Journalist Questions Why Trudeau Government Is Ratting Out Reporters To Irving

NewsSpencerFernando

“If you are a reporter in Ottawa and ask questions about Irving shipbuilding, the government will turn your name and question over to Irving who have then threatened reporters with lawsuits,” says Mercedes Stephenson.

On Twitter, journalist Mercedes Stephenson shared a series of Tweets in which she questions why the Trudeau government is ratting out reporters to Irving Shipbuilding.

Stephenson’s comments follow in the footsteps of a Globe & Mail report that revealed the Trudeau government was telling Irving Shipbuilders when reporters asked the government questions about contracts.

It’s a disturbing example of how – as we’ve seen over and over again – the Trudeau Liberals serve the elites at the expense of everyone else.

Below, you can read Stephenson’s remarks as she asks some very serious questions about this disturbing situation:

“If you are a reporter in Ottawa and ask questions about Irving shipbuilding, the government will turn your name and question over to Irving who have then threatened reporters with lawsuits”

“I wonder if Canadians feel that handing over journalists names and questions to a private company are a great use of taxpayer’s money. Or why the federal government would ever have signed a contract with this kind of stipulation”

“Why is the federal govt answering to a private company on questions asked by an independent media? This government has publicly stated they support journalists doing their jobs, yet they are reporting them to a company that then uses that information to try to influence the story”

“Or in other cases to kill it all together. I’m all for making sure information is accurate, but it is not the government’s job to alert or warn private companies when journalists ask hard questions.”

“I haven’t had an issue with dealing with Irving for a long time, but I remember their response to me very well when I broke the story the Conservative cabinet was going to award the resupply ship rebuild to Davie.”

“Here is the public part of that response where they basically said my story was wrong. It wasn’t. (link: https://jdirving.com/BlogPage.aspx?id=2053&blogid=74)”

“Irving has just released a statement, thanks to the tweep who DMed it to me.”

Here’s what Irving said in their statement:

“We fully respect all journalists’ responsibility to ask questions. Irving Shipbuilding has given dozens of interviews and has invited media to the shipyard on several occasions.

We also believe that all responsible reporters have an obligation to provide us with a fair opportunity to respond to stories involving our company before they are published.

Facts are important.

When reporters appear to be relying on information that we know is not accurate, and may be part of a proposed story, we will issue the communication that is necessary in the circumstances to ensure accuracy.

In two recent cases we did advise reporters that we would pursue legal action because we knew the reporters had highly inaccurate information that would cause our company, and the reputation of our hardworking employees, considerable reputational damage. We advised the reporters that we would pursue legal action only as a last resort. This is the exception, not the norm.

We value our reputation and the truth.”

Stephenson responded:

“There is nothing in the statement about whether they plan to no longer ask for those questions from the government btw”

“Irving statement: “We fully respect all journalists’ responsibility to ask questions… We also believe that all responsible reporters have an obligation to provide us with a fair opportunity to respond to stories involving our company before they are published.”

“I don’t think any journo, for the record, has questioned whether journalists need to get the company’s response. There is no obligation for the government to help a company in having an opportunity to respond at all, much less pre-publication”

“We advised the reporters that we would pursue legal action only as a last resort. This is the exception, not the norm.”

Stephenson is asking some important questions, which of course are unlikely to be satisfactorily answered by the Trudeau government.

We have seen time and time again that the Trudeau government always sides with the powerful and well-connected elites, and there’s no indication that is going to change.

Spencer Fernando

Photo – Twitter