The biggest mistake Canadian journalists ever made was not upgrading their reporting styles to keep new generations interested in the news.

The biggest mistake Canadian news media owners ever did was lobby and agree to government bailouts.

Because once you let Daddy Government into your life, you lose your autonomy.

The Hill Times has an interesting article about what the federal government wants now.

In short, a government with no experience or understanding in journalism has made a decree, according to the Times:

Canada’s first foreign influence transparency commissioner says journalists and media organizations will need to register, but that listings will provide legitimacy to already transparent public communications.

“It’s not about the profession … it’s about the activity and making it transparent,” Anton Boegman said in an interview with The Hill Times on Aug. 13, nine days after what he described as “a good launch” of the Foreign Influence and Transparency Registry.

Spoilers: when a government lackey person says something is “transparent”, it never is. But the prattle goes on:

Boegman is now responsible for implementing the legal framework of Bill C-70, the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act, enacted in 2024, which established the registry and his office.

“The registry really focuses on transparency,” Boegman said. “By making foreign influence activities that are targeting Canadian political government processes transparent, it then kind of legitimizes those types of activities … not [to] create stigma or as evidence of wrongdoing.” 

When a government lackey person repeatedly says the word “transparent”, you know some sort of authoritarian tomfoolery will go along with this bill.

This is a bad bill. This is a bill meant to tag and control journalists even more. I do believe in having a Foreign Agents Registry (the US has had one since 1938), but the problem is the government makes terms vague so they can move the goal posts anywhere they please.

The Damage Report has an explainer for journalists and editors right here.