In the days approaching former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould‘s testimony to the House of Commons’ Justice Committee on February 27, at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s behest, Karina Gould, the Minister of Democratic Institutions, reached out to social media giant Google to pressure the firm to curtail political criticism of the Trudeau government on its platform.
Gould placed a call to a senior government relations executive at Google, during which she complained about ‘hate speech’ and ‘toxic rhetoric’, referring multiple times to specific criticisms of the Trudeau government that she found objectionable. She then threatened sweeping regulations that would require unprecedented disclosures of advertising sponsors.
The firm’s existing ad systems are not technologically capable of complying with Gould’s demand. It would require a months-long reconstruction of the software to meet the compliance requirements she laid out.
In response, the firm announced that it will not accept political advertising through the October elections. That disappointed Gould, who implored them to reconsider, even complaining to newsmedia that, “they have enormous financial and technical resources… they can get this done.”
In the days following Wilson-Raybould’s testimony, and just two weeks after Gould told a House committee that there was “more she was planning to do” to “limit foreign influence” in the election, The Chronicle noticed that articles published on our digital platform relating to the ongoing SNC Lavalin scandal stopped appearing in Google News search results in Canada. (Our coverage continues to appear in regular Google search results, and in Google News results in the United States).
On the same day as Wilson-Raybould’s testimony, Gould turned to iPolitics to publicly disparage a recent Chronicle report, with defamatory comments from Gould and a PMO spokesman. The author of the piece, Charlie Pinkerton, used a Twitter comment made by an obscure reporter who formerly wrote for Vice, to broadly characterize this publication as ‘fake’ news.
iPolitics is a subsidiary of Torstar, the publishing giant managed by Frank Iacobucci (in his capacity as a current board member and former Chairman), who finds himself at the center of the SNC Lavalin – Kinder Morgan Scandal — and a subject of recent reporting by The Chronicle.
Michael Wernick, the Clerk of the Privy Council, was the subject of the report that Gould was quick to go to the press in an attempt to discredit for plainly political advantage. Wernick also sits as one of five government officials who comprise the newly formed ‘election protection unit’, who have been tasked by the Cabinet to monitor and neutralize ‘critical election incidents’.
Less than two weeks after the bum iPolitics story, Gould announced that the Trudeau government will include $7 million in this year’s federal budget to monitor and actively discredit political content on social media platforms.
Critics fear that a curtailment of access to foreign press reports would be violative of Canadian norms and the expectations of a free society. At the same time, the Trudeau government plans to offer Canada’s media giants $600 million in operating subsidies, which has unnerved free speech advocates across all party affiliations.
In recent weeks, The Chronicle has unabashedly published a series of articles covering the Trudeau government’s removal of the former Attorney General. With only minor corrections, that reporting has been accurate and prescient.
Contrary to Gould’s public characterization, that journalism was produced by a Canadian from Southern Ontario (which is very much a part of our media market and our body of readership). This writer requested that his name be concealed for fear of political retribution.
Understanding that journalists in the United States enjoy far more sweeping legal protections relating to political speech, our publisher, Matthew Ricchiazzi, was willing to extend that protection to this writer. Ricchiazzi reaffirmed to me personally and to my colleagues that, “as a matter of policy and our Statement on Corporate Social Responsibility, The Chronicle will continue to protect the work of any journalist fearing the retribution of any government anywhere in the world.”
Thanks for this important reporting from a Canadian. Keep up the good work
Reporting from ‘a Canadian’ who won’t put a name on what he or she writes isn’t “reporting”. it’s gossip at best and slander at worst. Pathetic Tory horse puckey.
If it is true it is neither. I believe all of it is true.
Oh I see Lorne’s Liberal butt is butt hurt seeing his boyfriend Justine involved in yet another scandal, Lorne I can’t believe you condone censorship of Canadians you should be ashamed of yourself and your Communist Party Lead by Justine Castro.
It was also reported by the Globe and Mail on March 4th so no.
Yet you believe a PM at his word that nothing happened when his own liberal party turned on him because of his antics. This is exactly what’s wrong with the Liberal party and its followers. They have lost all ability to see fact and only care about their ideology. Rather pathetic!
Regardless of reported it what was said was factual and certainly doesn’t make it any less valuable.
Thank you for that. It’s unbelievably true. That’s the scary part. And it only scratches the surface of the deep state Canadiana style.
or , its the truth…..
Either way.
Why has the news media in Canada dropped the SNC SCANDAL like a scalding hot potato ?
Money?
Advertising?
Govt grants(bribes?)
Disgusting doesn’t even begin to describe the Canuck media…they drink eat other’s bath water.
Not to worry.
Trudeau is gone in the next election.
How do you like them SNC apples?
One would be crazy to put ones name! Bet it is a liberal who is done with old Trudope!!! Tory in deed ! You wish!!
Is there anything here that is inaccurate?
No. There is not.
Is this the best you can do partisan boi?
Whoever wrote this is illiterate,
Argumentum ad hominem is worse than stupid. If you have evidence, refute the article.
Touche!!
Unattributed reportage?! Unidentified “Canadian”?! Propaganda! BS!!
Thanks for giving us information we aren’t seeing north of the border.
Please keep me informed, if my government believes I’m not entitled to know about this stuff, it’s not much of a government and more like children that got caught doing something they shouldn’t have been doing. Thank you for this information.
Trudeau and his gang are nothing like children. Children are not boldly duplicitous.
We live in very dangerous times. When a government decides to manipulate what its people should be allowed to read or watch, democracy no longer exists…
Demockracy is what we have. Representative government never was anything like democracy. Editorial policy is quietly set by government – not even journalists are up to speed on the routines of news suppression. CBC follows the pattern of the BBC which busily pats itself on the back for journalistic standards. Meanwhile I read posts from ‘Biased BBC’.
Thank you for showing up our Governments attempt to keep us in the dark
Unfortunately for Justin, he just stepped on a land mine laid by his father Pierre. Canadians have a constitutional right to the freedoms of belief, conscience, thought and expression.
Keep reporting, keep exposing the Trudeau government. If you had not published this – people in Canada would never know, which leads me to wonder what else have they “instructed” other companies to do in favour of keeping Trudeau’s public image from imploding into the truth of the matter: Trudeau is a front man only and mindlessly leads by following the instructions of his pmo sycophants.
Well shortly after winning the election Trudeau had Google remove stories of Harper and his accomplishments. That you can look up, but probably not through google. The head of Stats Can quit after facing pressure from the Liberal government to fudge numbers that would make the Liberal Government look like they have done a better job with the economy then what they have done.
Wow. I did not know about this but not the least surprised. Thanks for letting me know. I will pass this i fo on.
Also the Paying off of the Clinton Foundation with $20million in taxpayer cash… This illustrates the FACT that foreign AND domestic NGO’s influence (corrupted) our last election…
https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/gwyn-morgan-talk-about-collusion-how-foreign-backed-anti-oil-activists-infiltrated-canadas-government/wcm/f02e7b6f-28c2-4ba8-b80b-9b29c60387e7
Then there’s this “donation” damn near a quarter $billion Canadian taxpayer cash to an obviously corrupt NGO …again the Clinton Foundation… PLEASE America HELP US
http://themillenniumreport.com/2017/07/trudeau-government-announces-241-5-million-donation-to-the-clinton-foundation/?fbclid=IwAR2KnN20wSJ19hUqF2EdkncqVG-6u8STf-IG6p1oIT0ej3XvbrJAFTC2nHI
It has become obvious to most that when Trudeau said he admired China! He admired China`s ability to control what its people read hear, and believe! Trudeau the dictator should be arrested, and all his ministers that work against the Old Stock Canadians!
The double edged sword of the USA is that Ottawa’s draconian censorship attempts can be avoided by anyone simply advertising in the USA … it still reaches into Canada.
The bad part is that Ottawa’s draconian censorship attempts can be avoided by anyone.
Thank you so much for this info. I was at first confused why someone from Buffalo would be writing about Canadian politics, with seemingly unique info to what was reported in the Canadian press. I recognized that the info your lavscam related articles showed insight. Now it makes sense. Please continue with your informative articles to elevate awareness of our currently corrupt government. Thanks again.
Of course she did, the current government of canuckistan is nothing more than an organized crime syndicate.
Of course it is. What do you think the others are ? Search kleptocracy.
I live in Central southern Ontario, and I will bookmark the site for further reading, Thanks
The Americans are doing a better job at reporting our news than we are. Thanks for publishing this. What a disgraceful state we are in with this Liberal government.
Note: Frank Iacobucci is the *former* Chairman of Torstar, and was never a manger there.
Kudos to the Buffalo crew! The Liberals are really getting me concerned. Dangerously Stalinesque.
Oh this is rich…..shut down Canadian access to foreign news platforms and at the same time bump up the propaganda machines in Canada with $600 million…for our own “good” as in…. we get flooded with news in Canada spun to favour Trudeau’s re-election campaign. What the hell kind of country are we living in? Wake up people, use your noggins for once in your lives.
Gould was only trying to accomplish what Adolph Hitler did in Nazi Germany. He controlled the press and said that if a lie is repeated enough times, many people will believe it. Hands up: “Those who think the carbon tax is a scam?” If you believe the government TAX,TAX,TAX is a good plan, then, you have already swallowed the blue kool-aid.
As a result of your publishing this article, and making the rounds on social media in Canada – the Chronicle will now be my FIRST daily stop to get news about Canada. We can’t trust what TURDeau is putting before us. He is the Idi Amin of the North.
Thanks for this.Canada gov’t long called “an iron hand in a velvet glove”.now can no longer hide their weak banana republic nature.This id probably just the tip of an iceberg.
UN Agendas are being implemented in Canada at every level of government UN Agenda 2030 is just a fluffied up version of Agenda 21… for your reading pleasure.
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf
Trudeau knows Google can be bought!
These are dark times in canuckistan, castro jr. is the perfect foil.
Hey! Look at my colorful socks.
Hey! Let’s take a selfie.
Hey! I legalized weed, smoke a doobie and leave your cares in a fog.
Meanwhile he is marching us deeper into the pit and our media fawns over his appearance,
and tries to persuade us what a genius he is.
I followed a link placed by ‘Amazing Polly’ to this Buffalo Chronicle article. She covers three stories which are interconnected: Her Description: “3 stories for you today. Operation Varsity Blues dragnet catches big fish including CAA exec, 9:05 – Ghoulish Gould asks Google to censor negative stories about SNC Lavalin and the Liberal government, 14:15 – Scumbags in the Liberal Party of Canada drive people to suicide”. Amazing Polly is must watch as this Gould story is greatly fleshed out is just the preamble to her main story, SNC Lavelin+cultish Liberal caucus + mafia families + Ghaddafi’s gold +++
When Trudeau talks about the rule of law what law is he referring too? Chinese law?
Excellent article and I will follow your news that puts out what our mobster Government
hides from us. Thank God we have American press that cares about Canadians and the plight of
this deplorable governing body. I will share what I see and again WWGWGA! GOD BLESS AMERICA AND CANADA. my ancestors settled first in NY. around 1796. I love NY! THANK YOU.
THANK YOU AGAIN Chronicle!!!
I just was reading just now and this is what trudo does to Canadians .He does not care what WE as Canadians think. Most of the majority of Canadians and I are voting Turdo out on OCT 21 …We as Canadians can’t let trudo dictate us…
Control the media and you control the masses. Goebels knew that all too well.
So much for free speech…. liberal losers!