Justin Trudeau dumps millions more into online censorship, especially against anyone who disagrees with his approach to Ukraine

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I saw this news release late last week:

Projects launched to help strengthen Canadians' resilience against harmful online disinformation

That really is Orwellian, isn’t it? I can tell you some real online harms. Scams, that try to trick you into giving your passwords, or giving your credit card information. There’s a ton of those online, which tells me that they work. Identity theft; “phishing”, as it’s called, when you’re tricked into entering a password. Pretty obvious online harm.

And then there’s recruiting terrorists and promoting terrorist propaganda online — ISIS was good at that. Their videos were terrifying and professional and very persuasive. They scared their enemies; and recruited terrorist soldiers from around the world.

Would you agree with me that all of those things are indeed genuine online harms? They’re scams and crimes and illegal misconduct that uses the Internet, and some of which are really tailor-made for the Internet.

Online harms. Just like the words say.

But that’s not what Trudeau is focused on. He is targeting “disinformation”.

Our entire legal system is based on two opposing visions — prosecution and defence; plaintiff and defendant. Both are dead sure they’re right, and that the other side is wrong at best, lying at worst.

So why the sudden push to destroy one side of the argument — and, surprise! — the side that is to be destroyed, the side that is being equated to a “harm” like terrorism or crime, is the side that disagrees with Justin Trudeau.

On tonight's show, we'll read through and break down this news release.

They’re going to be fighting “disinformation” — about COVID 19 and the Russia/Ukraine war.

But look at this quote from a Trudeau Liberal cabinet minister, Dominic LeBlanc:

“In Canada and around the world, democracies are contending with malicious actors seeking to weaken our institutions and undermine citizens' trust in their government. Working with civil society, this program will give Canadians the tools they need to identify disinformation and strengthen our democracy.”

So hang on. I thought this was about fighting against the evil Russians about the war in Ukraine, or silently accepting whatever Pfizer is telling us to do. But it’s not; Dominic LeBlanc drops the mask a bit — it’s to combat anyone who “undermines citizens’ trust in the government”. As in, Trudeau and LeBlanc and Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez.

Nothing to do with Russia. Everything to do with silencing people who don’t like Trudeau.

But look. Where there’s money, there are grifters. A whole raft of companies have signed up for some of that Trudeau cash.

It’s not the money I’m worried about. And it’s not even the messaging I’m worried about. I don’t trust any government; when they try to hide their tracks using front groups I don’t trust them more, I trust them less. But what I’m worried about is that disinformation and “combatting disinformation” isn’t their goal. It’s their means to a goal.

It’s their way of demonizing Canadian critics of Trudeau — you heard how LeBlanc defined it! And from there, denying them civil rights, denying them the ability to practice journalism, perhaps even putting them, one day, on a sort of terrorist watch list.

It’s a form of McCarthyism. Back then Russia was the bad guy too. It’s so weird to see so-called Liberals bring back McCarthyism as a way of demonizing and silencing their own domestic critics.

GUEST: Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) on today's hearing granting bail to Tamara Lich.

FINALLY: Your messages to me!