The government has spent more than $20 million on media monitoring contracts since December 2012, despite maintaining more than 3,300 communications staff across government.
Included within the government’s media monitoring contracts are more than 1,100 pages of search terms (half English, half French) that show the government keeping an eye on what reporters, critics and its own spokespersons are saying. The media monitoring search terms are for contracts entered into, or in force, on or since March 21, 2013 to June 2014.
The search terms for one department include the Conservative Party of Canada and former Tory MP Dean Del Mastro. Opposition parties suggest such search terms mean the government is spending the money for political gain.
“That would imply the government is using taxpayer dollars to monitor Conservative scandals, which would seem like partisan media monitoring,” said Liberal finance critic Scott Brison. “Given their record on quasi-partisan advertising, we don’t trust them on their media monitoring.”
Del Mastro, the former parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and now an independent MP, just saw his election fraud trial end, with a verdict Oct. 31.
The terms “Del Mastro,” “Conservative Party of Canada” and “Holinshed” (the company implicated in his trial) are included in the media monitoring search terms for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. Del Mastro was the parliamentary secretary for the agency for barely a week in September 2013, before he withdrew from the Conservative caucus after being charged.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development is monitoring media for any mention of the Council of Canadians, a left-leaning group that has opposed the government’s trade agenda. Veterans Affairs Canada is monitoring terms related to the mental health of soldiers and veterans, as well as for mentions of vocal government critics such as former veterans’ ombudsman Pat Stogran.
The Justice Department, meanwhile, is searching media for words such as “whistleblower” that is located near the terms “federal government” or “Justice Department.”
Employment and Social Development has hundreds of pages of search terms (in English and French), including terms such as “foreign stripper” and “strippergate.”
The Privy Council Office, which supports the Prime Minister’s Office, said it “has no information with regard to government expenditures on media monitoring since March 21, 2013.” Yet, a separate response tabled in the Commons from PCO, related to media monitoring expenses, identified around two dozen media monitoring contracts worth around $2 million that were entered into, or in force, on or after March 2013.
“News monitoring is conducted to track key public policy issues that impact the government of Canada agenda and to assess the effectiveness of government of Canada communications,” Raymond Rivet, director of corporate and media affairs for the Privy Council Office, said in an email.
“To identify reporting that is relevant to the government of Canada, suppliers use search terms as an aid to identifying reporting that may be of interest.”
Opposition party critics for various portfolios are also part of the media monitoring search terms from several departments, as are the names of dozens of journalists, including from the Ottawa Citizen.
And don’t ask the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) about its media monitoring activities. The agency has refused to release details of any contracts, ostensibly for security reasons.
Approximately 300 of the roughly 1,100 pages of media monitoring search terms are from Citizenship and Immigration, and the massive department of Employment and Social Development, whose minister Jason Kenney, is also the minister for multiculturalism.
Of the government’s more than $20 million in media monitoring contracts since December 2012, one of the largest individual contracts was for ethnic media monitoring.
Original Article
Source: ottawacitizen.com/
Author: Jason Fekete
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