The NDP selected Avi Lewis as their new leader after a conference this past weekend. After a long campaign that largely went under-reported due to the party's meagre seat count, we now have a federal party leader pushing for public options, scaling back fossil fuel production and backing peace on the world stage. Independent journalist Nora Loreto spent the weekend at the convention and joins Scott to discuss the vibes, the vote, their critiques and how legacy news has shown they don't care to know about left-wing politics at all.

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/avi-lewis-more-like-avi-lenin-ft-nora-loreto-podcast

Artwork by Zo at Studio Bonjourhi

Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross Dog

Outro Music: "Magic Escape Room" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

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Ontario premier Doug Ford used his personal cellphone for provincial business, leading a panel of three judges to rule his personal cellphone was subject to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. Now, Ford wants to exempt the premier, cabinet ministers and parliamentary staffers from FOI laws, explicitly saying because of his cellphone use. The move is a brazen attack on the public's right to knowledge about their government, but it's a large and unique piece of a larger attack on freedom of information systems. Justin Ling, investigative reporter and columnist at the Toronto Star, joins Scott to discuss the larger context, the attacks against FOI systems across the country and what news organizations need to do to push back.

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/the-assassination-of-the-foi-by-the-coward-doug-ford-ft-justin-ling-podcast

Artwork by Zo at Studio Bonjourhi

Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross Dog

Outro Music: "Magic Escape Room" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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In 2019, Canadian journalism outlets meeting certain requirements were able to receive a tax credit under federal law. These were codified under the federal government's Qualified Canadian journalism organization (QCJO) guidelines. Now, seven years later, it turns out at least two government agencies were basing their response to journalist inquiries on these qualifications. The Orchard founder and journalist Jeremy Appel discovered that he initially didn't qualify as a journalist when inquiring Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada about a different story. IRCC has since backtracked, but what does this say about government designation of journalists? Scott and Jeremy discuss.

Check out Jeremy's work at The Orchard.

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/oops-the-government-determined-who-was-a-journalist-ft-jeremy-appel-podcast

Artwork by Zo at Studio Bonjourhi

Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross Dog

Outro Music: "Magic Escape Room" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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The USA and Israel launched a joint military campaign against Iran. With most legal scholars saying this strike was illegal and most official investigations into Iran's nuclear program saying they weren't building weapons, you'd think a position would be easy to strike. Instead, Prime Minister Mark Carney has supported the US in their attack, at most attaching some "regret" to that support. When lined up against his world-famous Davos speech, Carney's position seems untenable, but he's actually been quite consistent. Ian Barclay, editor-in-chief at Avant-Garde Press joins Scott to discuss the timeline of Carney's statements, possible Canadian involvement in the operation and a discussion about what this means, especially when news media doesn't forcefully push back against these statements.

Avant-Garde Press

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/supporting-the-illegal-bombing-of-iran-with-regret-ft-ian-barclay-podcast

Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross Dog

Artwork by Zo at Studio Bonjourhi

Outro Music: "Magic Escape Room" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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The Narwhal and Amber Bracken are suing the RCMP for wrongful arrest. Officers held Bracken for multiple days after raiding a Wet'suwet'en land defender camp in unceded territory. It's one of the most consequential cases for press freedom in Canada... so what's the deal with the lack of coverage? This week, Ethan cox, co-founder and editor at Ricochet Media and Camilo Ruiz, independent journalist who has covered every day of the trial for his Instagram, join Scott to discuss the wider context of the case, the limitations of court decisions and why it's important to hold the RCMP to task.

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Ricochet Media

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/courtside-for-amber-bracken-v-rcmp-trial-ft-ethan-cox-and-camilo-ruiz-podcast

Artwork by Zo at Studio Bonjourhi

Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross Dog

Outro Music: "Magic Escape Room" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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It's now been a couple months since Jesse Brown's Canadaland series reporting antisemitism in Canada. Was there value in his reporting? While some points may have been well-made, the series obscured the issue and downplayed Israel's role in antisemitism in general. Blake Lambert, journalist, professor at Humber Polytechnic and TMU journalism instructor joins The North State to discuss the series, fundamental issues with Brown's approach and how the faults in reporting reflect a broader outlook of fear in the Canadaland series.

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/how-to-report-on-antisemitism-in-canada-ft-blake-lambert-podcast

Artwork by Zo at Studio Bonjourhi

Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross Dog

Outro Music: "Magic Escape Room" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Last week, a school shooter shook the community of Tumbler Ridge in northeastern BC. Nine people, including the shooter, are dead and 27 injured. Despite the horrific nature of these killings and there being little indication of motive, the right-wing influencer network online has weaponized the shooter's identity to attack trans people. Mel Woods, senior editor at Xtra Magazine, has covered this wave of disinformation and misinformation. Woods joins the show to discuss this weaponization, the lurking problem of right-wing internet personalities and what we can do to prevent the targeted attacks against trans people.

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The Tumbler Ridge shooting is already fuelling anti-trans hate in Canada by Mel Woods

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/

Artwork by Zo at Studio Bonjourhi

Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross Dog

Outro Music: "Magic Escape Room" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In November of 2021, the RCMP raided a land defender camp in Wet'suwet'en territory with assault rifles and chainsaws. Over a dozen people were arrested, including photojournalist Amber Bracken and documentary filmmaker Michael Toledano. The Narwhal, who had Bracken on assignment, teamed up with the photojournalist to sue the RCMP. The trial is now ongoing and set for closing arguments in April. What's the suit about? What are the details? Scott lays out the landscape of the lawsuit, context surrounding it and, finally, his take.

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Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross Dog

Artwork by Zo at Studio Bonjourhi

Sources and further reading at:

https://readthecatch.ca/

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