A B.C. Liberal MP is under heavy fire for underhanded comments on media handouts to a critical journalist.

MP Taleeb Noormohamed taunted National Post journalist Terry Newman on X for criticizing the feds over their failure to keep Canada safe.

Noormohamed curtly told Newman the Trudeau government subsidizes her wage, as well as her colleagues at the National Post. He proceeded to bulldoze the publication for its ownership. 

“Your paper wouldn’t be in business were it not for the subsidies that the government that you hate put in place – the same subsidies your Trump – adjacent foreign hedge fund owners gladly take to pay your salary,” Noormohamed said.

Isn't that convenient?

The media bailout that was to end before the next election has been extended to well beyond the next election.

Trudeau needs his mainstream media enablers polishing his turds like their jobs depend on it.

Because they do. https://t.co/TyWD0xWPOE

— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) November 23, 2023

Parliament in 2019 amended the Income Tax Act to pay rebates of up to $13,750 per employee of cabinet-approved newsrooms. Payroll rebates this past April 1 were doubled to a maximum $29,750 per employee. Rebates are to expire after the next election.

The Trudeau government allocates $600 million in media handouts annually to government-approved broadcasters and media outlets, which include Postmedia, the parent company of the Post, as well as TorStar, and the Globe and Mail. 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has repeatedly criticized subsidized media as a cabinet scheme to “leverage news coverage in its favour.” Those publishers are not obliged to disclose the value of federal aid they pocket annually.

Critics of the subsidy have warned it breaches media independence, and compromises the ability of journalists to report impartially on the feds. Many replied to MP Noormohamed’s post.

Newman fired back: “Okay. You win. You pay my salary. I’ll stop criticizing your government now. Please don’t fire me,” said Newman.

The centre-left, independent Canadaland also mocked Noormohamed, suggesting his remarks damaged the Liberal brand. 

Newsman’s colleague and columnist Adam Zivo said this represents a cautionary tale for journalists who receive taxpayer funding. 

“It’s concerning that an MP seemingly believes that newspapers which receive public subsidies should refrain from criticizing the government,” he said. “Definitely doesn’t help with the perception that the government is trying to bribe the media into compliance.”

Pierre Poilievre shuts down a reporter from The Canadian Press over media bailouts.

"You're a tax-funded mouthpiece to the PMO," he says. "Are you going to let me answer the question or are you just going to heckle on behalf of Justin Trudeau?"https://t.co/vD78U4ZuZQ pic.twitter.com/E12QYuEJMR

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) February 12, 2024

Other critics of the subsidy fund include the Official Opposition Leader and other journalists who work independently of handouts. 

“Our Party does not support tax dollars for media outlets because that’s when we wind up with biased media like you who come here and articulate the Prime Minister’s Office talking points rather than delivering real news to the Canadian people,” Poilievre told reporters last April 13.

“We need a neutral and free media—not a propaganda arm for the Liberal Party. When I'm prime minister, we're going to have a free press,” he continued.

Holly Doan of Blacklock’s Reporter, Sam Cooper of The Bureau, Rudyard Griffiths of The Hub, Tara Henley of Lean Out, Candice Malcolm of True North, Substack commentator Paul Wells, Derek Fildebrandt of The Western Standard, Claire Lehmann of Quillette, and Columnist Andrew Coyne earlier signed a petition opposing taxpayer handouts.

None of the publishers previously solicited federal aid, claimed Blacklock’s Reporter. The publication, in an earlier February 19 submission to the Commons heritage committee, opposed the ongoing $595 million bailout as wasteful, corrupting and futile.

The Trudeau Liberals are drawing the ire of the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) over its costly bailout of government-approved media. https://t.co/u608q2cuwg

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) January 23, 2024

In 2019 hearings of the Commons finance committee, then-Winnipeg Free Press publisher Bob Cox, now-chair of News Media Canada, testified the media will have to “save ourselves.”

FP Newspapers Inc., the publisher for the Winnipeg Free Press, Brandon Sun and other Manitoba publications, received $989,000 in payroll rebates last year. They reported $6,258,000 in operating losses last year amid declining advertising and circulation revenues.

“All of us are engaged in transforming our business models so we can continue to fulfill the key role that a free press must play in a healthy democracy,” he said at the time.