Journalists have traditionally considered it their responsibility to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. At the Ottawa Citizen, the daily publication of Canada’s capital city, some editors and reporters apparently view their mandate is to support the fascist agenda of the Trudeau government and the totalitarian tactics of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
The Citizen last week profiled Tammy Giuliani, the owner of a local gelato café who was forced to close her store because she received threats after it was revealed that she was among the donors who contributed to striking truckers known as the “Freedom Convoy.” What happened to Giuliani was very newsworthy, but using her name inflicted more harm. The Citizen’s biased story served as a warning to Canadians of the dangers supporting people and organizations who dare to challenge the country’s government. I’m using Giuliani’s name because it has appeared worldwide, and my audience’s limited size won’t cause her any more harm.
The Citizen’s story reeked of what I’d expect from the Global Times, China’s government-controlled publication. Here’s the second paragraph of the story: “Giuliani says that she now regrets making her $250 donation on Feb. 5 and that staff in the shop had begun receiving threats Monday morning after her donation was posted on Twitter.”
The Citizen’s message was clear: Giuliani regrets her decision, an implied admission that she did wrong. The story goes on to explain why. “Giuliani confirmed she made the donation, but she had no idea about what she thought was a ‘peaceful, grassroots movement’ would become.”
A violent movement?
As best I can tell, it’s still a “peaceful, grassroots” movement, albeit one that briefly disrupted business and international commerce. The only disturbing violence I’ve come across was a video seemingly showing mounted police officers trampling an elderly woman. I say seemingly because one can no longer trust video images posted on social media, as the Washington Post, CNN, and NBC, learned the hard way.
Giuliani’s privacy was violated when the U.S.-based Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo was hacked and the names of those who contributed to the protesting truckers were made public on Twitter, a practice known as doxing. Jacob Wells, the founder of GiveSendGo, told Fox News “there’s strong political motivations” behind the attacks on his site and called on the FBI and Canadian government agencies to investigate.
If Trudeau and Freeland remain in power, I’m doubtful there ever will be an investigation. There’s no motivation for them calling for one when they’ve got publications like the Citizen to do their bidding. The Citizen story makes no mention of the privacy implications of the GiveSendGo hack, let alone a comment from the Trudeau government whether it will be investigated. The publication obviously isn’t concerned.
According to the Citizen, Giuliani initially donated $100 to the striking truckers on GoFundMe, but when her funds were frozen she demanded a refund rather than let the crowdfunding site donate the money to the charities of its choosing, as it originally planned to do.
A $250 donation
Undeterred, Giuliani upped her support for the truckers by donating through GiveSendGo. “Now I’m giving you $250 and taking food down to the truckers every day. Thank you for continuing to fight for Canadians across this country,” she wrote in a private message that was made public.
Giuliani told the Citizen that, “When a group of people first decided they were going to travel across the country to spread this message of solidarity, it seemed like a beacon of hope for small businesses like us. It’s no surprise that small businesses have been on the edge. Families are at risk of losing their livelihood. I’m a sucker for a grassroots cause.”
The Citizen ignores that Trudeau and Freeland have effectively prevented Giuliani and other Canadians from supporting people and organizations that challenge their government for fear of having their businesses destroyed and their donations seized. According to one poll, 46 percent of Canadians sympathize with Canadian truckers, although many disagree with their perceived tactics.
The Citizen isn’t alone in its attempts to protect Trudeau and Freeland. Canada’s government-funded CBC network also appears part of the Trudeau Administration’s communications apparatus.
The CBC on Saturday posted this story by Alexander Panetta headlined, “In America’s Partisan Carnival, Justin Trudeau is now on display.” The story argues that “Trudeau is the punching bag of the America right,” and that the considerable support the Canadian truckers have in the U.S. is motivated by politics, not out of any genuine concern for Canada or Canadians.
Here’s some insight for Canadians who get their news from the CBC, the Citizen, or other government friendly publications: What the mainstream media in Canada and the U.S. dismisses as the “right” has become prevailing public political opinion. Polls conclusively show that most Americans disapprove of President Biden’s performance and agree he’s not up to snuff as the leader of the free world.
The supposedly “right wing media” hasn’t just focused on the Canadian protests, but rather growing populist protests in Australia, Germany, France, and elsewhere against vaccine mandates and other encroachments on individual freedoms.
Growing U.S. anger
In the U.S., anger is potentially approaching dangerous levels as some of the country’s top medical experts are becoming increasingly emboldened, going so far as to accuse Rochelle Walensky, the Biden-appointed head of the CDC, of producing research that’s more “propaganda” than science and “uniquely timed to further political goals and objectives.” Emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that NIH director Francis Collins and White House adviser Anthony Fauci discussed orchestrated attempts to discredit scientists who disagreed with government policy, including three from Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford.
Ray Dalio, a billionaire hedge fund manager whose success was predicated on seeing things clearer than his rivals, has predicted that the U.S. is headed for “some sort of civil war.” Dalio recommends avoiding the dollar and U.S. stocks. Dalio is a big proponent of China’s Communist leadership, as is Elon Musk.
I’m told the Canadian media featured some photos of protesters carrying Nazi and Confederate flags, but Canadians would be wise not to quickly embrace Trudeau’s claims the truckers are racist white supremacists. Back in October, the U.S. mainstream media jumped on a story about five supposed white supremacists dressed in white shirts and khakis holding tiki torches standing in front of the campaign bus of Republican Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin shouting, “We’re all in for Glenn.”
Turned out, the white supremacists were Democratic staffers planted by the disgraced Lincoln Project Trump haters. Those who profess the loftiest of Democratic ideals too often are the ones who egregiously undermine them.
For the record, it’s not only “right wing” people who found the Ottawa Citizen’s story distasteful. Among the critics are Minnesota Representative Ilan Omar.
Canadian media’s “Russian disinformation”
Most Canadian media outlets whitewashed the horrific Nazi past of Freeland’s grandfather, telling readers and viewers she was the victim of a Russian disinformation campaign. That included the CBC, whose ombudsman called out the network for its dishonesty.
“CBC is complicit in creating a false narrative,” the network’s ombudsman wrote in a report. “How can a Russian or any other source smear Minister Freeland when the information presented is factual? . . . It was research from a member of her own family that uncovered this history.”
It’s shameful that the Canadian media blamed Russian disinformation to spread their own disinformation. (A rare exception was the Ottawa Citizen’s David Pugliese.)
Trudeau’s father, also a former prime minister, spoke favorably of communism and a video has emerged of the younger Trudeau speaking admirably about China. But I view Freeland as the more dangerous of the two.
A former top editor at the Globe and Mail and the Financial Times and a Harvard grad and Rhodes Scholar, Freeland has global media and academic support on both sides of the political aisle. When I sent my recent post about Freeland to a prominent conservative journalist in the U.S., he responded that he knew her.
“Ha,” he texted.
For those who argue that it’s unfair to blame Freeland for the Nazi sins of her grandfather, fair enough. But this is fair game: If Michael (Mykhail) Chomiac could look up from his place in hell and see and listen to the draconian measures Freeland has imposed on Canadian truckers and those who support them, he’d be mighty proud of the granddaughter he spawned.
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