The rookie BC United MLA for Kelowna-Mission faces questions about her views on COVID-19 and the role of journalists during the pandemic after retweeting a post from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Renee Merrifield is “amplifying harmful anti-science views” and directly attacking journalists through her re-tweet of Kennedy’s post, BC NDP MLA Aman Singh says in calling on BC United Leader Kevin Falcon to act.
“Yet again, Renee Merrifield is spreading harmful, anti-science views,” Singh said in a release from the party. “This is a direct attack on journalists who were doing their jobs during the pandemic and it’s completely unacceptable from an MLA. Kevin Falcon should denounce this immediately and ask her to retract and apologize.”
BC United said in a statement that MLA Merrifield is currently out of the country getting married.
“The retweet in question was done so inadvertently by an individual contracted by her office,” it reads. “The retweet was undone immediately when his error was realized.”
Singh said Merrifield’s retweet is part of what he called a “long pattern” of “spreading harmful views and misinformation” in pointing to various past comments including comments said to defend Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, who stands accused of promoting homophobia and Transphobia.
The party said at the time that Merrifield does not support Peterson’s views on transgender people, nor his refusal to use gender-neutral pronouns.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the son of former U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Both Kennedy’s father and uncle died at the hands of assassins. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. first gained prominence as an environmentalist but has over the years drifted into a conspiratorial milieu, often receiving fawning treatment on major right-wing media like Fox News for his critical views on vaccines.
Kennedy’s post links to an hour-plus long presentation by former Canadian journalist Rodney Palmer to the National Citizen’s Inquiry. Kennedy encourages everyone to “watch this devastating dissection by one of Canada’s leading journalists of how global media icons were transformed into slavish government propagandists during Covid crisis.”
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The National Citizen’s Inquiry describes itself as a citizen-led and funded initiative independent of government to examine the “conduct of federal, provincial and municipal governments’ COVID-19 policies” but lacks any legislative mandate.
It is, in other words, self-selecting and many of its expert witnesses, including Peterson himself, have been critical of governmental responses to COVID-19 with many having floated conspiracy theories.
Palmer himself accused the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation specifically and the news media generally of suppressing information about COVID-19 while being guilty of government propaganda to the point of planting a Swastika during the so-called Freedom Convey in Ottawa to discredit participants.
The commissioner presiding over the public inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act during the so-called Freedom Convoy has dismissed that claim as unfounded.
Palmer’s presentation includes many unverifiable claims and frequently relies on conjecture in claiming among other points that the CBC is actively fomenting “fear and hatred” against individuals who do not want to be vaccinated.
Also of note is Palmer’s reference to Kennedy’s decision to file a lawsuit against various media organizations.
Kennedy, of course, later tweeted about Palmer’s presentation and the National Citizen Inquiry’s website later tweeted about Kennedy’s tweet, thereby creating the very definition of an echo-chamber.
Palmer’s critique of media appears against the backdrop of rising violence against journalists around the world including Canada.
During the so-called Freedom Convoy, Reporters Without Borders called on authorities to improve the protection of journalists covering the event. The organization’s recent ranking of Canada when it comes to press freedom points in the same direction.
“While journalists are typically safe to do their jobs in Canada, reporters covering the 2022 Freedom Convoy to protest vaccine mandates received death threats, were spat on, and were verbally and physically harassed,” it reads.
“The window of a CBC Radio Canada vehicle was smashed. Online harassment poses a threat, especially to female and minority journalists.”
Canada ranks 15th out of 180 countries in the 2023 global press freedom ranking by Reporters without Border, up from 19th in 2022, but down from 14th in 2021.
@wolfgangdepner
wolfgang.depner@blackpress.ca
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