilers were one of the few teams to abstain at the time. The team received praise in a popular Reddit thread this summer titled “Shoutout to the Oilers for not having ads on their Jerseys” and it featured fans from various teams celebrating the Oilers.
“So tired of seeing gambling ads everywhere,” said the top comment in a more recent thread.
While much of the fans’ displeasure has been towards advertisements on the jerseys, the press release from the Oilers confirmed that the Play Alberta logo will be on the team’s home jerseys and the GameSense, Alberta Gaming, Liquor, and Cannabis’ gambling program will be displayed on the helmet for every home game.
Kandice Machado, the CEO of the AGLC, said that Play Alberta is proud to continue its partnership with the Oilers over the next few seasons in the team’s press release.
“We value our patrons and the fans of the Oilers and are thrilled to see PlayAlberta.ca, Alberta’s trusted gambling platform, along with the best-in-class responsible gambling program—GameSense—as prominent fixtures on the Oilers uniforms.”
PlayAlberta.ca generated $235 million in net sales last year, an increase of $42 million from 2022-23. That amount contributed to the $1.5 billion in total gaming revenue directed to Alberta’s General Revenue Fund.
Even before gambling ads began to appear virtually on the boards and ice during games, along with becoming featured on every other sign in cities, an Ipsos poll from Jan. 2023 showed that almost half of Canadians thought gambling ads had become out of control.
Almost half, 48%, of Canadians said that the amount of gambling advertising was excessive and needed to be cut back. Furthermore, 63% of Canadians said that there should be limits on the amount of or placement of advertisements, which have since exploded and are nearly inescapable.
While the Oilers had previously held back from displaying advertisements on their jerseys, the best hockey player of all time and the best player in the world currently, Wayne Gretzky and Connor McDavid, featured in a commercial promoting sports betting with BetMGM.
Editor’s note: A prior version of this article mistakenly claimed that Entropy Inc. was founded by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. This is not the case, Freeland is not involved with the company. Instead, Entropy Inc. received federal funding from the Canada Growth Fund, a Crown corporation created by Minister Freeland in 2022. The article has been updated accordingly.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has raised ethics concerns over the Liberal party’s newly appointed finance advisor, the former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
In a speech Poilievre made on Parliament Hill Wednesday, the Conservative leader criticized Justin Trudeau’s decision to appoint Carney as the chair of a “Leader’s Task Force on Economic Growth,” saying Carney holds conflicting interests as the owner of several multinational companies and a member of the World Economic Forum and UN.
“We found out that there’s a new Phantom finance minister now,” Poilievre said. “They have a lame duck Minister (Chrystia Freeland) right now, who Trudeau is pushing aside, just like he pushed aside other female ministers, and he’s bringing in Carbon Tax Carney, someone who has too many conflicts to hold the real position.”
Poilievre and others have speculated that Carney will replace Trudeau as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. Some polls, such as a Nanos Research poll last month, have also shown that Carney is the preferred pick. Though Carney avoided saying he was running for politics when pressed about it on Tuesday.
Poilievre named him “Carbon Tax Carney” for his ardent support of carbon pricing.
The Conservative’s ethics and accountable government critic, Michael Barrett, sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday disclosing Carney’s alleged conflicts of interest.
In the letter, Barrett requested that Trudeau “merely move Mr. Carney’s role within the government as opposed to the Liberal party so that he will have to publicly disclose all of his financial interests and abide by all ethics and conflict of interest laws.”
The Conservatives argue that Carney’s newly appointed role mirrors that of a Reporting Public Office Holder. They say the Liberals intentionally elected him as an advisor to the party rather than the government to shield Carney’s apparent conflicts of interest from ethics regulations and conflict of interest laws.
“It is clear that Mark Carney’s role is not limited to the Liberal Party, but instead dictating the
economic policy direction of the current sitting government,” Barrett’s letter said. “As you said yourself, ‘Mark’s unique ideas and perspectives will play a vital role in shaping the next steps in our plan to continue to grow our economy and strengthen the middle class.’”
Justin Trudeau did not respond to True North’s requests to comment.
The letter explains that if he were appointed as a Ministerial Advisor which advises the government and not the party, the Conflict of Interest Act would demand that he disclose any potential conflicts of interest between his private financial interests and the advice he gives the state.
Carney is currently the chair of the international investment firm Brookfield Asset Management and head of Transition Investing.
“Mr. Carney directly invests in energy assets in Canada and around the world, creating a direct personal financial benefit if the federal government were to adopt specific policies,” Barrett argued in the letter.
In December 2023, Brookfield directly benefited from investments in Entropy Inc by the Canada Growth Fund, a crown Corporation created by Freeland. According to a public financial report, Carney made $987,375 from investments with Brookfield that same year.
The letter also notes that Carney sits on the board of Stripe Inc., a $65 billion multinational payment processing corporation that falls under Canada’s federal regulations. He’s also on the advisory board of Watershed, a company that sells carbon-emissions tracking software.
“He doesn’t have to have his interests and his investments exposed online like the rest of us. He gets all the power and all the money and none of the accountability,” Poilievre said.
Carney is also a senior Counsellor at the international global consulting firm Macro Advisory Partners, which works for major multinational companies such as Uber, Apple, and Mastercard. And is Chairman of Bloomberg L.P, a data analytics company.
“He keeps the money with his chairmanship of a large multinational corporation that’s moving investment to China, that buys pipelines in Latin America and the Middle East, while he opposes them here in Canada,” Poilievre said. “He gets to push his radical Davos agenda of ‘you will own nothing and be happy,’”
The WEF counts Carney as an “Agenda Contributor.” He’s also the Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance at the United Nations.
“We don’t need a phantom finance minister. If you are going to be pulling the strings, you should be on the floor of the House of Commons, with your massive financial interests and your foreign interests disclosed to Canadians. Stop pushing to kill Canadian jobs while you ship the jobs abroad, make your carbon tax agenda known and be held accountable for Canadians so that we can choose in the carbon tax election.”
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has vowed to vote non-confidence in the Liberal government at the earliest possible opportunity when parliament resumes next Monday, but NDP leader Jagmeet Singh will not be supporting the Conservatives’ efforts.
In a Wednesday press conference on Parliament Hill, Poilievre challenged NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet to join the Conservatives in a non-confidence vote “as soon as possible.”
Parliamentarians can put forward a non-confidence motion against Trudeau’s Liberal government when parliament is in session, which resumes next Monday.
Poilievre called Singh’s announcement last week, which officially ended the NDP-Liberal coalition, a “stunt,” claiming if Singh was truly breaking ties with the Liberals, the NDP would vote to trigger an election with Conservatives at the earliest opportunity.
The Conservative leader said Singh only decided to end the coalition agreement officially due to the upcoming byelection in Montreal where the NDP are neck and neck with the incumbent Liberal party in the polls.
“The costly coalition is called a supply and confidence agreement. So if you’re pulling out, you have to vote non-confidence,” Poilievre said at the press conference in Ottawa. “If you don’t, you’re still in the agreement, no matter what your video stunt would have everyone else believe.”
Poilievre noted that Singh refused to answer multiple times whether he would vote in favour of a non-confidence motion.
“Will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?”
Poilievre says Conservatives are putting forth a non-confidence motion at the earliest opportunity and calls out Jagmeet Singh. pic.twitter.com/bm6ceAOUxY
He said the NDP needs to “put up or shut up” by committing to supporting the next Conservative-led non-confidence motion or “admit he has sold out again.”
At a press conference outside of the NDP Caucus retreat the same day, Singh, in response, repeated comments he said last week that by “ripping up” the agreement, an election is more likely and that the NDP will consider supporting a non-confidence on a “vote-by-vote basis.”
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh rejects Pierre Poilievre’s push for a non-confidence vote against the Trudeau Liberal government when the House of Commons returns next week. pic.twitter.com/CUpY0PcGyq
“I’m not going to listen to you someone who wants to destroy your health care system, who wants to hurt seniors by cutting their pensions, someone who wants to attack workers, someone who wants to strip away dental care from seniors,” Singh said Wednesday. “What kind of person wants to strip away dental care when seniors have just gotten it, when kids are receiving it, who wants to take that away from them? I’m never going to listen to someone like that.”
As the Bloc Quebecois positioned themselves to form a similar agreement with the Liberal government to keep them in power in exchange for “gains” in Quebec, Poilievre aimed at the Quebec separatist party as well.
“This costly NDP-Liberal Government is also receiving the support of the Bloc, which voted to keep Trudeau 188 times and voted to add $500 billion in inflationary, centralist, bureaucratic spending that helped double our debt,” he said. “The Bloc voted with Trudeau to add 100,000 more bureaucrats and add another $10 billion on high-priced outside consultants.”
In the statement, Conservatives said the Bloc’s continued support of Trudeau’s Liberal government only expanded the Ottawa-led federalist government and weakened Quebec’s sovereignty from the rest of Canada.
The BQ did not respond to True North’s requests to comment, though in a press conference yesterday, Blanchet said it was not The BQ’s job to help the Conservatives come to power.
“When (Poilievre) says we’re not helping him replace Justin Trudeau, he’s admitting he’s powerless,” Blanchet said in French. “Our job is not to give him your strength.”
Almost half of Canadians want a federal election to be called after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh ripped up the NDP-Liberal supply and confidence agreement. The poll also showed that those who plan to vote Conservative overwhelmingly want an election.
A Leger poll surveyed 1,521 Canadians between Sep. 6 and Sep. 8 to gather their opinions about the end of the NDP-Liberal agreement and the future of Canadian politics in the wake of Singh’s announcement.
The poll showed that 47% of Canadians want an election called now that the deal between Singh and Trudeau is over. The number of people who want this rises to 80% for Canadians who intend to vote Conservative. Conversely, only 16% of Liberals felt this way.
“Will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?”
Poilievre says Conservatives are putting forth a non-confidence motion at the earliest opportunity and calls out Jagmeet Singh. pic.twitter.com/bm6ceAOUxY
Canadians who plan to vote for Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada want an election immediately, even more so than Conservative voters, 83% and 80% respectively, but this represents a very small portion of respondents.
Of the 1,521 poll respondents, 1,279 were decided voters. Nearly half of them would vote for the Conservatives, 45%. In second place, by a considerable margin, were those who intend to vote for the Liberals, 25%. Following the Liberals were the NDP (15%), Bloc Québécois (8%), Green Party (2%), PPC (1%).
Singh has been non-committal about whether he would trigger an election or not. He said Canadians must choose between his NDP party and the Conservatives, not the Liberals, despite the NDP polling well beneath the Liberals.
“But let us be clear: this absolutely means an election is more likely. And, that election is going to be about an important choice: between the cuts of Pierre Poilievre, or New Democrats who want to build a better future for you,” said Singh.
The comments followed Poilievre asking if Singh would trigger an election at the earliest opportunity.
Poilievre said his choice would determine whether “Sellout Singh is serious or a stunt man.”
The Conservatives branded the NDP leader with the nickname “Sellout Singh” alleging that he wants to keep the Liberals in power until Feb. 2025, when he qualifies for his $2.2 million taxpayer-funded pension.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford joined the name-calling, saying Singh was “greedy” and that he’d “be floored” if Singh triggered an early election before qualifying for his pension.
While 47% of Canadians urged for an election to be called, the desired timing varied.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh rejects Pierre Poilievre’s push for a non-confidence vote against the Trudeau Liberal government when the House of Commons returns next week. pic.twitter.com/CUpY0PcGyq
A fall election came out on top, with 38% of Canadians hoping for one. Pushing the election to Winter 2025, Spring 2025, and Summer 2025 was the desire of 9%, 13%, and 3% of Canadians, respectively. However, 37% of Canadians preferred that the election come Oct. 2025, when it is planned.
Despite Canadians not finding widespread agreement on the timing of the election, the vast majority do not trust Trudeau to lead the country without the support of the NDP.
65% of Canadians were not confident that Trudeau could continue successfully governing Canada without the support of the NDP. Only 25% remained confident, while 10% were unsure.
Also, irrespective of voting intentions, the majority of Canadians, 54%, think the Conservatives will win the next election. Second place isn’t the Liberals, but “I don’t know,” at 23%.
During a supply and confidence deal, an opposition party supports the governing party on key votes without sharing executive power or cabinet positions.
An election is triggered if the government loses a confidence vote in the House of Commons. Confidence votes can occur on key issues, such as budget bills or specific motions explicitly calling for confidence.
The majority threshold of seats in Canada is 170 out of 338 seats. The Liberals currently have 154 seats in parliament. While the NDP has 24 seats, the Bloc has 32, which could prop up the Liberals to surpass 170 votes in their favour, even without the NDP’s support.
Canada cannot be held hostage by the whims of Quebec separatists.
The Bloc doesn’t “like how Alberta makes much of its money” and will now prop up the Liberal government at the economic detriment of our way of life here at home.
The leader of the Separatist Bloc Quebecois, Yves-Francois Blanchet, responds to Alberta Danielle Smith’s criticism that the Trudeau govt doesn’t have a mandate to bargain with Quebec separatists. pic.twitter.com/1csHqTHvAR
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston is calling for Liberal MP Jaime Battiste to apologize for insulting Atlantic Canadians and calling them “EI folks,” referring to government employment insurance.
While speaking with reporters in Nanaimo, B.C., Battiste, who represents the Nova Scotia riding of Sydney–Victoria said that Atlantic Canadians were “meat and potatoes, fisheries, EI kind of folks.”
The remark did not sit well with Houston, who called for Battiste to apologize on Tuesday.
Battiste made the comments during a three-day caucus retreat on Monday when asked about whether the Liberals are “in trouble” with voters in Atlantic Canada.
“I don’t get that sense that we’re in trouble in the Atlantic. I think the Atlantic has typically been a progressive spot, you know … it’s one of those places that are kind of meat and potatoes, fisheries, EI kind of folks that tell us how they think we’re doing and from all indications that I’ve had they don’t reflect what the polls show,” he said.
Houston responded by calling Battiste’s comments “disappointing,” saying that the “characterization of Nova Scotians as ‘EI folks’ is not acceptable and not representative and he should apologize for that.”
Premier Tim Houston calls out Liberal MP Jaime Battiste for labelling Atlantic Canadians as "EI folks". pic.twitter.com/Ev3M6ABwfH
“That’s not representative of Nova Scotians and to see somebody who’s elected to represent Nova Scotians make that type of comment is pretty disappointing, and I certainly, I hope, he retracts that statement and apologizes for it,” added Houston.
Battiste responded by saying that his comments were attempting to convey key issues faced by those in the region but stopped short of an apology.
Instead, he accused conservatives online of intentionally misinterpreting his message.
I understand that comments I made to the media yesterday have been misinterpreted, perhaps intentionally so, by some conservative voices.
In speaking, my effort was to convey that the key issues facing Atlantic Canadians are associated with fisheries, and Employment Insurance.
“I understand that comments I made to the media yesterday have been misinterpreted, perhaps intentionally so, by some conservative voices,” said Battiste in a post to X.
“In speaking, my effort was to convey that the key issues facing Atlantic Canadians are associated with fisheries, and Employment Insurance.”
According to Statistics Canada, Atlantic Canada does have higher than average rates of unemployment compared the rest of Canada.
However, Nova Scotia has the lowest rate of any province in the region at 6.1%, which is also the national average with Newfoundland and Labrador having the highest national rate at 9.1%.
A Pakistani man arrested in Quebec in an alleged terror plot to massacre New York City Jews entered Canada last year on a student visa, according to Immigration Minister Marc Miller.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was charged on Friday for his alleged involvement in an ISIS terrorism plot after being apprehended in Ormtown, Que. while attempting to cross the border into the U.S. via Roxham Road.
Miller told reporters that it has since been discovered that he initially gained entry into Canada through a student visa in May 2023 and arrived at Toronto Pearson Airport the following month.
“This is all that I’ll be commenting on this individual,” said Miller. “It’s very important that we don’t comment and actually it’s dangerous to comment any further.
“Any defence lawyer is looking at elected officials in their comments about this case, salivating at any comment that is made that could be seen as compromising the judicial process.”
Miller went on to accuse the Conservatives of being “highly careless” for “firing their mouths off again” about the issue.
He was responding to the Official Opposition calling on the Trudeau government to explain how Khan was allowed into Canada to begin with.
Miller said that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s advisors “should be counselling him to shut his mouth.”
Federal officials initially declined to respond to questions regarding Khan’s immigration status, citing privacy laws, while the U.S. had been investigating him since last fall and is now requesting his extradition to New York to face terrorism charges.
Khan is currently scheduled to appear in court in Montreal on Friday.
His arrest comes on the heels of the RCMP arresting a father and son, Ahmed and Mostafa Eldidi, for allegedly plotting a terrorist attack in Toronto on behalf of the Islamic State.
The planned terrorist attack in Toronto was thwarted due to a tip by French authorities, who warned the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service about the plot.
Their case has raised questions as to how the two were able to gain entry into Canada in the first place as Ahmed was allegedly captured on video in 2015 dismembering a prisoner with a sword in an ISIS execution video, hacking the hands and feet off of a man being hung on a pole.
The Conservatives have requested the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security be recalled to review how Khan’s past was not detected through security screening.
However, Miller said that despite his government taking security breaches seriously, it was “naive” to think a “determined individual” could not get into Canada.
“Let’s not be naive. A determined individual can gain access to this country, and that is for the security services inside our country to apprehend this person,” said Miller.
“If they commit a crime or if they’re about to commit a crime. And that’s exactly what happened. Our police forces did their jobs and arrested the individual. And we’ll let the court case take its course.”
Today on Rachel and the Republic, Rachel Parker is joined by Detroit radio host Justin Barclay to break down the 2024 presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
Parker and Barclay analyze the best and worst moments of the night, including the moderators repeated attempt to rebuff Trump while leaving Harris alone.
Barclay explains why he thinks the debate won’t swing moderate voters one way or the other, and says the American public did not find the answers they were looking for due to poor moderating. Finally, Barclay details the latest in discussions about whether there will be a second presidential debate.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently blasted federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, accusing him of delaying an election only so he can secure his government pension.
Plus, Swedish battery developer and manufacturer Northvolt AB announced it will be delaying plans to construct a battery plant in Canada that has already received billions in subsidies as consumer interest continues to decline.
And a Liberal MP’s tweet targeting a journalist for being critical of the Liberal’s media subsidies faced widespread backlash on social media.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Cosmin Dzsurdzsa and Lindsay Shepherd!
Montreal Mayor defends blocking people from replying to her social media posts
Montreal’s municipal opposition leader and a civil rights group are accusing Mayor Valérie Plante of censoring Canadians’ free speech rights after she defended her decision to block replies to her social media posts.
The mayor currently only allows limited comments from her followers on Instagram.
Plante posted screenshots of vulgar names she’s been called in a post to X on Thursday, saying that her posts have been dominated with insults for months, prompting her to block people altogether.
“Some people may believe that there is a fundamental right to call someone a “bitch” or a “stupid” and to normalize online violence. I do not,” wrote Plante.
However, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Aref Salem, leader of the city’s official opposition argue that elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms. Montreal is one of the few cities in Canada that has party politics at the municipal level and an Official Opposition leader.
“This is not the way of democracy,” said Salem in an interview Tuesday. “This is really unethical, even, to not let the population of Montreal interact with the mayor.”
Salem said that social media is one of the avenues that citizens have to interact with Plante and the residents should be permitted to express their concerns outside of the limited 90 seconds few can have during question period at city council meetings.
“Having a social media feed is to connect with the population and ask the population about their opinion,” said Salem. “It has to be an interaction.”
Plante and her party’s Projet Montreal currently only allow comments from people or organizations mentioned in posts by those accounts. Plante’s Instagram posts also limit comments and users may not tag her in their stories.
True North contacted Plante for comment and a spokesperson said that the decision was made earlier this summer to the “limit discriminatory, violent, racist, harassing, hateful, homophobic, disrespectful, sexist and defamatory comments” she was experiencing on social media.
“Although all of the mayor of Montreal’s digital platforms are places for discussion, it is essential that the tone of the exchanges remains respectful,” said the spokesperson.
However, Salem said elected officials must engage with their constituents, arguing that Plante is free to block specific individuals who are engaging in online harassment.
“When we decide to be public figures, that goes with the position,” he said. “When we want to be representative of the population, we have to be representative of the whole population.”
Director of the fundamental freedoms program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association Anaïs Bussières McNicoll agrees with Salem that a “blanket prohibition on comments” is an unreasonable limitation of people’s freedom of expression.
“I would say that elected officials with significant resources shouldn’t have their cake and eat it too,” she said. “In that if they choose to have access to and to use social media platforms in the context of their public work, they should also accept that their constituents might want to comment on their work on that very public platform.”
In June, the Quebec government implemented a law that included fines of up to $1,500 for anyone who intimidates or harasses a politician, despite critics arguing that the legislation suppressed free speech.
A Federal Court judge ordered Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to unblock Ezra Levant, founder of Rebel News, from his X account for as long as he remains a Member of Parliament last September.
“It might sound like a small thing, but if Guilbeault can cut us off from receiving news and other information from the government, what else can he cut off?” wrote Levant at the time.
Justice Zinn also ordered the federal government to reimburse Rebel Media’s legal fees, to the tune of $20,000. Levant initially filed an action against Guilbeault in 2021, alleging that the Liberal minister’s block violated his constitutional rights.