Source: LifeSiteNews.com
Recently disclosed records have revealed that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) spent over a quarter of a million dollars tasking employees to create “news” reports, some of which were published by Canadian media.
The scheme was uncovered via a recent Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in Canada’s Senate by Conservative Senator Donald Plett, who asked alongside the information, “How much did the Government of Canada pay to publish news written by government employees?”
In response to the Inquiry, the CRA said that “The purpose of these articles was to inform Canadians,” adding that they were written to “help amplify its messaging in order to reach Canadians that it would not normally have access to through its own channels.”
The articles were published in at least two large Canadian daily newspapers, the Lethbridge Herald and the Hamilton Spectator, as well as multiple periodicals and weekly newspapers, including, the Alberta Business Review, Niagara Falls Review, the Essex Free Press, Ethnic Food & Drink, Lac Ste. Anne Bulletin, Lambton Standard, and Leamington Southpoint Sun.
The “news” reports were distributed through a Toronto broker, News Canada Inc., who was paid some $233,457 last year alone by the CRA.
The records show that some of the “news” articles cost as much as $1,000 each.
When it comes to the federal definition of “fake news,” the ghostwritten articles meet the threshold. According to a 2017 Department of Canadian Heritage Memorandum To The Minister, included in the definition of fake news is anything that could be considered “state-sponsored.”
According to the Access to Information memo, creators of “fake news” are “non-traditional sources, i.e. not journalists, individuals on social media, individuals not preoccupied with facts.” …