Media Archives - Page 6 of 28

October 6, 2021October 6, 2021

Public Media Alliance, Brussels Declaration, Protecting Journalists & “Media Freedom”

The Public Media Alliance claims that harassment, threats, and violence towards journalists is a serious concern. This organization also thinks the media isn’t independent enough. While that is certainly true, it seems this NGO is less than sincere in what it states it supports.

For some even more Orwellian organizations, check this piece on: (a) Journalism Trust Initiative; (b) Trusted News Initiative; (c) Project Origin: and (d) The Trust Project. There’s also this article on the Coalition For Content Provenance And Authenticity.

So-called public service media, or PSM, refers to media outlets that are either run by, or heavily financed by the respective Governments. The PMA is quite blunt about this.

Financial models for public media organisations vary but an element of public funding is central. This is usually provided by either allocation from general government resources or via a general charge on users (licence fee). Public media organisations also supplement declining public resources with external revenue in order to maintain quality.

However, what will become clear is that the PMA doesn’t really advocate for a free and open media. Instead, it calls for media — and publicly funded ones — that operate within their own ideologies.

Within the PMA, there is a subgroup called the Global Task Force, or GTF.

The GTF claims its values are: access, accuracy, accountability, creativity, impartiality, independence and high standards of journalism. All these underpin an informed and healthy democracy. Many of these are under assault by various forces, both private and public.

It also says on its webpage that “public service media must develop a coordinated global response mechanism in order to defend and promote core values.” At face value, there is nothing that catches attention.

The Global Task Force exists to defend the values and the interests of Public Media.
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The Global Task Force (GTF) was formed to develop a consensus and single, strong voice around the issues and challenges facing public media worldwide. An industry led initiative, the GTF offers a perspective that spans countries, languages and cultures.

The 8 members of the “Global Task Force” have openly supported the Brussels Declaration, which they claim is a new global initiative to protect journalists and media freedom.

David Anderson, Managing Director, ABC (Australia)
Thomas Bellut, Director General, ZDF (Germany)
Delphine Ernotte Cunci, President & CEO, France Télévisions (France)
Tim Davie, Director General, BBC (United Kingdom)
Jim Mather, Chair of the Board, RNZ (New Zealand)
Hanna Stjärne, Director General, SVT (Sweden)
Catherine Tait, President & CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada, GTF Chair (Canada)
Yang Sung-dong, President & CEO, KBS (South Korea)

This is by no means the entire list who endorsed the Brussels Declaration. In fact, dozens of broadcasters, mainly publicly funded, have already signed on to it. These include:

Radio-Télévision belge de la Communauté française (RTBF) – BEL
Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT) – BEL
Radio-Canada – CAN
CBC/Radio-Canada – CAN
France Télévisions – FRA
Radio France – FRA
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) – GBR
Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO) – NLD
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) – INT ORG
Public Media Alliance (PMA) – INT ORG
Les Médias Francophones Publics – INT ORG
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) – DEU
Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD) – DEU
International Federation of Journalists – INT ORG
European Federation of Journalists – INT ORG
Knowledge Network Corporation – INT ORG
Die Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft (SRG SSR) – CHE
Médias multiplateforme éducatif et culturel du Québec – CAN
Sveriges Utbildningsradio – SWE
France Médias Monde – FRA
Yleisradio – FIN
Sveriges Television (SVT) – SWE
Asia – Pacific Broadcasting Organisation – INT ORG
Lituanian National Television and Radio – LTU
TV5 Québec Canada – CAN
TV5MONDE – FRA/INT ORG
Televisión América Latina (TAL, Union of Latinamerican Public, Educational and Cutlural Broadcasters) – INT ORG
Sindicato Nacional de Periodistas de Costa Rica – CRI
Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) – KOR
Radio New Zealand (RNZ) – NZL
Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) – CHE
Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina – BIH
Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) – AUT
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) – PRT
NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) – JPN
Australian Broadcasting Corporation – AUS

That is quite the list, and it will surely grow in time.

Now, what is the Brussels Declaration? Primarily, it revolves around 5 points and commitments, claiming to want to protect a free and independent media worldwide.

[1] We improve the safety of journalists and other media staff
[2] We stand up for the independence of public broadcasters
[3] We encourage well-informed democratic debate
[4] We support a strong and diverse news media landscape
[5] We promote diversity, fairness and inclusion within our own organisation and in the society we serve

On the surface, there is nothing objectionable about any of this. In fact, these are great goals to work towards. However, when we see these principles applied in practice, and the rampant double standards, questions start to come up.

Each point could be an entire article by itself, but we will try to make this short, and more manageable. Considering the content of the Brussels Declaration, it’s fair to ask who wrote certain parts of Trudeau’s legislation over the last several years.

1. Enhancing the safety of journalists, crews and media professionals

All journalists, crew members and media professionals need to be able to safely perform their duties. To that end, the signatories commit to providing the resources and support their employees need to protect themselves from physical violence and online harassment, while raising public awareness about the impact of those attacks on democracy.

No one supports having physical harm come to journalists. However, legitimate criticism (and trolling) is often conflated with violence or attacking. By doing this, it undermines efforts to hold reporters accountable for what they publish, especially things that are provably false.

That said, there is little to no coverage of protests in Australia, Europe, and elsewhere. Nor do mainstream outlets cover police brutality towards peaceful demonstrators. It’s almost as if there was a certain narrative to push.

2. Standing up for the independence of public service media

The signatories commit to publicly condemning any attempt to undermine the independence of public service media — whether it’s through political pressure, financial threats or retribution, harassment or attacks against employees, or antimedia rhetoric. They also commit to improving understanding of the distinction between public and state broadcasters.

Public service media is independent? Watch 2:25 to 4:40 in particular, from this October 2020 video. Not a peep from any of the “journalists” there. Tam openly admits that: (a) journalists are asked to promote their agenda; (b) social media directs people to certain sites; (c) taking down content; (d) demonetizing content; and (c) manipulating the algorithm to bury certain content . However, not only are there no objections, but no one seems even the slightest bit surprised by this.

As for the independence of public service media, would it be too much to ask that it be made obvious that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a major donor of the BBC? It’s not like this was difficult to find, or that it’s even much of a secret at this point.

3. Fostering an informed and civil democratic debate

In response to the global disinformation crisis, the signatories commit to providing trusted news and information, supporting fact-checking initiatives, boosting media literacy, and monitoring and removing hate speech from their platforms. They also pledge to call on social media companies and regulators to eradicate online hate on third-party platforms.

Calling on social media companies to remove “hate”, whatever that is? This raises the obvious question of who actually writes legislation in Parliament to call for such things.

Should the Government be financing the fact-check organizations that keep it in line? Moreover, should political operatives be running such groups? How is there real accountability when the media and the groups monitoring them are funded by the same people? Isn’t it just a dog-and-pony show at that point? It’s not independent if funding depends on pushing a narrative — regardless of who’s pushing it. While too numerous to name here, below are recent articles on exactly this subject.

4. Supporting a strong news ecosystem with a diversity of sources

A diverse mix of public, community and private news media is fundamental to a strong news ecosystem and healthy democracy. Consequently, the signatories commit to collaborating with other domestic media outlets to protect local journalism — including sharing best practices on journalist safety and speaking with one voice on common challenges.

Quite interesting. Last April, CBC reported that Dominic LeBlanc, President of the Privy Council, was openly considering laws to ban “misinformation” around the so-called pandemic. Although nothing seems to have happened (yet), this is absolutely chilling. Nonetheless, CBC seemed relatively uninterested, and only gave this a passing mention. Moreover, these outlets seem rather blase about the steady erosion of civil rights, and the ever changing narratives.

Also, how is it exactly that there is a diversity of sources, when they are all being financed to some degree by the Government? Just like the fact-checkers, the media itself is bought off. This extends to many smaller and “independent” news sources. See below.

5. Promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within our organizations and in the societies we serve

In order to uphold the ideals of pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness that underpin democratic societies, the signatories commit to more accurately reflecting the diverse makeup and perspectives of the populations they serve, both in their programming and workforce — while also leading efforts to make their workplace inclusive for everyone.

This presumably means forced diversity. In the West, it means less whites, and in particular, less white men. And that’s pretty twisted, considering how few whites there are in general in the mainstream press.

(a) https://canucklaw.ca/press-forward-anti-white-independent-media-controlled-and-funded-by-the-establishment/
(b) https://canucklaw.ca/hirebipoc-replacing-whites-in-the-media-industry-all-at-taxpayer-expense/

In any event, it’s great news knowing that the CBC and some other outlets have signed the Brussels Declaration. It’s so relieving to know that strong, independent media will continue for the years to come.

Sarcasm aside, it doesn’t appear that the Public Media Alliance, the Global Task Force, or any of these groups actually care about having an independent media. This seems more like an effort to protect their dominance, while ignoring the assault on true reporters.

(1) https://www.publicmediaalliance.org/
(2) https://www.publicmediaalliance.org/global-task-force/
(3) https://www.publicmediaalliance.org/about-us/what-is-psm/
(4) https://www.publicmediaalliance.org/about-us/what-is-psm/content/
(5) https://www.publicmediaalliance.org/brussels-declaration-pma-joins-public-media-and-international-organisations-to-call-for-journalist-safety-and-media-freedom/
(6) https://brusselsdeclaration2021.com/
(7) https://brusselsdeclaration2021.com/declaration
(8) https://canucklaw.ca/journalism-trust-initiative-trusted-news-initiative-project-origin-the-trust-project/
(9) https://canucklaw.ca/coalition-for-content-provenance-and-authenticity-c2pa-project-origin-content-authenticity-initiative/
(10) https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid-misinformation-disinformation-law-1.5532325
(11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jr_rkzzr2Q
(12) https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/about/annual-reports

October 2, 2021October 2, 2021

Kory Teneycke, Rubicon Strategy, And The Puppets That Are Ford, Kenney & Harper

Ever get the impression that all of the politicians belong to the same groups? Well, they do. They don’t even try to pretend anymore. If you want something done in government, your best bet is to write a cheque to the most connected lobbyists you can find.

This time, we will look at Kory Teneycke, and his lobbying firm, Rubicon Strategy. The article doesn’t really need much in the way of commentary. Their own profiles list the “leaders” whose strings they pull.

Our digital campaigns have elected Premiers in Ontario and Alberta. When you need to win online, we are ready. Whether it’s shaping public opinion, building blazing fast websites, or converting prospects into customers, we get the job done.

This is a quote directly from the Rubicon website. The Premiers they reference are most likely Jason Kenney (Alberta), and Doug Ford (Ontario). Of course, one has to ask what favours are expected from people like Ford and Kenney in return for taking power. Dance, puppets! Dance!

Kory Teneycke
Co-founder and CEO
If you’re in a tough fight, Kory is the guy you want on your side.
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With two decades in public affairs, Kory has served as the Director of Communications to the Prime Minister of Canada, managed the cable news channel “Sun News”, and served as Executive Director of the Renewable Fuels Association. Kory was the manager of the 2018 campaign that saw Doug Ford become Premier of Ontario, and is now on a leave of absence to manage the 2022 campaign for the Ontario PC Party.

Jan O’Driscoll
Senior Vice President
When the game is on the line, you want Jan on your side.
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With years of experience leading tactical communications and tough policy files, Jan is a straight shooter that gets the job done. He’s held senior leadership roles in the private sector as well as with several federal cabinet ministers in Harper’s government. Most recently, Jan served as Chief of Staff in several key ministries in Premier Ford’s government where he drove transformational initiatives to get wins for the people of Ontario.

Sarah Letersky
Vice President
Sarah knows government decision making.
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As a war room operative she helped elect Doug Ford as Premier of Ontario. As a Chief of Staff in Premier Ford’s government, Sarah built an impressive network of peers, and successfully managed communications on a number of contentious files. If you need something at Queen’s Park, Sarah knows who to talk to and how to get it done.

Emrys Graefe
Vice President, Digital
Emrys is one of Canada’s foremost digital campaign strategy experts.
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Obsessed with improving online performance, Emrys headed the digital campaign that made Doug Ford leader of the Ontario PC Party. His digital campaigns then won majority governments for the Ontario PCs in 2018 and Alberta’s United Conservative Party in 2019. In 2009 he started his career in federal politics inside Stephen Harper’s government, eventually becoming the Deputy Director of Political Operations of the Conservative Party of Canada. Emrys is an expert at influencing and leveraging public opinion.

Stephanie Delorme
Director of Operations
Stephanie is a strategic thinker and problem solver.
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With extensive experience in the private and public sectors, in think tanks and politics, Stephanie’s range of experience gives her an innate understanding of a range of policy issues and creative approaches to solving them. Stephanie has worked in federal politics in the Opposition Leader’s office, on the provincial campaign in Ontario seeing Doug Ford elected as Premier, and in local politics in Ottawa.

Cole Hogan
Director of Creative
Others make content. Cole makes art.
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Having played a leading role in the merging of Alberta’s Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties, Cole is a highly talented communications professional. Cole is responsible for some of the most innovative advertisements seen in Canadian politics and played a key role in electing Doug Ford as Premier of Ontario and Jason Kenney as Premier of Alberta.

Christine Simundson
Senior Consultant
Christine wins campaigns.
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Christine’s experience in the legal profession coupled with her experience in marketing and promotions gives her an edge when it comes to grassroots activism. Before joining Rubicon, Christine was active in the Ontario PC Party War Room during the 2018 Provincial election. Christine’s guidance elected 17 of the PC MPPs in Peel Region, Halton, Toronto and Northern Ontario. Christine was the PC Party Organizer for Peel Region and played a senior role in organizing the PC Leadership race of 2018.

Of course, have a read through the site to take it all in. Pretty sickening when corruption and cronyism is marketed as being “effective” in these roles.

And no, this isn’t being used to exclusively bash the conservatives. Here are 2 people from Rubicon who served in the Ontario Government when it was run by Kathleen Wynne and Dalton McGuinty. Another was involved with both the Federal and New Brunswick Liberals.

Very interesting. Another operative for Rubicon was Maxime Bernier’s old campaign manager when he ran for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada in 2016/2017. Anyhow, the rampant ties shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point, as all parties have dirty hands.

Now, looking briefly at the Ontario Lobbying Registry:

Of course, this is just what’s on file in Ontario. Pretty obvious that they are involved in promoting big pharma and vaccinations.

As for Innovative Medicines Canada, it has quite the member list, including a lot of common names. It describes itself as “the national association representing the voice of Canada’s innovative pharmaceutical industry”. Thank you Karen for clarifying this in the comments.

I.M.C. states that it works “with governments, insurance companies, healthcare professionals and stakeholders to advance the field and enhance the wellbeing of Canadians. We are committed to being valued partners in Canada’s healthcare system.” It also claims to “form effective alliances, support policies…” to widen access to medicines across Canada.

The Vice-Chair is Cole Pinnow, of Pfizer Canada, who has been very busy lobbying both Federally and across Provinces. The Treasurer is a representative from Gilead.

Everywhere one looks, there are more and more connections between big pharma, and the political class who pushes for policies to promote this. Actual science, medicine, and honest discourse seems to fall by the wayside. Check this article from Real Reason for more information.

Of course, all of this is only what’s on paper. There is likely a lot that goes on behind the scenes.

It’s curious that Rubicon also pushes its ties to the defense industry. Really makes one wonder why Federal Conservatives claim that much more military spending is needed. Are they really concerned about the troops, or is this about generating more business for their handlers?

No, this isn’t just one rogue person, or one rogue firm that behaves like this. Conflicts of interest between politics and business are rampant. Below are some of the examples previously covered on this site. Take the plunge, if you dare.

Also consider: Rubicon, like other firms, has operatives in multiple parties in the same area. For specific examples: the firm has ties to the Ontario Liberals and Conservatives, as well as the Federal Liberals and Conservatives. Doesn’t really matter who wins the election.

September 29, 2021

Coalition For Content Provenance And Authenticity (C2PA), Project Origin, Content Authenticity Initiative

The “Content Authenticity Initiative” claims to be setting the standard for digital content attribution. There are a few groups that seem to be working together to promote this. The CAI …. sounds a bit like CIA, doesn’t it?

The major goals involve being able to instantly and accurately trace a piece of media to its source. Photographs, images, videos, words, and other elements are to be encoded, and be able to get tracked. Welcome to Project Origin.

While this is sold as some sort of trust in media, there is another, more disturbing way to look at things. Will this not also directly connect people to things that are shared online? Won’t it mean the end to anonymous sharing of important information? Will it now become easier to track people for their thoughtcrimes?

1.2 Background At Adobe MAX 2019, the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) was announced by Adobe in partnership with The New York Times Company and Twitter. Since that time, this group has collaborated with a wide set of representatives from commercial organizations (software tools, publishers, social media), human rights organizations and academic research to produce this paper and the approach it describes.

5.1.3 Establishing Trust One key component in establishing trust in the CAI system comes from the entities whose certificates are used for signing the claim. To ensure that only assets signed by trusted actors can be considered properly attributed, it is necessary to create a list of trusted certificates or their certification authorities (CAs). Similar to the EU Trust List, the Adobe Approved Trust List, and similar lists used by web browsers and operating systems, the members of the CAI will establish their own Trust List of certificates that can be used to sign claims. Details on the governance of the Trust List is outside the scope of this paper. In many cases, the holder of the certificate will not the individual who created (or edited) an asset, but instead will be the entity responsible for the hardware or software that they used. The signing certificate belongs to the actor (e.g. Truepic Camera, Adobe Photoshop, BBC, etc.) that performed the actions on behalf of someone else. This model allows CAI to provide anonymity (and/or pseudonymity) where desired. For scenarios where the certificate holder is able to reliably establish the identity of the individual, and the individual wishes their identity associated with an asset, an identity assertion is used.

5.1.4 Identity One of the assertion types that can be present in a claim is Identity. This digital identity (also sometimes referred to as a Subject or an Entity) is present when an individual (or organization) is making a clear statement about their association with this claim. Digital identity fundamentally requires digital identifiers — strings or tokens that are unique within a given scope (globally or locally within a specific domain, community, directory, application, etc.). In order to support a variety of use cases, including those where identity might be anonymous or pseudonymous, it is important that various schemes for the identifiers are available for use. Fortunately, most common identity formats such as Decentralized Identifiers-DID, WebIDs, OpenID, ORCiD and others are all based on URIs. This enables an identity assertion to be expressed in the standard format described in RFC 3986.

5.1.6 Redaction of Assertions: In many workflows, there is a need for assertions to be removed by subsequent processes, either because publishing the assertion would be problematic (e.g. the identity of the person who captured a video) or the assertion is no longer valid (e.g. an earlier thumbnail showing something that has since been cropped out). The CAI allows for the redaction of these assertions in a verifiable way that is also part of the provenance of the asset. In the process of redacting an assertion, a record that something was removed is added to the claim. Because each assertion’s reference includes the assertion type, it is clear what type of information (eg. thumbnail, location, etc.) was removed. This enables both humans and machines to apply rules to determine if the removal is acceptable. NOTE: Assertion redacted only applies to assertions that are part of the CAI data. It does not have anything to do with removal of other metadata (XMP, EXIF, etc.).

9 Conclusion: The collaborators on this paper have explored the challenges of inauthentic media through problem definition, system design and use case research. The results of the exploration are expressed in the design of the CAI provenance system. To achieve widespread adoption we have based the design on existing standards and established techniques, and acknowledge that the system will need to include simple and intuitive user experiences. However, even an optimally designed system cannot ultimately succeed in a vacuum. We now begin the important work of deeper, more expansive collaboration with leaders in technology, media, academia, advocacy and other disciplines. With this first step towards an industry standard for digital content attribution, we look optimistically to a future with more trust and transparency in media.

The CAI white paper is certainly worth a read.

Microsoft and the BBC explain Project Origin in their own words. It all sounds so harmless, doesn’t it? It’s all about ensuring that people can trust what they observe in the media is accurate and reliable. Who could possibly disagree with that?

This “coalition” claims to be interested in being able to authenticate media images, videos, and bits of data to identify where it came from. If one was to work in a a vacuum, this sounds completely reasonable and well intentioned.

However, what all too often gets left out of the equation is the rampant corruption, collusion, and financial interests pushing certain narratives. Authenticating photos, while ignoring the bias and fake narratives leaves out the bigger picture. No way is this done by accident.

Have a look through some of the articles at the bottom. These are the bigger issues that so often get (unsurprisingly) ignored. Hard to have an independent media when they are all on the public dole. Even harder when political operatives work within many of them.

But hey, things like a global vaccine passport, are just crazy conspiracy theories, right? Just like the Vaccine Credential Initiative, or the ID2020 Project.

IMPORTANT LINKS:
(1) https://c2pa.org/
(2) https://c2pa.org/about/charter/
(3) https://contentauthenticity.org/
(4) https://www.originproject.info/
(5) https://c2pa.org/about/resources/
(6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W3Om9Xbj2k
(7) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdTTl-C4PTM
(8) Content Authenticity Initiative WhitePaper

August 30, 2021October 2, 2021

Poynter: Self Claimed “Factchecking Group” Funded By Media Giants

Ever get the impression that all major media is controlled by a few people? Well, meet Poynter, the factchecking group that is financed by media conglomerates. There’s no conflict of interest here.

In short, these groups act as a form of counterintelligence groups. Their mission being to discredit and deflect from real truth, in order to promote what Governments and corporations are saying. This is little more than propaganda in today’s society.

By supporting the Poynter Institute, you fortify journalism’s role in a free society. Poynter champions freedom of expression, civil dialogue and compelling journalism that helps citizens participate in healthy democracies. We prepare journalists worldwide to hold powerful people accountable and promote honest information in the marketplace of ideas.

Founded in 1975, Poynter is an inspirational place but also a practical one, connecting the varied crafts of journalism to its higher mission and purpose. From person-to-person coaching and intensive hands-on seminars to interactive online courses and media reporting, Poynter helps journalists sharpen skills and elevate storytelling throughout their careers.

We bring together Poynter faculty and industry experts to explore the intersection of journalism, technology and the public interest. Poynter specializes in:
-Ethics and fact-checking
-Reporting and storytelling
-Developing journalism’s leaders
-Advancing newsroom diversity
-Strengthening local news companies

Poynter claims it prepares journalists to hold powerful people accountable. That’s interesting, considering who their donors are. Also, if truth is important, why the focus on storytelling? This group is noticeably silent on the topic of media and social media censorship. As an example, Kevin Chan of Facebook Canada bragged about removing 16 million pieces of information in 2020.

This group is part of the Coronavirus Facts Alliance, whose mission it is to route out “misinformation”, which is pretty much anything that contradicts the official narrative.

As for their major donors, at least they are open about it:

BIGGEST FUNDERS

Charles Koch Foundation
Democracy Fund
Environmental Defense Fund
Facebook
Foundation to Promote Open Society
Gill Foundation
Google News Initiative
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Lumina Foundation
MacArthur Foundation
Miami Foundation
National Endowment for Democracy
Newmark Philanthropies
Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust
Omidyar Network | Luminate
Rita Allen Foundation
Robert R. McCormick Foundation

LARGEST CUSTOM TRAINING PARTNERS IN 2019-2021

American Society of Business Publication Editors
Charles Koch Institute
ESPN
Facebook
Huffington Post
Marketplace
MRC Media
Middle East Broadcasting Networks
National Public Radio
Newsweek
New York Times
Pinellas County School District
Southern Newspapers Publishers Association
The Washington Post
TikTok
USA Today Network
Vice
Voice of America – Broadcasting Board of Governors

Do you get it now? This is just another group of fact checkers doing what they can to ensure that the “correct” opinions and points of view are promoted. These aren’t independents, or even quasi independents.

(1) ttps://www.poynter.org/
(2) https://www.poynter.org/major-funders/
(3) https://www.poynter.org/about/

August 28, 2021

Getting Started With Searching Government Lobbying Registries

If you want to know what’s really going on in your Government, talking to you M.P. or M.P.P. or M.L.A. might be a waste of time. Instead, you should be looking at who that person actually answers to. In most cases, it is corporate lobbyists, or lobbyists pretending to be involved in politics.

We come to the 4th part in the series: how to search lobbying registries. Contrary to what one might think, these can be a gold mine of information. These include names, dates, clients, subject matter, and whether the lobbyist(s) have ever held public office.

Also in this series, we covered: (a) research, investigative journalism for beginners; (b) FOI/ATIP filings; and (c) court record searches. This is meant as introductory lessons, and not to include everything.

Broadly speaking, these registries work in much the same way. You can search for a number of different things, and see what results come up. You can limit the search to more recent entries (which is usually 1 year), or do an advanced search, which flags everything irrespective of time.

These Registries can be used to run a “background check” of sort on politicians, and prospective politicians. If they have been lobbied, or used to be lobbyists, that is important information to know. The cronyism never really goes away. A huge warning sign, as shown above, is Erin O’Toole. He used to be a lobbyist for Facebook, working for Heenan Blaikie (same law firm as Jean Chretien and Pierre Trudeau).

Why do you want to do this? Well, are you at all curious about who runs your Government, and who is engaged in influence peddling? Do you wish to know why your elected “leaders” act in ways that are often detrimental to your well being? This is a good place to start.

Key Words
Lobbyist
Lobbying Firm
Client
Subject (Health, Finance, Education, etc….)

Also, these Registries work very well in conjunction with placed like LinkedIn, and other personal websites. After all, once lobbyists have been identified, it’s time to learn about their many connections.

Of course, make sure to save your findings, just in case. Take screenshots, archive links, and download any pdfs that are available. Don’t want the evidence disappearing, or even getting moved innocuously.

If you have any doubts about the wealth of information that can be uncovered, just search any article on this site where such registries were checked. A few are here, here, here, and here.

Above is a recent example that shows when political handlers have interest on the side. Of course, this is not limited to just Doug Ford.

Pfizer was covered in a May 2021 article. It was shown that Loyalist Public Affairs had lobbied the Ontario Government 4 times in April of that year. 2 of the lobbyists, Dan Mader, and Chris Froggatt, claimed responsibility for installing Ford in June 2018. Both are longtime “Conservative” operatives. Mader also alleged to have helped put in Erin O’Toole as head of the CPC. This simple example shows how intertwined lobbying and politics really is.

By connecting the lobbyist to their political cronies and allies, you are able to show a clear (or at least very plausible) link for certain legislation or spending.

Another use for these Registries is they often list how much Government (or rather, taxpayer) money an organization has received. Chapters-Indigo is notorious for not honouring mask exemptions, however, they took the public for over $20 million in the last year.

In fairness, these databases don’t help if there is no formal record. Conversations and meetings that are “off the books” will not show up here. Still, this is a pretty valuable tool in seeing who is really pulling the strings.

A criticism that frequently comes up is the frustration with “who can we trust?” when it comes to reporting Government affairs. The answer is no one. Rather than relying on someone else, a more effective tool is to take the initiative, and factcheck things for yourself. If an article or posting comes with links or documents attached, then go through them, and come to your own conclusions.

There is a Federal database, Provincial/Territorial ones (except NWT and Nunavit), and a few Municipalities have them as well. Since your taxes already go towards funding these, why not take full advantage of these resources?

Federal Lobbying Registry
https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/advSrch

Alberta Lobbyist Registry
https://www.albertalobbyistregistry.ca/

British Columbia Office Of The Registrar of Lobbyists
https://www.lobbyistsregistrar.bc.ca/

Manitoba Lobbyist Registrar
http://www.lobbyistregistrar.mb.ca/index.php?lang=en

New Brunswick Office Of The Integrity Commissioner
https://oic-bci.ca/

Newfoundland & Labrador Registry Of Lobbyists
https://www.gov.nl.ca/dgsnl/registries/lobbyists/

Nova Scotia Registrar Of Lobbyists
https://novascotia.ca/sns/lobbyist/Default.asp

Ontario Lobbying Registry
http://lobbyist.oico.on.ca/Pages/Public/PublicSearch/Default.aspx

Prince Edward Island Lobbyist Registry
https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/feature/lobbyist-registry

Quebec Lobbyists Registry
https://www.commissairelobby.qc.ca/en/lobbyists-registry/

Saskatchewan Registrar Of Lobbyists
https://www.sasklobbyistregistry.ca/

Yukon Lobbyist Registry
https://yukonlobbyistregistry.ca/en

Toronto Lobbyist Registrar
https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/accountability-operations-customer-service/accountability-officers/lobbyist-registrar/

August 25, 2021November 5, 2022

Groups Calling For Vaccine Passports Heavily Subsidized By Government

Jeff Guignard of the Alliance of Beverage Licensees B.C. claims that vaccine passports are widely supported, and that these companies “will have her [Bonnie Henry’s] back the way we have throughout the entire pandemic”. This was a July 27, 2021 showing on CTV News, and the video is posted above for full context.

This sounds lovely (or revolting) depending on your view. However, why does the Alliance of Beverage Licensees have Bonnie’s back? Why are they so supportive? Is this solidarity ideological, or financial in nature? We will get into that, and more.

At 1:07, Bonnie talks about people being more comfortable. That was basically the rationale behind masks on public transit last August. Talk about passive aggressive.

Bit of a side note: it would have been nice if in the video (see above), Guignard had disclosed the fact that he spent years as a staffer for the Liberal Party of Canada. He worked in the small business critic’s office. Of course, that same Party is now ruling Canada, and likewise supports vaccine passports. Of course, CTV didn’t take it upon themselves to mention it either, assuming they even knew about it.

Keep in mind, the British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association and B.C. Hotel Association are also getting the CEWS. So are many, many organizations. Perhaps they think it unwise to bite the hand that feeds them.

As the topic of vaccine passports becomes a reality, a surprising number of retailers — across different sectors — appear to be clamouring for them. Why is that? What do they stand to gain from forcing vaccination by employees and/or customers? Won’t customers stay away, and won’t people quit? See this prior article for these passports coming to B.C.

Yes, they will quit or avoid the premises. However, given the myriad of Government programs available, it seems this is a financial decision for many. Sure, some will be driven by other things, but others see getting handouts as a worthwhile way of doing business. Free money, isn’t it?

Now, being “funded by the Government” really means being funded by the taxpayers. This happens either through direct spending, or deficit spending. Most know this of course, but it’s worth mentioning.

To be clear, this issue of taxpayers propping up businesses unnecessarily is not limited to B.C., or even to Canada. This looks like a coordinated effort to collapse economies everywhere.

A bit of a disclaimer: this is not an exhaustive list of all the grants that businesses are getting. It is, however, intended to be a guide to show just how widespread this is, and where the public’s money is really going. Also, this piece is not an authoritative source, but a good faith research effort.

To check out individual grants at the Federal level, OPEN SEARCH is a pretty good resource. The Provinces have their own listings for how they spend money.

Now, there are several programs to look at, starting with CEWS, the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Program. In fact, typing that into OPEN SEARCH results in thousands of hits. But in fairness, many of those were programs in place years ago, and hence irrelevant.

Alberta Hotel & Lodging Association
Association Des Hoteliers Du Quebec/Hotel Association of Quebec
Association Des Hotels Du Grand Montreal
Association Hotelier De La Region De Quebec
British Columbia Hotel Association
Hotel Association of Canada Inc.
Manitoba Hotel Association Inc.
Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association
Regina Hotel Association Inc.
Saskatchewan Hotel & Hospitality Association
The Fairways At Bear Mountain Resort Owners’ Association
The Toronto Hotel Association
Vancouver Hotel Destination Association

Hotel associations, as the name implies, are set up to advocate — as a bloc — for the interests of hotel owners. They subscribe to the notion of strength in numbers.

Just by typing “hotel association“, there are 13 organizations that are flagged in the CEWS program. It was set up to cover the salaries of workers, up to 75%, if they had seen a drop in income due to lockdowns and business closures.

There is currently a proposal to extend the program to October 2021. Remember, it was originally only supposed to last a few months in the Spring of 2020, to get businesses going again. Strange, that these “temporary” programs never seem to be that.

1. What is the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy? Updated: July 2, 2021
The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (wage subsidy) is a subsidy that was initially available for a period of 12 weeks (made up of three four-week periods), from March 15, 2020 to June 6, 2020, that provides a subsidy of up to 75% of eligible remuneration, paid by an eligible entity (eligible employer) that qualifies, to each eligible employee – up to a maximum of $847 per week.
.
The government subsequently extended the wage subsidy until June 5, 2021, for a total of 64 weeks consisting of 16 four-week periods.
.
In the April 19, 2021 budget announcement, the government has further extended the wage subsidy for an additional 16 weeks (i.e., four more four-week periods) from June 6, 2021 to September 25, 2021, with the ability to extend the wage subsidy further to November 30, 2021

The above quote comes from the FAQ (frequently asked questions) section of the CEWS program. Talk about shifting the goalposts. Of course, this means that many businesses will be able to have wages (mostly) covered, even if they aren’t selling anything.

In fairness, the CEWS Registry doesn’t disclose how much has been paid. However, salaries are typically the single biggest expense of any company, so getting funding for that can go a long way.

By typing in “hotel” into the CEWS search, we will see that 1030 businesses were flagged as receiving grant money. “Motel” results in another 576 hits. This does include multiples in a chain. For example, Best Western has 83 of its buildings funded with this program. Typing in “restaurant” leads to another 6065 results.

Granted, there will be a bit of overlap, but this is a good reference point.

As for all those banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions who want to vaxx their employees, start searching their names in the Registry. One can play with the CEWS search indefinitely, but we do need to move on.

This will stand out a bit. Currently, there is the CRHP, the Canada Recovery Hiring Program. This is in some ways a substitute to the CEWS, and will subsidize the expenses of new hires. There is also the Work Sharing Program, where employees agree to work less, in order for everyone to stay employed. Think about this. Ottawa will subsidize new hires, and also pay people to work less. Or rather, the public will subsidize it.

Also, various loan and financing programs are set up to cover the gap that others will not. Guess the issue with this (one of many), is that is the loans are defaulted on, the Government could theoretically take the business. This being the same Government who caused the crash in the first place.

There are also programs to subsidize the costs of having TFW (Temporary Foreign Workers) isolated for their quarantine period. Even as we pay people to reduce their hours, or not work at all, we pay more to bring people into the country to work. Can’t make this stuff up.

CERS, the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy, is another major program that has become a money pit for taxpayers. Keep in mind, without the shutdowns from this fake pandemic, none of this would be needed.

The statistics page is updated regularly. As of August 8, 2021, these were 1,404,830 subsidies approved overall. Breaking it down by amounts, we get the following numbers:

AMOUNT PAID	NUMBER OF CLAIMS
Under $500	176,940
$500 to $1K	223,030
$1K to $1.5K	186,140
$1.5K to $2K	146,300
$2K to $4K	333,070
$4K to $10K	230,540
Over $10K	108,800

That’s interesting that the numbers all seem to end in zero, but apparently that is due to rounding. There have been 1,447,690 applications received, with 203,120 unique applicants approved. This suggests that the bulk of companies are getting multiple subsidies.

As of the time of writing this, there has been $5.69 billion spent on the program, with Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy making up $4.83 billion, or the bulk, and Lockdown Support being another $859.3 million.

According to the details of the program, or each claim period, businesses can claim eligible expenses up to a maximum of:

$75,000 per business location (base and top-up)
$300,000 in total for all locations (including any amounts claimed by affiliated entities)

Keep in mind, that’s money that public is debt financing. Also, remember that many of these are in the hospitality and “non essential” sectors. This means that they have been getting paid to close, or operate on a partial capacity. These places will also be the first to implement vaccine passports.

The site also gives details on how to calculate the rent subsidy. Interestingly, the rental subsidies seem to be shrinking, while “lockdown supports” are growing.

Most people know about CERB/CRB/EI and other programs of “emergency funding”. However, it’s rather disingenuous, considering Governments are causing the crises they now claim to be preventing. The hegelian dialectic is clear for all to see.

In reality, the Governments are subsidizing companies to downsize, and people to not work. Does anyone seriously think this is about a virus?

Anyone catching on here?

The CFIB, Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, contains a pretty thorough list of what benefits are available, both Federally and Provincially. To their credit, the coverage is quite detailed and helpful.

That said, their President, Dan Kelly, seems a bit too enthusiastic about all of this. See here and here. Some might think this whole thing is just for show. One would hope that there would be a greater emphasis on getting people back to work. There doesn’t appear to be any urgency on his part to get his members fully operational again, which is very strange.

While the CFIB may not directly be receiving money, their members pay them dues. Since this group pushes for more grants, this effectively makes the other companies middlemen.

One of the things the CFIB has been pushing for is a moratorium on evictions from commercial properties. Now, they don’t seem all that concerned with fully opening businesses up, but want them to be able to remain where they are. In essence, property rights for landlords disappears. They fight for loans, grants, and tax deferrals, but not for economic freedom.

The Toronto Region Board of Trade has also loudly called for restrictions and vaccine passports. Of course, they are heavily funded by Government, and are too close with China. One would think that a group advancing “trade” would support as much freedom as possible, but it seems not. Pretty screwy when these organizations come across as more authoritarian and Communist than actual Communists.

More and more colleges and universities are demanding vaccinations. Some apply this to everyone entering the campus, while others limit it to those living in dormitories. Oddly, they never mention that these injections are still only authorized on an interim basis, and not formally approved. Most are actually registered charities, whose finances are propped up under this classification.

Chapters-Indigo became notorious for not allowing people in without masks, even those with legitimate medical exemptions. Of course, Canadians propped this company up with over $20 million in handouts in the year 2020. Sure, we can boycott them, but it’s pretty meaningless when they just get bailed out. While they haven’t announced a vaccine passport requirement (yet), this company seems pretty likely to.

Of course, the media in Canada cheers loudly for more restrictions, more lockdowns, and more erosion of basic rights. Even “alternative” media and journalists offer only the most tepid opposition. Of course, looking at some of the grants they get (see bottom of article), things start to make sense. Additionally, this doesn’t include all of the ad space that gets bought up by Federal and Provincial Governments. Heck, the whole series is worth checking out.

GROUP	YEAR	AMOUNT
Agence Science-Presse	2019-2020	$129,345
Apathy is Boring	2018-2019	$100,000
Apathy is Boring	2019-2020	$340,000
Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada	2019-2020	$460,000
Canadian News Media Association	2019-2020	$484,300
CIVIX	2018-2019	$275,000
CIVIX	2019-2020	$400,000
Encounters with Canada	2018-2019	$100,000
Quebec Professional Journalists	2019-2020	$202,570
Global Vision	2019-2020	$260,000
Historica Canada	2019-2020	$250,000
Institute for Canadian Citizenship	2019-2020	$250,000
Journalists for Human Rights	2019-2020	$250,691
Magazines Canada	2019-2020	$63,000
McGill University	2019-2020	$1,196,205
MediaSmarts	2019-2020	$650,000
New Canadian Media	2019-2020	$66,517
Ryerson University	2019-2020	$290,250
Samara Centre for Democracy	2019-2020	$59,200
Sask Weekly Newspapers Ass’n	2019-2020	$70,055
Simon Fraser University	2019-2020	$175,000
Vubble Inc. Unboxed project	2019-2020	$299,000

As just a very small sample, these are some of the “anti-misinformation” grants that had been handed out. Note: this is prior to the so-called pandemic, and mostly center around elections and democracy. It speaks volumes when not only is the media Government funded, but the fact checkers are as well.

And this doesn’t even cover the social media collusions, and censorship. They don’t even bother to hide that anymore.

Have you also noticed how more and more sports teams are demanding vaccinations from both players and fans? Take a look through the CEWS index. A surprising number of them are getting the wage subsidy. Imagine this: your taxes pay for this (now even more so), and in order to attend a game, you need to have a vaccine and a mask, and shell out outrageous amounts to millionaire athletes.

One such example is the Toronto Blue Jays, which is owned by Rogers Communications. They just made the announcement that everyone — including fans — would either need a vaccine passport, or a negative test. This is, of course, just one of many who are being funded by the public, to exclude the public.

Do you get it now, Canadians? Can you see why there are so many people that would be happy to keep the scam-demic going? There’s a lot of money to be made in all of this, including by crashing the economy. Experts like Abdu Sharkawy do quite well on the speaking circuit, spreading doomsday warnings.

This only ends in one of two ways: either society collapses, or there is sufficient pushback to stop it. At this point, option #1 seems more likely.

IMPORTANT LINKS
(1) https://bc.ctvnews.ca/not-vaccinated-against-covid-19-b-c-s-health-officials-say-there-will-be-consequences-1.5525139
(2) https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-guignard-62020a32/
(3) https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/cmmLgPblcVw?comlogId=245488
(4) https://search.open.canada.ca/en/gc/
(5) https://canucklaw.ca/b-c-mandates-vaccine-passports-no-emergency-order-no-approval-no-exemptions-audio/
(6) https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/cews/srch/pub/bscSrch
(7) https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/subsidy/emergency-wage-subsidy.html
(8) https://archive.is/7imOj
(9) https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/subsidy/emergency-wage-subsidy/cews-frequently-asked-questions.html
(10) https://archive.is/51VAH
(11) https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html
(12) https://archive.is/osD91
(13) https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/subsidy/emergency-rent-subsidy.html
(14) https://archive.is/Lz8LI
(15) https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/subsidy/emergency-rent-subsidy/cers-statistics.html
(16) https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/subsidy/emergency-rent-subsidy/cers-calculate-subsidy-amount.html
(17) https://twitter.com/CFIB/status/1402405151483248645
(18) https://twitter.com/CFIB/status/1395133016423505923
(19) https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/vwRg?cno=15291&regId=911677
(20) https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/vwRg?cno=369554&regId=913010
(21) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/her-daughter-has-a-mask-exemption-but-chapters-indigo-wouldn-t-let-her-in-1.5942044
(22) https://www.cp24.com/news/toronto-blue-jays-to-mandate-covid-19-vaccines-or-negative-tests-for-everyone-12-and-up-starting-sept-13-1.5557603
(23) https://www.nsb.com/speakers/abdu-sharkawy/

Category: Media

Kory Teneycke, Rubicon Strategy, And The Puppets That Are Ford, Kenney & Harper

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Groups Calling For Vaccine Passports Heavily Subsidized By Government

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