Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Invokes The Emergencies Act

[Rick Plant]

Freeland says Canada’s economic reputation was at risk, prompting Emergencies Act



The risk to Canada’s economic reputation was behind the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act to deter the “Freedom Convoy” blockades across the country, the deputy prime minister and finance minister repeatedly told MPs Tuesday.

But Chrystia Freeland — the highest-ranking minister yet to appear before the special committee investigating the government’s unprecedented use of emergency powers — would not share specific data that would have been available at the time the Act was invoked, which would have shown the protests were damaging the national economy.

“It was clear to me that with each passing hour, our economic reputation with the United States as a reliable trading partner and as a reliable investment destination was being damaged,” she said.

She pointed to comments made by Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin in early February, when protesters blocked the key Ambassador Bridge border crossing between her state and Ontario, who said the blockades made the case for more Buy American policies to end the reliance on foreign trade — including with Canada.

“This is so dangerous to Canada, colleagues,” Freeland said.

“I was deeply, deeply concerned that these illegal blockades and this illegal occupation would provoke a whole new wave of protectionism and deeply erode our trading relationship with the United States. That was a real economic threat.”

Such a threat could not be specifically felt in the moment, the minister said, but rather “in the years ahead.”

That didn’t sit well with some members of the committee, including NDP MP Matthew Green, who pressed Freeland for relevant economic data that would have influenced the decision to invoke the Emergencies Act.

Their exchange grew testy as Freeland disputed Green’s assertion that reputation and “feelings” don’t matter when it comes to the economy, and specifically its impact on the government’s decision-making.

“I’m not talking about pontification, I’m talking about facts here,” Green said at one point.

“I don’t believe I’m pontificating,” Freeland replied. “The economic impact was absolutely, clearly there.”

“That’s not good enough,” Green shot back.

Some of the economic data figures Freeland pointed to were released after the last trucks were removed from outside Parliament, including Ottawa city council’s estimation that the blockade there cost the city at least $30 million.

Experts predicted at the time of the blockades that the economic impacts could be felt for months afterwards, without giving specific figures.

Yet data showed the blockades at the Ambassador Bridge and Coutts, Alta., border crossings had little impact on cross-border trade, with truckers simply being rerouted to other nearby ports of entry.

While she could not speak to police actions and their needs at the time, Freeland said she was speaking daily with Canadian business leaders and owners who were raising concerns about the economic impact of the blockades.

“These were not people who hyperventilate,” she said. “These were people who could really see every day their businesses being eroded, and therefore the national economy.”

Throughout her appearance, a few MPs from the opposition parties accused Freeland of not providing clear answers to questions, with Green at one point accusing the minister of being “almost contemptible.”

Freeland did speak to the controversial financial measures carried out under the Act, which included directing banks to freeze some protesters’ accounts, as well as those of any donors to the “Freedom Convoy” movement.

She said any decisions to freeze accounts were made independently by financial institutions independent without “political direction,” based on information received from law enforcement and internal data.

The government has said more than 200 bank accounts worth $7.8 million were frozen while the Act was in place. Any affected accounts were unfrozen once the Act was lifted on Feb. 23.

Freeland told the committee that RCMP never provided a list of donors to financial institutions to be targeted under the emergency measures. She later added that court orders would have taken too long to have the desired effect, which was to cut off the “Freedom Convoy” movement and deter future blockades.

Freeland repeatedly said invoking the Emergencies Act was a “last resort” for the government to crack down on the blockades and give police the necessary powers to remove protesters and their vehicles after weeks of inaction.

“It was an agonizing time, I think, for many Canadians, and it was an agonizing time for everyone in government, because we had to balance some serious things against each other,” she said.

“We did not invoke the Emergencies Act lightly. That’s why it took some time.”

Following Freeland’s appearance, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair told the committee it took several days for the “Freedom Convoy” movement to rise to the level of a national emergency, prompting his ministry and others to step in.

He also tried to clarify that the government never received a recommendation from police to invoke the Emergencies Act.

Marco Mendicino, Blair’s successor as public safety minister, has come under fire for telling the committee that police asked for the government to invoke the Act, despite the heads of the RCMP and Ottawa police saying otherwise.

"(Police) were clearly having difficulties in affecting the lawful purpose of restoring public order in the city of Ottawa, protecting the people of Ottawa, to opening up those vital trade corridors (under existing laws),” he said. “I needed to understand why.

“One of the considerations the government has to consider before invoking the Act is to ensure that no other law of Canada can be applied to these circumstances. So I think it was absolutely essential and appropriate to consult with law enforcement.”

Mendicino has used similar language to try and clarify his earlier comments, but that has not stopped Conservatives from calling for his resignation. The minister has defended his actions.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8920882/emergencies-act-freeland-freedom-convoy-blockades-ottawa/

[Rick Plant]

Prime Minister signs historic land claim settlement with Siksika First Nation


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, and Siksika Nation Chief Ouray Crowfoot participate in a signing ceremony on the Siksika Nation in Siksika Nation, Alta

SIKSIKA, ALTA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the chief of the Siksika First Nation have signed a historic land claim settlement, which the federal government says is one of the largest agreements of its kind in Canada.
Trudeau and Marc Miller, minister of Crown-Indigenous relations, participated in a signing ceremony Thursday with Chief Ouray Crowfoot, council and community members.

"We're gathered today to right a wrong from the past," Trudeau said during the ceremony.

"We're gathered to give ourselves a chance to start rebuilding trust between us, nation to nation."

The federal government said the settlement dates back more than a century when Canada broke its Blackfoot Treaty promise and took almost half of Siksika Nation's reserve land, including some of its agricultural lands, to sell to people who settled in the area.

The agreement provides $1.3 billion in compensation to Siksika Nation to resolve outstanding land claims, which include about 46,500 hectares of Siksika's Reserve and certain mineral rights taken by Canada.

Trudeau said it's important to move forward as partners with Indigenous people.

"This settlement will enable you to invest in your priorities like infrastructure, education and supports for Elders and youth," he told those gathered. "It will create new economic, social and cultural opportunities."

Crowfoot said the settlement doesn't make up for past wrongs, but it will make a difference in people's lives.

"Canada needs to stop using the word reconciliation. You will never reconcile, you will never make it whole," he said.

"This land claim -- $1.3 billion, that's a lot of money -- it will never make it whole of what it was before. But we've got to move forward. What the $1.3 (billion) can do is provide opportunities, opportunities we didn't have before.

"I do see the tide turning for Siksika. I see us becoming a thriving nation."

Siksika's website says each member of the First Nation is to receive $20,000 in July as part of the settlement.

Siksika Nation includes approximately 8,000 members.

Elder nation members told CTV news they want the true history of their people to be shared.

"These things happened to my people and it's my wish to go out there and tell our story and people listen," said Angeline Ayoungman.

Young nation members say they are optimistic that this progress will benefit future generations.

"It's a big thing for me because I can tell my daughter about this historic moment that happened here," said Tasheena Black Kettle.

"You know it can be very beneficial for a lot of people you know it can mean getting a new vehicle, being able to go to college, getting a better experience, getting a better chance at life," said Desmond Pelly.

He later added, "It's a light at the end of a dark tunnel for a lot of people that are struggling with poverty."

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/prime-minister-signs-historic-land-claim-settlement-with-siksika-first-nation-1.5929590

[Rick Plant]

'We are all with you': Trudeau in London for 'Our London Family' community events


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the stage at Oakridge Secondary School to speak ahead of a march to the London Muslim Mosque on June 5, 2022 in honour of the Afzaal family. (Jim Knight/CTV News London)

Speaking at an emotional march in London, Ont., marking the one-year anniversary of a deadly attack on a Muslim family, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told those gathered that Islamophobia is “an attack on all Canadians.”

The prime minster participated in a number of community on events Sunday, which began with a roundtable discussion with students at Oakridge Secondary School in the early afternoon.

Trudeau was later joined by London Mayor Ed Holder, Afzaal family members and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, and were in attendance for a rally that began later that day.

“Since the evening of June the sixth, I’ve truly struggled to find the right words — how to properly express on behalf of our city the magnitude of what happened to that beautiful family,” said Holder.

Holder then introduced Trudeau, who took the stage outside Oakridge Secondary School to a crowd of approximately 2,000 people to talk about the memories of the Afzaal family and the dangers of Islamophobia.

"We are gathered here to honour the victims of this horrible tragedy," Trudeau said. "Three generations of the family were taken by brutal, cowardly and brazen act of terrorist violence. We remember them. Some of you were her [Yumnah’s] classmates — I know you miss her deeply."

Trudeau said that millions of Canadians face microaggressions and racism daily in Canada, adding that the siutation must change. He said his government has taken action to address racism in Canada, but there is still work that needs to be done.

“We need to be there to clearly say this is unacceptable, this is wrong,” he said. “We also need to act.”

During the speech, Trudeau said it sent a strong message to see so many people in attendance at the rally, and that Canada’s diversity and openness is what makes Canada great.

"We are all with you. We are all Muslims in Canada. We are all Afzaal family members in Canada," Trudeau added.

Trudeau also spoke to the harm and divisiveness of disinformation, and said it’s up to everyone to speak up and call it out. He said that words matter because they lead to action, and action is what lead to thousands of people gathering in London Sunday for the Afzaal family.

“Words matter,” Trudeau said. “Words continue to matter.”

Yumnah Afzaal attended Oakridge Secondary School, and during the rally, her cousin Esa Islam talked about how the attack left him with a sense of responsibility.

“In the awake of the attack that took my cousin Yumnah and her family’s lives last year, I was left with a responsibility — a responsibility to ensure that no one would ever have to wake up in the morning to hear that members of their family were murdered the night before, solely because of their faith or how they looked.”

Yumnah’s friend Maryam Al-Sabawi talked about how she lost her sense of belonging, community and sense of self.

And Al-Sabawi had one final message for the prime minister.

“To our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, I turned 16 this year...you have two years to earn my vote.”

Following the conclusion of the speeches, there was a community-led march through the streets of London, beginning at Oakridge Secondary School and culminating at the London Muslim Mosque.

According to the City of London, there will be traffic impacts on Sunday with Oxford Street between Hyde Park Road and Wonderland Road being closed during the march — the street has since reopened to the public.

Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, died after police say they were deliberately hit by a truck during an evening walk on June 6, 2021, in London.

The family's nine-year-old boy was seriously injured, but survived.

A 21-year-old man faces four counts of first-degree murder in what police say was allegedly an attack motivated by hate. The case has not yet gone to trial.

https://london.ctvnews.ca/we-are-all-with-you-trudeau-in-london-for-our-london-family-community-events-1.5933673

[Rick Plant]

In Canada Day message, Trudeau says Canadian flag represents promise of a better life

The prime minister said the national holiday is an opportunity to commit to the values that the Maple Leaf represents, adding that the flag is more than a symbol.



OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for unity amid a potentially divisive national holiday on Friday, using his official Canada Day address to call for deepened commitment to Canadian values like hope and kindness.

The prime minister said the date marking Canada’s 155th anniversary of confederacy offers an opportunity to embrace the values the Maple Leaf represents, adding the flag is more than a symbol.

“It’s also a promise — a promise of opportunity, a promise of safety for those fleeing violence and war, and a promise of a better life,” he said.

An unprecedented level of security met locals and visitors alike in the national capital Friday for the first in-person Canada Day events in Ottawa since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Police had a highly visible presence throughout the downtown core, with groups of officers walking the streets and cars framing the entrance to the LeBreton Flats Park where the main celebrations are set to take place. Visitors had to walk through airport-style metal detectors and have their bags searched before entering.

Among the earliest arrivals were Donna Marzolf and her 12-year-old daughter Alexis Livingstone, who travelled from Calgary to take part in the celebration and secure front-row seats to the main stage. Alexis, sporting a maple leaf t-shirt and carrying a small Canadian flag, said she was particularly excited to see her twin sister Sophia perform O Canada at the festivities as part of the Calgary Children’s Choir.

The twins’s mother said the day was a celebration of “peace and safety and freedom -- though that kind of has a bad connotation right now.”

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Karen MacDonald flew from Ladner, B.C., for her first visit to Ottawa.

“It’s totally thrilling to me to be here in person,“ she said. ”So many different people in the city are all wearing red and white, with flags. It makes my tummy hurt with pride.”

Along with people celebrating the holiday, a convoy of protesters opposed to COVID-19 restrictions — who often drape themselves in Canadian flags — are planning events in Ottawa on Friday. But the National War Memorial, which was the site of a large gathering Thursday evening, was quiet early on Canada Day as a handful of visitors took photos.

Small lineups of people were screened by metal detectors at the entrances to Parliament Hill as a calm but celebratory crowd wandered through downtown streets that were closed to vehicles.

Trudeau’s official holiday message, released Friday morning, described Canada as strong because of the diversity among its roughly 38 million residents.

“No matter what our faith is, where we were born, what colour our skin is, what language we speak or whom we love, we are all equal members of this great country,” he said. “And today we celebrate the place we all call home.”

In an apparent reference to the treatment of Indigenous people, including at residential schools, the prime minister spoke about Canada’s “historic wrongs,” saying while we can’t change history, we can work to build a better future.

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon released a Canada Day address of her own calling on Canadians to work together to build an inclusive society.

She urged people to be kind to each other, learn from one another and listen to Indigenous Peoples, on whose land we live.

The Governor General is due to give a speech at formal celebrations in Ottawa on Friday, which will also be attended by the prime minister.

https://www.thestar.com/politics/2022/07/01/governor-general-calls-on-canadians-to-work-toward-inclusive-society-on-canada-day.html

[Rick Plant]

Trudeau urges Canada Day celebrants to reclaim Maple Leaf as national symbol
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-day-message-prime-minister-justin-trudeau-2022-1.6508218

[Rick Plant]

Prime Minister Trudeau arrives for first Calgary Stampede since 2019

Trudeau joined his lone Calgary MP, George Chahal, at a pancake breakfast in the morning




Prime Minister Justin Trudeau landed in Calgary on Sunday to attend Stampede for the first time since 2019.

Trudeau joined his lone Calgary MP, George Chahal, at a pancake breakfast at northeast Calgary’s Genesis Centre in the morning, surprising the crowd of about 200 people. Chahal, a former city councillor, greeted Trudeau with a big Stampede-welcoming “Yahoo.”

“This is a moment to gather and to celebrate being able to gather once again. It’s great to see everyone in person. Happy Stampede,” the prime minister said in a brief address to the crowd.

“We’ve had a tough couple of years where people have had to pull together and make it through. And we really saw the strength of community, Canadians leaning on each other, being there for each other — that’s what it’s all about.”

Trudeau flipped pancakes and mingled with the crowd for about 30 minutes before heading to the Stampede around 10:30 a.m. alongside Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault. He was also scheduled to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser later in the day.

“I was not expecting Justin Trudeau at all,” said Melvin Lopes, who attended the breakfast with his family. “Very good surprise; my father-in-law is visiting us from India and he’s a big fan of Justin Trudeau . . . He’s with me here today, and he’s so glad to see him here in person.”

One man was escorted off the premises by police after shouting “Trudeau’s a traitor” as the prime minister took the microphone to speak to the crowd.

At the Stampede, Trudeau met with the Stampede’s veterinarian and some students who are researching animal safety. They walked along the horses in the pens behind the grandstand infield as they talked. He then met with Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who welcomed him to Calgary.

Gondek told The Canadian Press it was great to talk to Trudeau about the Stampede and their shared responsibility.

“We had a great conversation about the vibe that he’s feeling in the city — his words — so it’s really good to make sure that the federal government is aware that Calgary’s in good shape,” she said.

Trudeau also visited one of the barns and talked to some heavy horse owners before walking through the crowds on the grounds, where many young families were attending.

Some Stampede-goers stopped the prime minister while he walked along the midway, asking for selfies as he talked about how nice it was to be back at the event. Others, including refugees from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan, thanked him. One Calgary woman thanked him for helping save her home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Osman Husein, who was attending his first Stampede, said he felt like he had a celebrity moment.

“It’s cool. It’s cool to see him. I didn’t expect him at Calgary, not at Stampede,” he said.

Others could be heard muttering negative comments under their breath before walking away, and some yelled in the background.


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes in the Calgary Stampede on Sunday, July 10, 2022

After more than an hour of walking through the crowds, Trudeau was whisked off by his security detail to a Liberal Party fundraiser at a brewery in northeast Calgary, where he spoke to a friendly crowd.

He took the opportunity to rally the troops by talking about a federal child-care deal, providing pandemic supports from Ottawa and standing up for democracy in places such as Ukraine.

Trudeau’s Calgary trip came after a day in Nova Scotia on SaPersonay, where he formally apologized for the systemic racism experienced by the only all-Black unit to fight for Canada during the First World War.

It was also a day after a federal Conservative party barbecue SaPersonay night at Heritage Park attended by four of the party’s five leadership candidates.

Interim party Leader Candice Bergen assured the crowd of 1,100 that unity doesn’t mean uniformity, and it’s OK if party members disagree on issues.

“It is OK to be a Conservative and have a different view from another Conservative on a particular issue. We are in the middle of a leadership race and I’m not naive nor am I blind,” Bergen said.

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/trudeau-arrives-for-calgary-stampede

[Rick Plant]

Trudeau announces deal to build $1.5B electric vehicle battery plant in Ontario

$1.5-billion investment by Umicore will make Canada a global player in electric vehicles, PM says



Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday that Ottawa and Ontario have signed a deal with Umicore, a global metals refiner, to build a new battery materials facility in the province's Loyalist Township.

Speaking at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., the prime minister said the facility will supply materials for one million electric vehicles a year.

Umicore, a multinational corporation based in Belgium, will transform metals such as nickel, cobalt and lithium into cathode active battery materials (CAM) at the new eastern Ontario site — materials that are critical to producing lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

Trudeau said the new plant will create 1,000 jobs while it is being built and hundreds of long-term positions once it is up and running.

He said the government and industry investments are part of a "big bet" that Canada can be a key international player in electric-vehicle supply chains.

"Today's announcement is about creating jobs, cutting pollution and building a stronger, cleaner economy for Canadians. Umicore's intention to establish its new facility in Loyalist Township is another major step forward as we make Canada a global leader in producing electric vehicles, from minerals to manufacturing," Trudeau said.

Ontario's Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli said the $1.5-billion investment will build the first industrial-scale manufacturing plant of its kind in North America.

"With recent success attracting major investments to the province, our government is staking Ontario's claim to developing and building the batteries that will power vehicles of the future," Fedeli said.

Federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said the plant will fill a gap in the Canadian electric-vehicle system by shoring up a key part of the battery-making process.

"The auto sector is spreading across the country now," Champagne said. "It's not just concentrated, but now Kingston is going to be part of the auto sector in Canada."

The plant will be built with some financial support from both levels of government but a dollar figure wasn't immediately available.

Ottawa and the province have plowed hundreds of millions of dollars in public money into similar projects in recent months.

In a statement, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who was not at Wednesday's announcement, said these multi-billion dollar investments are paying off, helping the province to "strengthen its position as a North American auto manufacturing powerhouse."

Umicore said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Ottawa, which will allow it to tap funds from the federal Strategic Innovation Fund to help offset some of the construction costs associated with building a plant of this size.

The company already has penned an agreement with Loyalist Township for a 140-hectare parcel of land that eventually will house the plant.

The company will start on construction in 2023, with the site expected to be fully operational by the end of 2025 — pumping out the materials that will help drive the global transition from cars and trucks powered by internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.

"We are most grateful to the Canadian and Ontario governments for their support and for their readiness to co-fund this planned project. The facility will help Canada and Umicore in their shared objective of achieving a carbon-neutral battery supply chain," said Mathias Miedreich, CEO of Umicore.

Carmakers General Motors, Honda and Stellantis, the company that makes Jeep and Chrysler vehicles, have also promised recently to spend billions of dollars in the coming years to build battery and electric vehicle manufacturing facilities in Ontario — investments that have breathed new life into Canada's long-stagnant auto sector.

According to government data, Canada's auto sector supports nearly 500,000 workers, contributes $16 billion annually to the country's gross domestic product and is one of the largest export industries.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-ev-battery-materials-plant-1.6519260

[Rick Plant]

Of course they did. Russia wants instability in our countries with democracy and it's been speculated that Russian dark money was behind the funding of these convoys which came from groups in the United States.

Russia Today covered ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests more than any foreign outlet: research

Russia Today (RT) covered Canada’s so-called “Freedom Convoy” protests far more closely than any other international outlet, according to new research.

The Russian state-controlled television network used key words associated with the convoy protest during more than four and half hours of broadcasts between Jan. 13 and Feb. 12 — dwarfing the rate of any other international outlet’s coverage of the anti-mandate occupation that snarled Ottawa streets earlier this year.

That’s according to an analysis of Google Jigsaw’s Global Database of Events, Language and Tone (GDELT), which Ahmed Al-Rawi, director of Simon Fraser University’s Disinformation Project, published on his website on Tuesday. The analysis has not been peer-reviewed.

“I was surprised to see that Russia Today, the Russian government-run television channel, was well ahead of so many other news channels in covering the convoy protests,” Al-Rawi told Global News in an interview.

The only other outlet that came close to covering the protests this closely was Fox News, which dedicated two and a half hours of coverage to the so-called “freedom convoy.”

Al Jazeera devoted the third-most time to the topic, with just over an hour of coverage over the course of the month, while CNN, MSNBC, Deutsche Welle, BBC News and CBS spent less than 30 minutes on the topics.

Why was Russia Today so interested in the convoy?

The Russian network’s interest in Canada’s convoy protests wasn’t surprising to intelligence community experts who have followed the Kremlin’s tactics in recent months.

That’s because, recently, Russia has focused less on tipping the scale towards specific electoral outcomes. Rather, according to an FBI official who spoke out earlier this year, the country has focused on sowing chaos and distrust abroad.

"The primary objective is not to create a particular version of the truth but rather cloud the truth and erode our ability to find it, creating a sentiment that no narrative or news source can be trusted at all,” David Porter, an assistant section chief with the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, told a U.S. election security conference in March.

“To put it simply, in this space, Russia wants to watch us tear ourselves apart.”

“The primary objective is not to create a particular version of the truth but rather cloud the truth and erode our ability to find it, creating a sentiment that no narrative or news source can be trusted at all,” David Porter, an assistant section chief with the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, told a U.S. election security conference in March.

makes sense that Russia would see the so-called “Freedom Convoy” as an opportune moment to sow this kind of division, according to Stephanie Carvin, a former national security analyst and assistant professor at Carleton University.

She pointed to the protesters’ repeated critiques of the Canadian government as “corrupt” as evidence that anti-government seeds were already planted in the movement — and with the right amount of nurturing, Russia could help those ideas grow.

“(U.S. intelligence officials) think the Russian government is trying to … target democratic institutions, trying to target and amplify mistrust so that people no longer believe in democracy, that they believe their institutions are corrupt,” Carvin said.

For RT, the trucker convoy protests had “a dovetail of interests,” she said.

“It makes sense for RT to promote events like this.”

RT has a “history” of sowing dissension and spreading disinformation, according to Carmen Celestini, a lecturer at the University of Waterloo who used to work with Al-Rawi’s Disinformation Project.

The convoy protests earlier this year were “based on disinformation,” she said — from their unscientific claims about vaccines to their belief they could demand the government resign en masse.

“All of those things are notions that Russia is going to try and promote, just because that dissension everywhere else in the world pulls away from dissension in (Russia) and puts them in a stronger position,” Celestini said.

RT also chose to frame the protests in a specific way, Al-Rawi found after sifting through the terms different outlets used to describe the protests.

Rather than referring to the event as a “trucker protest” or “trucker convoy,” RT most often used the convoy’s own terminology, calling it the “Freedom Convoy.”

The Russian outlet used the term 1,032 times — five times more often than its next most-used term: “convoy protest.”

Fox News and the 'freedom convoy'

RT devoted a disproportionate amount of its time to covering the convoy protests — but experts think another outlet might have been able to have a much bigger impact on Canada, despite boasting fewer convoy-related broadcasts: Fox News.

Without clear sources, RT’s website claims its channel is available in more than 700 million households around the world. It’s unclear whether that number has changed since Canada banned RT from the airwaves in March.

Fox News, on the other hand, says it reaches 200 million people every single month.

“RT may have played a role in generating lots of content, possibly feeding content into the U.S. media ecosystem, but really, it was Fox News that was promoting this convoy,” Carvin said.

American news outlets have far more of a role in Canada’s media ecosystem than Russia’s outlets, Carvin added.

Convoy protesters used American rhetoric and symbols throughout their protests in Ottawa, with many carrying U.S. flags and other regalia that shows their support for former U.S. president Donald Trump.

“We have to remember this was, in effect, a Canadian movement led by Canadians, cheered on by Americans,” Carvin said.

It was a “homegrown movement” that Russia tried to amplify.

“This wasn’t something that was created by Russia…. The fact that RT was reporting on it is just kind of consistent with their overall goals,” she explained.

Navigating the media landscape

When pressed on how Canadians should navigate an information environment where foreign media may try to skew stories, Al-Rawi said he’s not suggesting everyone stop watching Fox News, or even RT.

Rather, we should try to “consume as many diverse channels as possible.”

“Watching them is important to compare and see their perspective,” he said.

“And from that, they would have a better idea about how different channels frame an event like this one — a very important event, actually — in our history.”

Wherever you get your information, it’s important to be mindful of the source you’re reading, Carvin said.

“People really do need to sit down and think, you know, ‘I’m on Facebook and I’m reading a story. Now, does it come from a reputable news source?'”

Canadians have a tendency to build social media bubbles where they get their information from sources that all think the same way they do — a reality that makes navigating the information ecosystem such a  “vexing problem” in 2022, according to Carvin.

“Getting through that, it’s a very, very hard thing to do.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/8983352/freedom-convoy-russia-today-disinformation/