Go Ad Free

On Friday’s Rebel Roundtable livestream, Sheila Gunn Reid and David Menzies were joined by independent journalist Natasha Graham to discuss Sheila’s recent testimony on Parliament Hill regarding press freedom in Canada, with a focus on Rebel News and other independent outlets being excluded from parliamentary press galleries.

“It isn’t just Rebel, it’s also other independents,” said Natasha. “I remember the big drama at the leadership convention when the independents actually got off their butts and went up to the microphones, and this caused a massive controversy.” 

“This is something largely specific to Canada,” added Sheila. “And I think the government money has a lot to do with it.” 

Sheila also pointed to Alexa Lavoie’s recent dispute with the Parliamentary Press Gallery at Quebec’s National Assembly, where Lavoie’s interview with Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon was delayed by nearly an hour.

She contrasted that experience with a 2019 media freedom conference in London, where international journalists from Global News defended her after she was excluded from a press conference.

“You can be a little bit more committed to… journalistic freedom when you don’t have the peer pressure of the parliamentary press gallery,” Sheila said.