Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre tore into BCE Inc. on Tuesday after CTV News — which is owned by BCE — ran an edited clip that altered the meaning of his words.
Rising in the House of Commons during debate on his non-confidence motion, Poilievre said CTV’s Sunday news item on that motion was “extremely dishonest” and “fraudulent.”
He blasted Bell, citing a rating agency’s recent decision to downgrade its credit rating to “near junk status.” He accused CEO Mirko Bibic of being “overpaid,” said he “empties the books to pay his wealthy friends” and claimed the company pays “an unacceptably and unrealistically high dividend.”
Poilievre has been a frequent critic of the news media and the Parliamentary Press Gallery in particular. He has accused media outlets like CTV, CBC, the Canadian Press and others of being pro-Liberal when he takes issue with their coverage.
While speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre tore into BCE Inc., the parent company of Canada’s largest telecom company and CTV, after its news division ran an edited clip that altered the meaning of his words.
But it’s unusual for a senior politician like Poilievre to condemn in such strong terms a major publicly traded company like Bell — although Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the company out earlier this year for what he called a “garbage” decision to lay off journalists and media workers.
Poilievre suggested, without evidence, that the news team behind the altered clip was somehow doing the bidding of Bibic.
“The reason why he and his other cronies at that company are going after me is because he knows that I’m standing up for the people against the crony capitalists and insiders like him,” Poilievre said.
Bibic has been a Conservative Party donor in the past, according to Elections Canada records. In 2004, he made a donation to a local Liberal candidate in Ottawa.
Bibic also gave money in 2022 to Jean Charest, Poilievre’s main opponent in the last Conservative leadership election, records show.
Poilievre’s pointed attack this time stems from CTV News’s decision to rearrange some of the words Poilievre uttered in a scrum with reporters. The Conservatives say CTV spliced together his words in a way that gave the impression that Poilievre was introducing a non-confidence motion — which would bring on an early election — because he wants to do away with the Liberal government’s fledgling dental care program.
In his scrum with reporters, Poilievre said: “That’s why it’s time to put forward a motion for a carbon tax election.”
On the CTV broadcast, Poilievre was heard saying: “That’s why we need to put forward a motion.” Those words came right after the network’s reporter read from a script that said there are “questions” about dental care’s “future” with the non-confidence motion looming.
In a statement, a spokesperson for CTV said it “presented a comment by the Official Opposition leader that was taken out of context.”
“A misunderstanding during the editing process resulted in this misrepresentation,” the spokesperson said. “We unreservedly apologize to Mr. Poilievre and the Conservative Party of Canada.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says ‘politicians who deliberately undermine the legitimacy and the hard work by professional journalists are not standing up for democracy.’ Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre stepped up his attacks on Bell while speaking in the House of Commons Tuesday.
Bell did not immediately respond to a request for a reply to Poilievre’s latest comments about the CEO and the company’s motives.
Sebastian Skamski, a spokesperson for Poilievre, dismissed what he called CTV’s “so-called apology.”
“This wasn’t a simple misunderstanding,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“Until they explicitly acknowledge their malicious editing and omission of context to undermine Pierre Poilievre, Conservative MPs won’t engage with CTV News and its reporters.”
Skamski posted to social media a picture of a memo to the Conservative caucus directing MPs and senators to “refrain from engaging with CTV News, including participating in interviews, providing statements or offering any form of commentary.”
Poilievre has not given a clear answer on what he will do with dental care if he becomes the next prime minister. He has not raised it as a reason to bring down the government.
Poilievre has said he wants a “carbon tax election” on whether to continue with the Liberal government’s climate policy of taxing fuels like oil and gas and rebating most of the proceeds to households.
Poilievre has said the steadily increasing tax is of questionable value. He has said it’s punishing consumers who depend on fossil fuels and has repeatedly promised to scrap the tax if elected.
Poilievre was highly critical of Bell before this latest incident. He pointed to its near-junk credit rating on social media just last week.
He has criticized the company for long call centre wait times and said the company wants the Liberal government to give it favourable regulatory treatment.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Trudeau said it’s a journalist’s job to “challenge people in positions of authority, or those who seek positions of authority.”
“It’s absolutely essential that we always defend the freedom and independence of the media,” he added. “Politicians who deliberately undermine the legitimacy and hard work of professional journalists are not standing up for democracy and are certainly not standing up for freedom.”
Bell, one of Canada’s largest companies, is grappling with some major challenges.
The company has taken on debt as it burns through money to upgrade its network and infrastructure.
The company’s stock has sunk in recent months because investors are worried about its ability to pay back nearly $40 billion in debt at a time of high interest rates, while also paying out sizeable dividends to shareholders.
Moody’s, a top ratings agency, has raised concerns about just how indebted the telecom company is and downgraded its credit rating in August to the last level above junk-bond status.
The company’s stock is widely held by retail investors and pension funds, in part because the company pays out virtually all of its earnings to shareholders through dividends.
The stock’s dividend yield is at nearly nine per cent — much higher than what an investor would get from most bonds or other products, such as bank GICs.
The company’s stock price has drifted lower in part because there are doubts about its ability to continue paying such a rich dividend.
Bell has sold off assets — it started the process for selling Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment last week — to raise cash to keep ratings agencies and dividend-minded investors happy.
It also laid off roughly 4,800 people earlier this year to rein in costs.
Peter Menzies is a former editor of the Calgary Herald newspaper and ex-commissioner of the Canadian Radio-television Commission (CRTC), which regulates companies like Bell. He’s now a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
He said Poilievre’s criticism of Bell is not unprecedented. He said former prime minister Stephen Harper and Bibic’s predecessor George Cope were also “crossing swords” during their tenures.
“Bell seemed to have survived that OK and Cope was dealing with a PM, not an opposition leader,” he told CBC News.
“It was only a year ago that grocery retailers were being called on the carpet by the prime minister, who had just finished taking a strip off Meta, which also seems to have done OK,” he added, referring to Facebook’s parent company.
“That doesn’t mean companies enjoy being political whipping boys. It’s definitely unpleasant but — particularly coming from opposition benches — I don’t see it having an impact on shareholders.”