"No Liberal bias here, folks" sez Elections Canada. Sez Walt, "Eh?"

Elections Canada is a theoretically independent body which organizes and supervises federal elections in Canuckistan. However, it is funded by the Liberal government of Canada -- Just In Trudeau, Prop. -- which has left churls like Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, who accused the agency of being a "Liberal lapdog" when he heard about EC's latest brain fart -- an ad campaign to encourage young people (read: potential Liberal voters) to register and vote in October's federal election.

The original idea was to put out two videos, one English and one French, featuring 13 "influencers" -- "famous online personalities" such as Lilly Singh (pictured), music icons, TV stars, and even former Olympians. Besides Ms Singh (talk show host), the list includes: Mitch Hughes (YouTuber), Andre De Grasse (Olympic sprinter of colour), Katherine Levac (alleged comedienne), Elle Mills (another Prideful YouTuber), Maripier Morin (TV host), Alex Nevsky (alleged singer), Penny Oleksiak (Olympienne), Nicolas Ouellet (another TV host unknown in English Canada), Max Parrot (another Olympian), Thanh Phung (blogger, unrelated to Walt), Maayan Ziv (CEO of AccessNow, a human rights, public policy, and advocacy group) and Ashley Callingbull (First Nations activist and model).

What could go wrong? Well, M Poilievre and others have suggested that the 13 "influencers", while as diverse and inclusive as all get out, might be rather exclusive when it comes to political thought, or should we say political bias. Ms Callingbull, for example, said in social media posts before the 2015 election, "we are in desperate need of a new prime minister." And so it came to pass when Mr Socks prevailed over Steve Harpoon.

Articles which appeared in Le Droit and Flash Québec in February of 2018 described Mlle Levac as saying her ideal man is... wait for it... Justin Trudeau. And in December of 2015, Ms Singh posted a photo of Mr Socks, praising his appointment of a gender-balanced cabinet along with the hashtag #mancrushfriday. She has posted nothing between then and now indicating her view of the Prime Minister has changed.

Elections Canada, apparently stung by suggestions that the Gang of 13 were members of the liberal elite, decided to scrap the ad campaign, at a cost to Canadian taxpayers of at least C$325,000 ($246,000 in real money) which had already been spent on shooting the videos, paying the unbiased "influencers", etc. According to Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault, the decision to shut down the initiative was taken to avoid the risk of using "influencers" who might appear to have some partisan bias.

M Perrault refused to name names or say what kind of bias the "influencers" might have. On CBC Radio's The House, he said, "It was clear from the outset that it had to be beyond any reproach, beyond any possible interpretation that, whether for lifestyle choices, or comments, or pictures, that these could be tied to a particular partisan point of view. It's important for Canadians to understand and know that Elections Canada is a completely independent agent of Parliament, that we are non-partisan, that everything we do, including the media campaign, is done with that in mind." This was on radio, not TV, so we couldn't see if he was able to keep a straight face.

Liberal bias is pervasive in the meeja, the civil service, and the schools of not just Canada, but the USA, the UK, and indeed just about every country of the Western world. I'll have more to say about that in my next post, a review and recommendation of Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News, by Bernard Goldberg (Regnery Publishing, 2002).