Canada’s wretched media: Vicious to the opposition, deferent to power

Department officials testified at committee that Bill C-18, the Online News Act, has not helped a single local news outlet. Not one. When Rachael Thomas, Conservative MP for Lethbridge and Shadow Minister for Canadian Heritage, raised this testimony with a reporter this week, she was interrupted five times. Off topic. Jim and Iain have been covering Bill C-18 longer than almost any outlet in Canada. Today they connect it to everything else happening in Canadian media. Topics covered: ► Rachael Thomas being interrupted five times by a reporter while explaining Bill C-18 committee testimony confirming that department officials acknowledged not a single local outlet has been saved by the Online News Act, with the reporter repeatedly saying off topic and cutting her off as she tried to make her point ► Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, confirming that Bill C-18 has not achieved its stated goals and has in fact harmed the independent media ecosystem it claimed to protect ► The two-tier journalism Jim and Iain identify today: the same reporters who interrupt Rachael Thomas for raising evidence about government policy failures are the ones who shush themselves silent when Carney enters a press conference and chased Wang Yi around a room hoping for a photo ► Anita Anand's Question Period response on forced labour: claiming Canada has some of the most rigorous forced labour laws in the world, raising the issue with Wang Yi last Friday, and referencing $600 million in budget allocation, while Canada stopped two forced labour shipments in five years versus the US blocking 6,947 in 2024 alone ► Treaty 8 Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi threatening civil disobedience if Alberta proceeds with the October 19 referendum without First Nations consent, saying his nations will stop the referendum "in any way they can" including going out on the highways, with Danielle Smith responding that the law will be enforced under the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act ► The double standard Jim and Iain identify: when Treaty 8 chiefs threaten to block highways the response is negotiation and respect; when the Ottawa convoy blocked streets the response was the Emergencies Act, frozen bank accounts, and horses ► Justin Trudeau speaking at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University on the future of democracy, with Jim and Iain's commentary on the irony of the prime minister who blocked news on Meta, funded partisan media, and invoked emergency powers to stop a peaceful protest lecturing at Oxford on democratic values ► A Globe and Mail opinion editor comparing Kerry-Lynne Findlay's leadership slogan Faith, Family, Freedom to the Alberta Prosperity Project and the Republican Party of Alberta, which Jim and Iain describe as an example of intellectual mediocrity masquerading as political analysis ► The 73% Ipsos poll showing Albertans want to stay in Canada, which Jim and Iain read as a media tool deployed selectively to talk down separatist sentiment while ignoring the 66% poll showing Canadians want Alberta's oil expanded Why does Bill C-18 get labelled off topic when Rachael Thomas raises evidence of its failure, but Anita Anand's two-shipment record on forced labour gets treated as a serious response? Let us know what you think in the comments. The Really Big Show: the thinking Canadian's daily briefing, independent and informed. 🔴 Live every weekday at 9AM PST 📍 Independent. Unapologetic. Canadian. 👉 Support the show: https://thereallybigshow.ca Subscribe | Share | Comment — help us grow independent Canadian media. #canadiannews #canadapolitics #canada #nowmedia #thereallybigshow #rachaelthomas #billc18 #michaelgeist #treaty8 #albertareferendum