Ottawa, ON – Melissa Lantsman, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and Rachael Thomas, Conservative Shadow Minister for Canadian Heritage, released the following statement on the Liberal-NDP coalition shutting down testimony from CBC executives on their soft coverage of Hamas:
“Last weekend, Hamas carried out one of the most horrific terror attacks in history on innocent Israelis, killing and injuring thousands of people. Six Canadians have now died in this horrific attack and many Canadians remain unaccounted for.
“Despite the brutality of Hamas’ crimes, Canadians were shocked to discover that the CBC has been advising its journalists not to use the word “terrorist” when referring to Hamas. The CBC refuses to do this in spite of Hamas being recognized as a terrorist organization for over 20 years by the Government of Canada.
“In a memo to their staff, CBC’s Director of Journalistic Standards, George Achi, wrote that ‘the notion of terrorism remains heavily politized and is part of the story.’ They also demanded that their journalists provide context when anyone else, including senior government officials, calls Hamas a terrorist organization.
“It has never been more clear that Hamas is a genocidal terrorist organization and it’s appalling that the taxpayer-funded CBC won’t recognize this. For this reason, common sense Conservatives wanted to summon the President of the CBC, Catherine Tait and the Director of Journalistic Standards, George Achi, to testify before committee and answer why the CBC doesn’t consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization. We also wanted to initiate a House-wide vote denouncing the comments by Achi, but the Liberal-NDP coalition, along with the Bloc Quebecois, voted to protect the CBC by shutting this down.
“The Liberal-NDP government must stop protecting the CBC’s gross journalistic incompetence and allow Conservatives to demand answers from the CBC’s senior leadership. The CBC continues to fail Canadians by protecting Hamas in the court of public opinion. Conservatives will not stop until the CBC provides answers for this disgraceful editorial stance.”