Trudeau government wanted to POLICE online content

Department of Industry staff said in a report that internet-based media, like The Post Millennial, “led to the increasing fragility" of TV networks and raised "concerns about an increase in harmful content at Canadians’ doorstep."

The Department of Industry is led by Liberal Minister Navdeep Bains, whose staffers believed that online media amplifies "harmful content and activities such as hate speech and disinformation ... these new risks have the potential to impact democratic processes in Canada and weaken the cohesion of Canadian society.”

This memo precedes a proposal created earlier this year by the Liberal government that suggested the Liberals govern the internet, placing all online news media on a national registry.

Trudeau's Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault later announced this media regulation in a disastrous CTV News interview. The controversy caused by this interview later forced Guilbeault to backtrack, saying, despite the initial interview, that he was never considering a media registry in the first place.

“Voluntary measures and industry self-regulation have increasingly been shown to be inadequate to address these challenges," the report added.

This was not the first time the Trudeau government have been accused of undermining independent media. In 2018, Trudeau's Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced a $600 million "media bailout" package before an election.