Evidence of meeting #131 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was proud.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Why did we have to go through this circuitous route for you to hide that?
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
I didn't. I had to explain that there was a regulatory period because of the provincial election.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
I didn't ask that question. I simply asked what your budget was and where the money was coming from. You went through this whole circuitous route to try to avoid that. Why?
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
It was important because I don't want there to be any misconceptions.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
No, you're the one trying to mis.... Okay.
Are you conscious of the difference between misinformation, disinformation and mal-information? Do you monitor any of that?
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
We do. With respect to the content that Ontario Proud produces, we take great pains that, first, it's properly sourced. For example, if we're reporting on a news story or on an issue that has arisen in the public discourse, we source that. We do that with a traditional notation—for example, “CBC, December 10, 2018”.
Opinion, of course, is not sourced. We like to say that all opinion expressed on the Ontario Proud pages is legitimate opinion.
December 11th, 2018 / 12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
From an editorial perspective, who is monitoring to make sure you're not crossing the line in promoting or passing along hate speech, for example? My colleague Mr. Angus gave examples of what he says skirted the line. For me, it is hate speech. Who is your editorial board that says something has crossed the line and that you're not going to promote it and use money to push the story forward?
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
Our full-time employees monitor the web properties and Facebook on a day-to-day basis. We do have an automated program that catches inappropriate terms, terms that might be misogynist, for example. We flag those, and those comments are automatically deleted.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Before I run out of time, I want to ask you to submit to this committee the names of everybody who has provided money to Ontario Proud who is not from Ontario. I want the list, please.
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
Sorry? Am I worried about it? No. We comply with the relevant legislation, so we'll continue to do so.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
I didn't ask that. I asked whether you will provide a list of everybody who has provided money to Ontario Proud who resides outside of Ontario.
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
Well, we're going to comply and we have complied—
Liberal
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
I asked you a specific question. Will you provide us a list of your donors who are running Ontario Proud from outside of Ontario?
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
We're not providing information that we're not required to provide, but we—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Zimmer
Thank you, Mr. Baylis. That's the time.
Next up, for five minutes, is Mr. Kent.
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Thank you, Chair.
I'd like to come back to the reasons that Ontario Proud was founded, and in a comparative sense. We know that Leadnow was founded in 2011, under the direction of Mr. Brandzel. Mr. Brandzel is with the Online Progressive Engagement Network, OPEN, in the United States. He currently lives in Bangalore, India, of all places.
After the 2015 election, Leadnow claimed to have defeated between 23 and 28 Conservative candidates with its political action. It originally banned foreign advertising, but in 2012 it allowed it and has continued to subsidize its campaigns with American funding from a variety of sources.
You said there was a vacuum when Ontario Proud was created in 2016. Were you aware of the way Leadnow had been created and was acting, and of the dynamics of their campaign specifically against the sitting government—a campaign for which their American founder gave them an award for defeating a government?
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
I take a great interest in the work of third parties, since I participate in one, but I certainly didn't know the extent to which foreign actors were funding third party campaigns or campaigns against Canadian parliamentarians running for office or offering for the first time. That information came out after the election, so I only became alerted to it—as someone who is interested in these matters—after individuals were elected.