Trudeau slams Poilievre for running to Elon Musk for help in anti-CBC crusade

In a press conference in Ottawa to announce a government-backed research and development endeavour by Ericsson this morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about the call to defund the CBC by Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre.

“It says a lot about the Conservative party of Canada that they’re choosing to attack independent media organizations, journalists who are working hard to keep Canadians informed and support our democracy,” Trudeau said. “CBC/Radio Canada serves right across the country, delivers local news and local content in many regions of the country, and yes it has been challenged over the years, but the idea of adding to those challenges by attacking this source of cultural and local content really indicates the values that Mr. Poilievre is putting forward.”

Yesterday, Poilievre celebrated the fact that CBC has been designated “government-funded media” by Twitter, a label that is defined by the social media platform as “(having) varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content.” Twitter has added this label to the profiles of multiple news and media organizations, including PBS and NPR in the U.S.

“I think it is telling that in order to attack this institution that’s important for so many Canadians, he runs to American billionaires — the tech giants that they continue to defend in committee in response to our legislation to make a tech giants pay their fair share, Conservatives are always there to defend them. That he has to run to these American billionaires for support to attack a foundational Canadian institution says a lot about Mr. Poilievre and his values,” Trudeau added.

Last week, Poilievre wrote a letter to Twitter asking that the government-funded media label be applied to CBC news accounts in English, but not Radio-Canada accounts — Poilievre has left Radio-Canada out of his crusade to defund the CBC, a distinction that Trudeau criticized in his French response to the question this morning.

CBC — whose primary account has been categorized as government-funded, but not its news accounts — explained and defended their journalistic practices in a statement last week.

Twitter has put a "government-funded media" label on CBC's account in what is the latest move by the social media company to stamp public broadcasters with designations. https://t.co/k06kmHVNJN

— CBC News (@CBCNews) April 17, 2023

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