Alienating citizen reporters – Canadian red tape inhibiting the independent press
https://open.substack.com/pub/chuckblack/p/back-end-cra-tracks-coverage-of-undefined?r=3026mc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
The arrest of admittedly controversial Ezra Levant has to be seen in that same light:
https://youtu.be/BqBkpFSOir8?si=WXnauxjyg0a5wY5d
Here’s a local angle:
in the attempt of documenting the last two MRC Pontiac meetings where exorbitant property tax raises were being discussed, potentially putting half of the residents in the Pontiac out of their houses, I heard from warden Jane Toller that the deputies passed a regulation in 2001, that video and audio recordings could not be made while the meeting takes place. Instead as was confirmed by Toller in a phone call today, the MRC Pontiac offers video and radio journalists a recording of the meeting 24 hours after the fact, that can be downloaded from their website
That may have done the trick in in 2001, yet in today’s instant news production, that custom appears not only illegitimate but also hopelessly outdated.