Trudeau government allowed liberal journalists to award government cash to themselves

In 2019, the Department of Canadian Heritage created the Local Journalism Initiative, a 50 million dollar, five-year subsidy given to publishers for the hiring of new staff. Canadian Heritage let media lobbying groups like "News Media Canada" grant decisions about where money goes in a bid to "protect the independence of the press."

News Media Canada's website says that "The judging panel consists of independent experts from the news media industry. The judging panel reviews applications, selects recipients and decides funding allocations."

Start up newsrooms are barred from entering the program. The taxpayer funded grants provide media groups up to $60k a year to cover reporter salaries.

It turns out that members on the panel included executives that were also available to earn funding from the very program they ran.

Linda Solomon Wood, CEO of the Observer Media Group Inc. which owns the National Observer. The National Observer received funding from the panel to hire two new reporters.

Bob Cox, publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press of FP Canada Newspapers Ltd. The newspaper company qualified for funding to hire two new reporters.

When speaking on the matter at a 2019 finance committee hearing, Bob Cox said "There has also been the suggestion newspapers will be beholden to the federal government, not independent, and more likely to give favourable coverage," said Cox. "Well, I have not noticed this happening."

Cox chaired the newspapers’ lobby when they requested a $595 million bailout from Parliament last year. One of the government appointees to vet the subsidies was former Winnipeg Free Press Editor, Margot Goodhand.

According to the FP Canadian Newspapers Ltd.'s financial statements, the Winnipeg Free Press estimated its share of federal aid at one million dollars a year. On top of this figure the company receives grants for two "Local Journalism Initiative reporters" at up to $60k a person, and three million in wage subsidies during the coronavirus pandemic. The total could be as high as $4,120,000.

Goodhand had written favourably about Justin Trudeau since 2013. In a column from that year, Goodhand wrote "We Need Justin To Silence Bullies", a piece that supported Trudeau. She detailed how "Trudeau has the power and the momentum right now to show us the way" and mentioned how the Liberal Party leader was an open book compared to Harper .