Far-Right Media Outlets Dominate Post-Debate Question Scrum

Peter Smith
Canadian Anti-Hate Network

Source: CPAC

The French-language leaders’ debate took place on Wednesday, where Canadians got to see four federal party leaders answer questions about their plans for the country. 

After the two-hour debate, federal party leaders Mark Carney, Pierre Poilievre, Yves-François Blanchet, and Jagmeet Singh spent 10 minutes answering questions from accredited reporters about their performance and other subjects. 

The periods passed quickly, but what those watching the scrum noticed quickly was the notable number of reporters from far-right media outlets who queued up to ask questions. 

First up was Keean Bexte, a former Rebel News correspondent and founder of The Counter Signal—a blog which claimed the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Canada was building facilities with armouries and interrogation rooms. 

Bexte co-founded Juno News with Candice Malcolm, founder of True North, a right-wing website that is registered as a charity. 

“In your estimation, was Justin Trudeau a good prime minister?” Bexte asked the Liberal Leader.  

Carney responded that Trudeau and his administration made numerous contributions to the country and that they “share the same values” regarding reconciliation, unity, and acceptance. 

Bexte followed up by saying that Carney’s “entire campaign” was built on hiding the other members of the party who walked “lockstep” with Trudeau. 

“You’re kind of hoping Canadians won’t connect the dots that the people standing behind you in your caucus walked in lockstep with him,” Bexte said, ostensibly asking a question. “Regardless of what you say now, Steven Guilbeault made the Carbon Tax’s life work; the man who moved Paul Bernardo from a maximum security prison is now your chief of staff. 

“I’m wondering how you reconcile this and how you can trust their judgment when they thought those ideas were good ideas.”

Carney answered what he called an “odd question” by pointing to the fact that he has both old and new members of the party in his caucus. 

After a question about the feasibility of building new energy corridors and pipelines from Canadian Press, Alex Zoltan, a correspondent with True North, prefaced his statement with, “If you thought my friend’s question was odd, you’re going to love this one.”

“I’m glad you’ve self-assessed that,” Carney quipped. 

“How many genders are there?” Zoltan asked. 

Carney responded that “in regards to sex, there are two.”

On follow-up, Zoltan asked if the leader believed that “biological women” have a right to their own spaces, naming specifically changerooms, sports, prisons, and homeless shelters – a question seeking to clarify if Carney believes that transgender women also have a right to access these spaces. 

Carney’s answer was that “as a general objective, yes, but we value all Canadians for who they are and will continue to do so.”

The leader left after that, having only answered four questions, half of which were from True North and Juno News. 

When NDP leader Jagmeet Singh took the podium, his first question came from Rebel News. Singh has long refused to answer their questions and shut down the inquiries from Rebel correspondents Alexandra Lavoie and Drea Humphrey. 

Despite the short time, both read long, winding questions to Singh. 

Bloc Québécois Yves-François Blanchet took a question from Rebel News’ David Menzies asking why the leader prefers “OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) conflict oil to Alberta ethical oil?”

Blanchet did address his support for various oil projects, but not before saying, “I seem to believe that you already have the answer you want to write so your question seems to contain the answer.”

Pierre Poilievre took one question from Sheila Gunn Reid, also a Rebel News correspondent, who suggested that Singh’s refusal to answer Rebel’s questions earlier in the evening is part of a broader pattern of censorship. Another example she cited was the proposed Online Harms Act, which the Liberals promised would address issues ranging from the online sexual exploitation of children to hate speech and hate crime.

Poilievre said his was the only party that supported free speech. On her follow-up question, Reid asked the Conservative leader if he supported deporting foreign nationals taking part in “antisemitic hatred and incitement,” specifically during pro-Palestinian protests, that does not rise to the level of criminality. 

Poilievre said he thinks people should be deported who commit crimes and break laws. He went on to blame the “lost Liberal decade” for divisions in Canadian society. 

“Do not bring foreign conflicts onto our streets,” he said.

In total, six out of 17 reporters who asked questions came from Rebel, Juno, and True North. 

Rebel Rebel 

The heavy presence of these far-right content creators present during the post-debate pressers left many wondering how and why they had gained the opportunity to ask so many questions and take up much of the limited timeframe. 

It does appear as if the Debate Commission did attempt to limit the amount of reporters who could ask questions from a single outlet. 

Press Progress editor, Luke Lebrun, posted images of a correspondence between a legal representative of Rebel News and the response by the Debate Commission. 

The letter objects to attempts by the commission to limit attendance to “one reporter, one photographer per media organization,” pointing out that multi-division media organizations like Postmedia and CBC/Radio-Canada had sent more than one reporter as recently as 2021. 

The letter supposes that Rebel News has five divisions, citing reporters who primarily work in certain regions, as well as a national branch. The letter threatens legal action if a member from all five of the Rebel divisions were not granted accreditation. 

In the response posted by Lebrun, Executive Director of the Leaders’ Debates Commission, Michel Cormier said he disagrees with Rebel’s claims, but that it is not in the public interest to devote further resources to fighting them in court. 

The Commission has previously attempted to keep certain content creators out of their press gallery. In 2019, both Rebel News and True North took the Commission to court after both had their request for accreditation denied. 

Justice Russel Zinn ultimately ruled in their favour, setting the precedent for future debates. 

The next debate, also held in Montreal, will take place on Thursday, April 17.