Watch the anti-Harper ad CBC refuses to air

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      (Update: On February 25, 2015, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting issued a news release saying all major Canadian TV networks and station owners—Bell, Corus, Québécor, Rogers, and Shaw—would not run Friends of Canadian Broadcasting TV ads that poked fun at Stephen Harper's "hostile agenda" for the CBC.)

      CBC has refused to air an advertisement critical of the Conservative government’s meddling in the public broadcaster’s affairs.

      The non-profit group, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, have created an ad highly critical of Stephen Harper's government.

      The ad, which comes in 30 and 60 second versions, attacks the most recent budget bill and runs down the list of scandals, oversights, muzzlings, and mysterious cash losses that are fast becoming the hallmarks of Harper's tenure as prime minister.

      After the main character in the ad—a journalist—questions whether the federal government is turning the CBC into a state broadcaster, he is tied up and thrown in the back of a car.

      The group approached the CBC to air the ad, only to have it rejected. The CBC claims its decision was to avoid appearing as if it was endorsing the ad's campaign.

      Lucky for us, the Internet is still sort of free, so watch it now. Although your IP address will likely be logged by CSIS for use at a later date.

      Friends of Canadian Broadcasting is currently trying to raise $60,000 to buy air time for its ad to air on non-CBC TV networks.

       

      Comments

      147 Comments

      Lightning Dust

      Jul 22, 2013 at 3:59pm

      CBC is quickly becoming Global 2.0 as they need to pander to advertisers now, so more and more celebrity gossip "news" and exploitative feature stories to hook in viewers.

      As for the Internet, it won't be free for long. Herr Harper is drafting up David Cameron style filtering legislation which will be conveniently used to shut off access to sites like Twitter during social unrest.

      Most news sites now use what is known as a filter bubble to target you with news they think you want to read. It is based on your previous searches, facebook 'likes', and a million other tracking and spying methods. Some people when they type in 'Syria' into google get tourism info. Others get horror videos from the war. The software decides for you what you're likely to want to see, thus invisible censorship.

      Look at the Canadian press with your normal account then get a VPN/Socks5 with a clean IP. Featured stories are different, some are totally buried. If you clicked on some TMZ story a week ago it will remember that and now feed you important featured Justin Beiber and royal baby news. If you read a NYT story about NSA censorship you'll get Snowden news.

      It's almost perfect censorship, totally invisible and hides behind the guise of targeted advertising metrics. Search engine "DuckDuckGo" has a site about this called don't bubble us which explains it much better.

      Scott Sands

      Jul 23, 2013 at 8:17am

      Very very REAL !!! ...... AND EVIL TOO !!!

      Ronald Hinton

      Jul 23, 2013 at 9:27am

      The ad was fine until it veered into Stupidville with the car trunk.

      Peter Stevens

      Jul 23, 2013 at 11:49am

      Truth hurts on the impending demise of the conservative governance. The government is so incompetent, it can only be compared to Detroit's chapter 11 file on bankruptcy. Harper is conducting an unholy road to utright dictatorship.

      NothingFace

      Jul 23, 2013 at 12:53pm

      Harper is pushing Canadian buttons.. he knows Canadians are passive and complacent as long as they have their reality TV to watch and their iPhones to fiddle with while their heads are in the sand. Eventually, Harper will take something away that Canadians will be very passionate about, then you'll see some changes. Harper has displayed some psychotic behaviour in his years in office, especially since Robocalls helped him get his majority. History will remember him, and so will Canadians when he loses in the next election, if he isn't forced out before that..

      Pedro

      Jul 23, 2013 at 1:25pm

      Canada's "new" minister of Heritage/culture in charge of the CBC is the former Winnipeg Police spokesperson ("patrol sergeant presently on leave of absence" according to her website)
      I'm very concerned about investigative journalism of police misconduct, which we have plenty of in B.C.

      RHC

      Jul 23, 2013 at 7:02pm

      Let them record my IP address, I personally welcome the idea.....I have no issues expressing my dislike for mr harper....none what so ever.......CHEERS

      John-Albert Eadie

      Jul 23, 2013 at 7:45pm

      I especially like RHC. One wants not to be centred out, but with this guy, in this climate, it is the thing to do.

      Chantal Armstrong

      Jul 23, 2013 at 8:34pm

      Wow, all these negative comments... heard it all before last election when Conservative's won a majority. You haven't convinced me, or evidently many other Canadian voters. Maybe I'll see what Justin (Trudeau) has to say, but I hope he doesn't start talking like most of the bloggers on this site...

      Donna Elliott

      Jul 24, 2013 at 7:27am

      So many comments say that Harper knows that Canadians are complacent and that Harper has a free reign to do what he wants. Well Harper is Canadian as well and he is supposed to be one of us and ``standing on guard`` for Canada not for himself. What can we do to stop this invasion of our rights. Typing and expressing our thoughts and opinions gets us nowhere. Let`s voice our concerns to our political representatives before we become a ``Syria or Egypt`` fighting for democracy.