Freedom of Speech

$6M Loss For Subsidy Leader

By Valerie / April 22, 2024 /

The newspaper chain that successfully led the national campaign for press subsidies, FP Newspapers Inc., lost more than $6 million last year, new records show. The publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press, Brandon Sun and other Manitoba titles received $989,000 in payroll rebates at taxpayers’ expense.

“We will have to save ourselves,” then-publisher Bob Cox, chair of News Media Canada, testified at 2019 hearings of the Commons finance committee. “All of us are engaged in transforming our business models so we can continue to fulfill the key role that a free press must play in a healthy democracy.”

FP Newspapers reported a $6,258,000 operating loss last year despite ongoing subsidies that have averaged a million annually. Print advertising revenue fell $3.5 million or 15 percent year over year, from $24,147,000 to $20,630,000. Circulation revenue fell three percent

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The Canadian Scopes Monkey Trial

By Iron Will / April 22, 2024 /

Cancelled teacher Jim McMurtry to appear before the BC Teachers Regulation Branch

In quoting from the Franz Kafka novel The Trial, “Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested.” It was the morning of his 30th birthday.

On the morning of my 61st birthday I was walked out of my classroom at WJ Mouat Secondary School in Abbotsford and suspended for seven months for talking about the serial killer Paul Bernardo, who was in the news at the time as he had applied for parole.

I didn’t think I had done anything truly wrong in describing Bernardo’s capture, which came about when a Toronto cop came up with the idea of comparing lists of persons-of-interest in a cold case of a rapist in Scarborough in the late 80s with a case of a child murderer in Burlington, Ontario in the early 90s.

The following year I was walked out of another school in Abbotsford, this time permanently, for saying that students who died while enrolled in residential schools did so mostly from disease and not murder. The Commissioner of the Teachers’ Regulation Branch (TRB) wrote to my union ten days later to express “concern about Mr. McMurtry’s broader pattern of behaviour and [that] he would like Mr. McMurtry to consider his future in the teaching profession, particularly now that he has been suspended again as of June 1, 2021.”

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Stop Calling Us Corrupt

By Shawna / April 22, 2024 /

Parliamentary critics should be forbidden from calling the Prime Minister corrupt, says Deputy Government House Leader Mark Gerretsen. The Liberal MP (Kingston & the Islands, Ont.) sought a Speaker’s ban on the adjective “to further improve decorum here.”

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Brazilian authorities try to rebrand internet censorship bill amid clash with Elon Musk

By Shawna / April 22, 2024 /

Up until this point, the general policy was known (and according to the local press, unpopular) as, regulation of social networks, but now, it is to be referred to as – laws meant to usher in “free, responsible, and transparent internet.”
This specifically refers to Congressional Bill 2630, “Law on Freedom, Responsibility and Transparency on the Internet” – which the media in Brazil like to call the Fake News Bill and Censorship Bill……

….. All of this is likely to result in X losing all revenue in Brazil, Musk said in one of his posts, as well as in the shutting down of the company’s office in the country. “But principles matter more than profit,” he wrote.

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TikTok says US House bill that could ban app would ‘trample’ free speech

By Iron Will / April 21, 2024 /

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) – TikTok on Sunday repeated its free-speech concerns about a bill passed by the House of Representatives that would ban the popular social media app in the U.S. if Chinese owner, opens new tab ByteDance did not sell its stake within a year.
The House passed the legislation, opens new tab on Saturday by a margin of 360 to 58. It now moves to the Senate where it could be taken up for a vote in the coming days. President Joe Biden has previously said he would sign the legislation on TikTok.
Many U.S. lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties and the Biden administration say TikTok poses national security risks because China could compel the company to share the data of its 170 million U.S. users.
The step to include TikTok, opens new tab in a broader foreign aid package may fast-track the timeline on a potential ban after an earlier separate bill stalled in the Senate.
“It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans,” TikTok said in a statement.

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Real Women of Canada

By Shawna / April 20, 2024 /

REAL WOMEN OF CANADA is a pro-family women’s movement.
Our common bond is our belief that the family is the most important unit in society.

We are dedicated to promote the equality, advancement and well-being of women whether in the home, the workplace, or the community, and to motivate government to integrate the needs of the family into government policy and legislation.

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Orwellian Sydney Police: We Will Be the “Source of Truth”

By Roli / April 20, 2024 /

Sydney residents question the implications of centralized truth and censorship in the wake of a government’s push to police online discourse.

Webb, who was sharing information about a 16-year-old male being accused of terrorism following the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of Christ The Good Shepherd Church, asserted that the police will be the utterly reliable source of updates. She warned against “misinformation,” but decided not to elaborate on what she was alluding to.

This attempt by the Australian police to monopolize control over the narrative of the incident has raised concerns among the online community about censorship, especially as the government has been pressuring online platforms to censor in recent days. The government has even gone as far as telling people to report their fellow citizens’ speech to the country’s chief censor.

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Travis Interviews The World | Jordan B. Peterson

By Valerie / April 19, 2024 /

World, meet Travis. Travis, meet the world. In this first episode of our new show Travis Interviews the World, our very own Travis embarks upon his quest to talk to every single person on the face of the planet. First up is Canadian man Jordan B. Peterson.

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The Modern Madness of Crowds

By Roli / April 19, 2024 /

We are gripped by many manias at present, to the point where we are deeply divided and even shunning friends or families for holding opinions different from ours. In this audio vlog, Lynne describes why.

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Trudeau is giving more money to the CBC than CSIS this year “CBC/Radio-Canada is key to our democracy,” reads Budget 2024. And that’s why Trudeau is giving them $42 million for 2024-25 to continue producing “independent” and “high-quality” journalism.

By Valerie / April 18, 2024 /

“CBC/Radio-Canada is key to our democracy,” reads Budget 2024. And that’s why Trudeau is giving them $42 million for 2024-25 to continue producing “independent” and “high-quality” journalism.

As per page 236 of the budget, “Budget 2024 proposes to provide $42 million in 2024-25 for CBC/RadioCanada news and entertainment programming, ensuring Canadians across the country … have access to high-quality, independent journalism and entertainment.”

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