Resistance Comes From Outside Canada's Media Bubble

Why resisters are turning to MeidasTouch

“You will not be able to stay home, brother
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will be live.”
— Gil Scott-Heron

I shouldn't have been surprised. In one of the most important election debates in recent history, the Leader's Debates Commission gave five spots to "reporters" from the extremist troll site Rebel News. Canadian Press was given one.

Apparently, this was the Commission’s idea of balanced coverage.

What followed was an absolute gong show of rage-baiting and disinformation. The Rebel trolls harassed respected journalists while the Commission looked on.

For the English debate the following night, the Commission took the unprecedented step of cancelling the media scrums, citing "security concerns" over the safety of the journalists from the mainstream press.

Executive Director Michel Cormier later admitted that he didn't know Rebel News was signed up as a third-party "advocacy" group attempting to influence the election.

You would think someone in his organization would have done a quick Google search. If they had, they might have noticed articles like "Ten Things I Hate About Jews" by far right extremist and Proud Boy founder, Gavin McGinnis.

I'm sorry, Mr. Cormier, this was an egregious lapse of judgement. You failed in your most basic obligation to ensure democratic integrity in an election where interference and disinformation should have been top of mind.

Your Commission excluded the Green Party from participating but gave an all-access pass to a hate machine.

All in the name of "fairness."

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I would like to think that Mr. Cormier was just some guy totally out of his element. But he reflects the total disconnect of the Ottawa bubble that still tries to live by a naïve gentleman's code of expecting everyone to be on their best behaviour even as they are churned under in the sludge of rage and disinformation.

We have only to look at how CTV caved to pressure from the rage machine in dropping journalist Rachel Gilmore on a segment of federal election disinformation.

That pressure came straight out of Poilievre's office.

This was just one in a long line of vicious attacks by the Conservatives on journalists in this country — and CTV caved and quietly went along. They ignore the lesson of the United States, which is frighteningly obvious.

Watching the "sanesplaining" of Trump, journalist James Fallows writes that American media "have catastrophically failed to 'meet the moment."

In the run-up to the 2025 election, journalist Dan Froomkin called out the failure of the mainstream media to challenge the constant lies and disinformation of MAGA.

"That a delusional, dissembling, and despotic Donald Trump in serious contention for the presidency in 2024 is a profound indictment of the journalism profession. It indicates that a torrent of misinformation is flowing unimpeded, that there are grave misunderstandings about the state of the country, and that the threat he poses to our democracy has not been made sufficiently clear.

The heads of our major newsrooms should be responding to Trump's continued march toward the presidency with alarm – not just because of the threat a second Trump administration poses to a free press, but because it means that they are failing at their jobs."

But major media ignored this warning and sat on the sidelines as the nation marched toward fascism and tyranny.

Canadian media is following the American model to the letter.

National broadcasters are sticking to the outdated "he said-she said" creed of attempting to fit increasingly extremist political rhetoric into a comfortable frame for Canadian news viewing.

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Resisting Disinformation

During my resistance tour across Canada, I rarely come across someone who said they are following what is happening with Trump and Canada through coverage on our national networks, CBC or CTV.

In town after town, people told me they’re keeping in touch about Canadian resistance through the US-based MeidasTouch Network.

And honestly, I get it.

I feel deeply patriotic these days, but I have to hand it to Ben Meiselas and his team because they are reaching people across Canada with punchy fearless coverage whether they’ve taking on Trump, Danielle Smith or Pierre Poilievre.

Check out my latest interview on MeidasTouch here:

MeidasTouch has carved out an important niche in the United States because it has become a determined voice of resistance as the Democratic party and mainstream media flail around.

Meidas pulls no punches — and Canadians are tuning in.

In fact, it regularly ranks among the top political podcasts in Canada. They bring the same approach to Canada's resistance to MAGA.

What I find most interesting is the demographic Meidas is reaching in Canada.

I am stopped on the street all the time by working-class and rural folk who watch the show – bus drivers, personal support workers, and retirees. This is the population the so-called progressive parties seem to have missed.

At resistance gatherings in Sudbury, Nanaimo, Edmonton, London, and Toronto, people in strong numbers identify themselves as the Meidas Mighty or Meidas Maple.

These are people who understand that Canada is facing an unprecedented threat and the national media "conversation" is missing out.

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In the world of rage and disinformation, we need media voices willing to call out what is happening. We need those who aren't afraid to push back at falsehood.

I never thought I'd say it, but Canada's resistance network is well served by a scrappy crew of fighters out of Los Angeles.

Elbows up on both sides of the border.

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