An ongoing spat between Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer and Unifor has brought into question the “independent” nature of the committee assigned with determining what constitutes a “Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization”.
The latest development of that conflict which spilled over to Twitter earlier today had Unifor claiming that Andrew Scheer is “unfit to lead”.
Beneficiary media organizations, who are selected by the panel are eligible for tax breaks and will be listed on a government website. The federal government has allocated a total of $600 million will be used to boost struggling media companies nationwide.
Late last year, on November 18, 2018 the union announced its opposition to Andrew Scheer with a tweet mocking Scheer’s appearance on an earlier Maclean’s cover.
When it was announced that Unifor would be one of the several members overseeing the selection of potential candidates for the government media list, several critics expressed alarm, including the leader of the opposition himself.
Unifor has since doubled down on its anti-Scheer position accusing the opposition leader of incompetence and not being a supporter of a strong media.
Members of the media, including the Canadian Association of Journalists has expressed concern about the nature of the panel and has threatened to back out.
