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So here’s one for the “you’ve got to be kidding me” file.

Anja Karadeglija — now with The Canadian Press and formerly the National Post’s parliamentary reporter — just published a piece clutching her pearls over the U.S. State Department’s human rights report because it dared to call out Canada’s Online News Act as a threat to press freedom.

And instead of talking to any of the independent Canadian journalists who’ve been deplatformed, demonetized, or algorithmically buried under Trudeau’s censorship regime, Karadeglija filled her article with friendly voices from the government’s academic fan club:

• Fen Hampson, Carleton University professor, accused the Americans of trying “to crush” C-18 and C-11 and dismissed the report as “a calculated campaign to protect Big Tech’s profits.”

• Alfred Hermida, UBC journalism professor, who claimed the laws in question were “actually promoting press freedom” and smeared the U.S. report as a “MAGA lens on press freedom in Canada.”

Not a single quote from Rebel News, True North, Western Standard, or any other outlet actually harmed by C-18’s news blackouts, C-11’s algorithmic throttling, or the looming Online Harms Act’s pre-emptive takedown orders.

And here’s where it gets rich: Karadeglija wasn’t just a bystander to these laws — she helped give them intellectual cover. On March 31, 2021, she was the moderator for a Canada 2020 panel titled “Democracy in the Digital Age: Addressing Online Harms,” sitting alongside then–Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault.

That event laid out the blueprint for the censorship regime we will soon live under: 

• 24-hour takedown orders for undefined “harmful” content.

• A brand-new regulatory body with audit and enforcement powers.

• A speech tribunal to adjudicate disputes.

• Mandatory payments from platforms to government-approved news outlets — already happening.

Karadeglija’s role? Framing the discussion as “how we protect speech while controlling what platforms allow” — and never once challenging Guilbeault’s sweeping powers. That’s not neutral journalism. That’s facilitating the sales pitch for state-controlled speech.

Fast forward to 2025, and she’s portraying the Americans — not Ottawa — as the big Orwellian villains. Sorry, but the real Orwellian attacks on press freedom are homegrown, with Liberal fingerprints all over them:

• Bill C-18 — the Online News Act, which triggered Meta’s news blackout and funnelled $100 million from Google into a government-blessed media fund.

• Bill C-11 — the Online Streaming Act, giving the CRTC sweeping control over online content.

• The Online Harms Act — an incoming law forcing platforms to pre-emptively remove undefined “harmful” speech and creating yet another speech police bureaucracy.

Both of Karadeglija’s employers — The Canadian Press and The National Post — are direct beneficiaries of the Trudeau government’s media bailout programs and subsidies.

The receipts:

Support Program	Amount & Details
Federal media subsidies (2018–19)	≈ $595 million via tax credits & sector supports.
Local Journalism Initiative (2018–23)	$50 million over five years.
Changing Narratives Fund (2024–27)	$10 million over three years.
Bill C-18 tax credits	35% of journalist salaries up to $85K per employee — ≈ $60M/year, $129M over four years.
Postmedia government assistance (2022)	$9.9 million in that year alone.
Canadian Press	Millions through the LJI and other subsidy programs.

When your industry’s survival depends on Ottawa’s cheque book, it’s no wonder you avoid quoting the journalists the government is actively trying to crush.

So no, Anja — the Americans aren’t the ones threatening press freedom here. The real problem is that Canada’s corporate media has become so financially and ideologically dependent on the government that it can’t — or won’t — call out the actual censorship machine.

And the bitter irony? The same people who helped draft the blueprints for these laws are now playing the victim when the rest of the world points out exactly what they built.