Mr. Speaker, today is World Press Freedom Day. New Democrats stand with journalists who daily defend our freedom of expression and democratic principles. We pay tribute to journalists around the world who have died or been injured in their quest to inform.
This year marks the 25th World Press Freedom Day, and the global theme is “Keeping Power in Check”. Here in Canada, press freedom is also struggling.
Investigative journalism helps keep us from tyranny. It is a pillar of any liberal democracy, giving us a critical window into government, yet the present government has gutted our Access to Information Act, a key tool for journalists, after it promised to do the exact opposite. It has gutted the legislation instead, leaving us with a law that is so weak that independent reviewers say we would be better off with anything else.
Last week it was reported that the Liberal government has more people working on messaging than we have journalists on the Hill.
I would like to thank members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery and journalists across this great country. May their pens continue to be our light.