The bribing of our mainstream media with our tax dollars under the Trudeau regime has had the expected and intended effect. Pictured: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Photo Credit: Justin Trudeau/X.
A very interesting analysis was done recently by the Fraser Institute on the media’s treatment of a number of new federal policy initiatives. This study was authored by Lydia Miljan, Professor of Political Science at the University of Windsor, and reviewed three major new social programs introduced by the federal Liberals over the past few years. The addition of these programs permanently increased government spending, as any new program of this type will do. The programs analyzed in this study included dental care, pharma care and child care.
The overall conclusion of this research was how very rarely the cost of these new programs was mentioned in both government communication documents and mainstream media reports. The author found that government press releases referred to program costs less than one percent of the time. This is hardly surprising, especially with the Trudeau Liberal government, as it has demonstrated a widespread disregard for the costs of anything they have done. It is also logical that any government would want to emphasize what they see as the positives of a new program and underplay the costs.
The media has no such excuse, as it is supposed to be their job to cover all aspects of an issue. This is especially true in current times when Canada is so heavily in debt and running sky-high deficits that any new program could put our national finances into crisis territory. One would think the added cost of any new program would be an important factor under such circumstances. One would be wrong.
In addition to mentioning program costs almost never, media coverage also neglected to note that these three new programs represented a permanent increase in government spending. A key component of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s mandate letter from the Prime Minister, supposedly her major marching orders, included the direction that she was supposed to “avoid creating new permanent spending.”
The Fraser analysis found that although media stories spoke of program costs more than the government did, it wasn’t by much. Only four per cent of television news coverage mentioned costs at all. The study looked at television coverage by CTV, a private network and the public CBC, and found that both networks mentioned cost factors about the same very minimal amount. In general, the study found that overall fiscal issues were mentioned in only three per cent of government press releases.
How any Canadian taxpayer can find this acceptable is confounding. We as voters enable irresponsible government by not insisting that these programs are properly costed out prior to implementation and then followed up on later to ensure the cost estimates are indeed accurate. And never forget that every single government program is accompanied by a big expensive bureaucracy that costs the taxpayer even more. The fact Trudeau has increased the size of the federal government by 40 per cent in nine years is outrageous, especially considering that public services have not only not improved but deteriorated in quality by all indications despite all the extra tax dollars spent.
It must also be said that these programs are effectively the outcome of a government that excessively taxes Canadians then pretends to be the sugar daddy by dribbling a few dollars back to taxpayers with these programs. Much better to reduce taxes for everyone, permitting Canadians to keep more of their hard-earned money to spend how they choose, not how government decides to spend it for them. The notion that government should be buying us birth control, diabetes meds, child care and very basic dental care is ridiculous and just a symptom of how much we are overtaxed.
The results of this study are sadly not surprising but should be offensive to all Canadians. The fact that governments at all levels and of all political stripes are irresponsible with our tax dollars is not news. The bribing of our mainstream media with hundreds of millions of our tax dollars under the Trudeau regime has had the expected and intended effect of turning most reporters into lap dogs for the Liberals. What is surprising and disappointing is that so many of these journalists on the receiving end of this payola have so little self-respect and integrity they have allowed themselves to be bought.
Despite the proliferation of the various ways in which we get our news and information, the traditional media still has a hugely important role to play in our society. The fact so much of the MSM has been compromised by bribes from the Trudeau government as well as the journalists’ own philosophical leftist leanings means we are not getting the facts and are often being served up lies or, at best, only partial truths. Thank goodness for the Niagara Independent and Hamilton Independent, and so many other relatively young new media sources that have the integrity to refuse being bought by government payoffs and are therefore free to report events in a balanced, complete and truthful manner.
She has published numerous articles in journals, magazines & other media on issues such as free trade, finance, entrepreneurship & women business owners. Ms. Swift is a past President of the Empire Club of Canada, a former Director of the CD Howe Institute, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages, past President of the International Small Business Congress and current Director of the Fraser Institute. She was cited in 2003 & 2012 as one of the most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network & is a recipient of the Queen’s Silver & Gold Jubilee medals.
