And we’re seeing it in real time in Canada.
August 2021, EconLog Posts about CanadaI wrote:
The government cannot subsidize newspapers without using its own powers.
The post title is “The decline of press freedom in CanadaThe post discussed the Canadian government’s newspaper subsidy program. post In December 2021, I quoted subsidy critic Peter Menzies, who quoted a commentator called Tom Kolski, who put the problem succinctly: “There is only one customer you need, and that is the (federal) Minister for Culture and Heritage.”
Menzies has been following the issue. In a post on The Line, a Canadian Substack that closely follows Canadian politics, Menzies quoted a member of parliament who is part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. Written:
“Your newspaper would not be able to operate without the subsidies put in place by the government you hate — the same subsidies that foreign hedge fund owners close to Trump happily accept to pay your salaries,” he wrote.
The “he” who tweeted this is Tlaib Noormohamed, the Liberal MP for Granville, Vancouver. He was replying to a post by Terry Newman about X. National Post The paper’s new editor of the comments section promoted a column she wrote titled “The Incredible Damage a Party and a Minister Can Do to a Country in Nine Years”.
Menzies writes:
None of Noormohamed’s statements are true. He and I have no ties to Justin Trudeau’s government, Postmedia (and perhaps Toronto Star) would have ceased to exist by now. Some of its titles might have been sold off for parts, but most of its zombie products would have been disposed of long ago with a bankruptcy bullet shot to the brain, allowing new media to emerge from the collapse.
In that respect, he was not wrong, even though his actions were highly inappropriate, especially since Noor Mohammed is not some stupid MP who is just padding the numbers in a minority parliament. Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Cultural HeritagePascal Saint-Onge’s office makes most of the decisions regarding the many funding arrangements for Canadian news organizations. (Bold added by author)
The title of Menzies’ Substack post was spot on:Liberals speak loudly about the quiet parts.”
Press freedom is on the decline in Canada, and as Noormohamed’s threatening tweet points out, silencing critics is one of the main purposes of government subsidies.