The Conservative Party is seeking to suppress some members of the media at their annual convention, despite their lip service to freedom of the press.
For a party whose leader has touted his belief in freedom of expression in the past, certain members of the media have faced bullying tactics and stonewalling at the annual Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) convention which kicked off this week in Quebec City.
Both The Maple and Breach Media have been denied accreditation to cover the event, according to Maple news editor Alex Cosh.
Furthermore, reporter Nora Loreto, who was working on behalf of The Maple to cover the event, says she was harassed by Conservative Party security at the convention and threatened with jail for doing her job.
‘Zero respect for freedom of the press’
Cosh called this behaviour by the CPC blatant bullying. Cosh told rabble.ca that even hours after requesting an explanation from Fischer, he still had not received a response.
“It’s a party that evidently has zero respect for freedom of press despite all of its overtures about so-called freedom of speech and all that kind of bluster that their leadership loves to spout all the time,” he said. “These are just empty words and as we’ve seen today, they’re not followed up by uh actions.”
