Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has responded to Pierre Poilievre’s criticism over CTV deceptively manipulating a video of him by calling the Conservative leader a threat to democracy.
Trudeau’s statement follows Poilievre calling out CTV after they were caught splicing up different statements he made, deceptively moulding them into something he never said, and placing the fake quote out of context.
“We know that democratic values and principles are under attack around the world from authoritarians, from far-right wing populists, from a whole bunch of people who don’t particularly want to see strong and thriving free democracies,” Trudeau told reporters in New York.
The Prime Minister added, “Politicians who deliberately undermine the legitimacy and the hard work of professional journalists are not standing up for democracy, are certainly not standing up for freedom.”
Trudeau also said that he sometimes disagrees with what reporters are “opining on,” suggesting criticism of him is devoid of facts.
CTV apologizes for “misunderstanding”
Following the spliced-video revelation, CTV issued a statement, apologizing for what they said was a misunderstanding, suggesting the hit job was an accident.
CTV’s spliced video was deceptively placed directly after an unrelated clip about the NDP-Liberals’ national dental care plan, making it look like Poilievre was proposing his non-confidence motion because of the dental care plan, when in reality Poilievre was commenting on the carbon tax.
In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Poilievre said CTV “has worked hard trying to avoid me saying the words carbon tax.”
Poilievre calls out CTV’s sneaky edit
Poilievre also brought up CTV’s sneaky edit, calling it “extremely dishonest and a fraudulent report.”
The Conservative leader further said CTV’s CEO, Wade Oosterman, has a vendetta against him.
“The reason why he and his other cronies are going after me is because he knows that I am standing up for the people against the crony capitalists and insiders like him,” he said.
Poilievre has long accused Trudeau-subsidized media for giving Trudeau biased coverage in exchange for more bailout money.
