Canada has dropped again in the World Press Freedom Index.

According to the 2025 report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Canada now ranks 21st in the world, with a score of 78.75. That’s a significant decline from 14th place in 2024, and a steep 13-place drop since 2015, when the Liberals took power.

This isn’t a slide. It’s a collapse. And it’s happening by design.

While Mark Carney and the Liberals like to crow about “supporting a reliable, independent press,” what we actually have is a government-funded media cartel and an active campaign of censorship against independent voices.

Let’s start with the facts:

• Bill C-11 handed the CRTC sweeping powers to regulate online content—including yours.

• Bill C-18 forced tech companies to bankroll legacy media outlets—prompting Meta to block Canadian news outright.

• Carney now wants to “clean up online pollution”—his euphemism for purging dissenting voices.

At the same time, Carney has pledged $150 million more to the CBC, on top of the $1.4 billion it already receives each year. Add to that the $600 million media bailout fund for struggling Liberal-friendly outlets, and what you get isn’t a free press—it’s a paid press.

Carney has been gone from Canada so long, he still pretends that CBC matters to all Canadians. Promising more funding is a serious campaign error.

Canadians know CBC has become a Liberal mouthpiece, throwing more cash at CBC English during a campaign will be viewed cynically… pic.twitter.com/KnX60vzGTs

— cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) April 4, 2025

And the payment comes with strings.

We saw it firsthand during the French-language leaders' debate, where the CBC and other subsidized media lied outright about the presence of independent journalists. They smeared reporters who dared to show up and ask questions. Not because they weren’t real journalists—but because they weren’t on the government’s approved list.

Meanwhile, independent outlets like Rebel News are:

• Denied access to press conferences

• Banned from leadership debates

• Physically removed by police for daring to do journalism

And still, Carney has the gall to say we have a “free press”?

No. What we have is a two-tiered media system. One tier is paid, protected, and praised—for toeing the Liberal line. The other is punished, excluded, and smeared—for refusing to.

The RSF report warns that economic fragility and government interference are the biggest threats to press freedom globally. In Canada, those aren’t threats. They’re Liberal policy.

This government doesn’t fear misinformation. It fears journalism it can’t control.

And that’s why the press freedom rankings will keep falling—until Canadians stand up and say enough.

Because someone has to hold power to account.

And it sure as hell won’t be the CBC.

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