China’s Influence On Canadian Media “Has Become Normalized” Says CSIS
by Brad Salzberg, Cultural Action Party, Dec 7, 2021
Canada’s Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is warning that China’s efforts to distort the news and influence media outlets in Canada “have become normalized.”
According to CBC News, the warning is included in briefing documents drafted for CSIS Director David Vigneault regarding a meeting he had with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in early 2021.
A book published in 2020 sets the tone for Canada-China relations:
“Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World” is author Clive Hamilton’s ground-breaking book on China’s covert influence on Australian society. Here is an excerpt:
“When I look at the subtle but intense influence of China on Canadian institutions — parliaments, provincial governments, local governments, universities, the intellectual community, the policy community— it makes me deadly worried.”
When considering Justin Trudeau’s attitude toward China, one would be hard-pressed to claim our prime minister shares these concerns.
An article published by the National Post in July, 2020 tells the story:
The Liberal Government has “awarded an estimated $6.8 million contract to a state-owned Chinese company to supply security equipment for 170 Canadian embassies, consulates and high commissions around the globe.”
So much for fear of the behemoth nation of the Far East. One should not be surprised. A curious relationship between the Liberal Party of Canada and the Chinese government has been in place since ex-Liberal PM Pierre Trudeau initiated diplomatic ties with China in 1971.
The 2021 meeting between CSIS and Justin Trudeau targets foreign interference in Canada — something CSIS says has become “more sophisticated, frequent, and insidious.”
One way foreign nations — including the People’s Republic of China (PRC) — attempt to exert pressure on other countries is through media outlets, say the documents.
“In particular, PRC media influence activities in Canada have become normalized.”
If this comes as a surprise to Canadians, it shouldn’t. In the media world “influence” means money– something establishment media in Canada has a desperate need for.
Among the gems hidden by media obfuscation is the “mainstream-social-alternative” media dynamic. Why on earth would CBC News shout out to the world that social media is taking a larger chunk from mainstream media’s market share with each passing month?
With advertising revenues dropping, desperation has set in. Establishment media take the money where they can get it. The number one place for this is the Liberal government of Canada.
The result is a fundamental shift in media presentation. No longer strictly reliant on corporate advertising income, a bias has set in toward affirmation of the desires of government.
In the real world, this foments what can be called “propaganda.” Its essence is found in communist methodology– China being kings of the phenomenon.
“Mainstream news outlets may also be targeted by foreign states who attempt to shape public opinion, debate, and covertly influence participation in the democratic process.”
In February 2021 CSIS noted that China is aggressively targeting Canadians. This was affirmed by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, as well as civil society players such as the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
“China’s state-backed media insinuated that Canada would experience counterstrikes if it elected a Conservative government.”
Yet, throughout the entire process, our prime minister remains a lightweight in all matters related to China’s influence on Canada.
Why? While the press report some of the facts, never do they speculate on the exact motivation.
Does China own the Liberal Party? Perhaps no one can say for sure, but if it were a reality, the communist nation had a cool 50-years to get the job done.
Pierre Trudeau opened the door in 1971. Would Justin Trudeau take action to close it in 2021?
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Another article on media bias in Canada, influenced by the CCP:
CBC article echoes Chinese Communist Party talking points
by Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, True North, April 29, 2020
CBC News echoed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda in a story about an Epoch Times report suggesting the CCP bears responsibility for the coronavirus pandemic.
CBC implied that the Epoch Times’ exclusive report titled “How the Chinese Communist Party Endangered the World” was “racist and inflammatory” for suggesting a link between the CCP’s negligence and the coronavirus’s spread.
The special edition of the Epoch Times newspaper was delivered to various homes throughout Canada and included a number of investigative pieces that question the CCP’s handling of the coronavirus.
The leading article by the paper’s editorial board, Why The Coronavirus Should Be Called the CCP Virus, accuses the Chinese government of “wanton disregard of human life” and a “consequent spawning of a pandemic that puts untold numbers in countries around the world at risk.”
According to the CBC, Epoch Times’s special issue was “advancing a conspiracy theory” about the origin of the coronavirus by “exploring the idea that the virus that causes COVID-19 was created as a biological weapon.”
Epoch Times Canadian Editions publisher Cindy Gu called the allegations by the CBC “deliberately misleading.”
“The CBC headline focuses on a small part of our eight-pages-long special edition, a commentary article that discusses the history of top CCP officials talking about developing bioweapons. But this opinion article did not state that the Wuhan lab was developing bioweapons, contrary to the claim in the headline,” wrote Gu in a statement posted online.
“It is knowingly, deliberately misleading and intentionally excludes crucial information we provided to CBC prior to the publication of their report. The sole purpose seems to be to discredit our media and our reporting on the coronavirus.”
Both the US and the UK are considering the lab origin of the coronavirus as a legitimate possibility despite mainstream media claims that it is a conspiracy theory. A recent Fox News report citing sources close to the US government claimed that the lab origin theory is being viewed with “increasing confidence.” Officials within the UK government have also been looking at the possibility seriously.
True North founder Candice Malcolm was an early critic of China’s official narrative regarding the origins of the coronavirus.
“We were told to ignore the fact that China’s only high-security infectious disease laboratory — a lab infamous for controversial research and government’s secrecy — the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab, is located minutes from the wet market,” wrote Malcolm.
“Anyone who raised questions about the link between the new coronavirus and China’s lone biosafety level-4 laboratory located in the same city were attacked and maligned, including myself.”
Recently, the CCP has been accused of conflating legitimate objective criticism with accusations of racism in an effort to divert attention from their initial coverup of the coronavirus outbreak.
In an exclusive True North report, Macdonald-Laurier Institute foreign policy specialist Shuvaloy Majumdar claimed the CCP’s responses to criticism have grown “sharper and more immature” in recent times.
“We’ve seen them conflate credible critiques with charges of racism and it’s silly to do that and they’re growing sharper and more immature in how they’re responding to it,” said Majumdar.
The CBC’s coverage of the Epoch Times’s article was similar in tone to a recent statement by the Chinese embassy to MLI’s criticism over its handling of the pandemic.
In response to an open letter by the MLI signed by over a hundred Canadian and world leaders condemning the CCP’s coronavirus coverup, a spokesperson for the embassy accused the institute of “collaborating with anti-China forces such as Falun Gong.”
Similarly, in their article, the CBC raises questions about the Epoch Times’ connection to Falun Gong, which was “declared illegal and a “cult” by the Chinese government in 1999.”
In her article critical of the CBC’s coverage, Gu called the CBC’s reporting on the matter “grossly irresponsible” and a misrepresentation of the religious group.
“The CBC report uses the persecution of Falun Gong to unfairly frame us as an agenda-driven media and then misrepresents that persecution,” wrote Gu.
It is grossly irresponsible reporting to say “Its followers say the Chinese government persecutes them and oppresses their religious rights,” as though the evidence for the persecution of Falun Gong depends only on what its practitioners say.”
Since publication, the CBC article has received 2132 comments, many of which were critical of the national broadcaster’s coverage of the Epoch Times issue.
In defense of human freedom 