Roasting the Press Episode 74 for Sunday, June 8th, 2025
Ottawa’s New Bill C-2 is a Propaganda Goldmine of Government Overreach But When Confronting the World, Trust the Authorities and When CNN Tries to Discredit RFK Jr, Who's the Authority?
Ottawa’s New Bill C-2 is a Propaganda Goldmine of Government Overreach
Officially, it’s ”An Act respecting certain measures relating to the security of the border between Canada and the United States and respecting other related security measures,” and designed to:
Enhance Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) powers to search containers exiting Canada, combat fentanyl trafficking, and curb organized crime and money laundering (e.g., banning cash transactions over $10,000).
Bar foreign nationals from claiming refugee protection if they entered Canada after June 24, 2020, and apply more than one year after entry, or if they crossed irregularly at the Canada-U.S. border outside official ports.
Allow warrantless access to internet subscriber information and permit Canada Post employees to open mail under certain conditions.
Simplify asylum application processes, speed up removals, and increase information sharing between government departments to prevent fraud.
But not everyone agrees with this assessment.
An example is the June 5th, 2025 Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) on YouTube post, “A brief examination of the federal government's proposed Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act (2025).”
The JCCF essentially considers the 139 page bill, tabled on June 3rd by the Mark Carney Liberals, as allowing for a whole series of new and “terrifying, totalitarian” government restrictions on our freedoms.
The legislation is also a propaganda goldmine due to the stark divide over how it’s been covered and the underlying motives attributed to it.
The Liberal government, through Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree and Immigration Minister Lena Diab, present the bill as a necessary modernization of border security and immigration systems to ensure safety, combat crime, and align with Canada’s “legal and moral obligations.”
Legacy media outlets, like the June 3rd, 2025 CTV New post, “Liberals introduce sweeping border reform bill affecting warrants, large cash transfers” and the June 3rd, 2025 Global News post, “Canada aims to tighten asylum rules, combat fentanyl with new border bill,” have amplified this framing, emphasizing fentanyl and organized crime as urgent threats.
Human rights groups and opposition MPs, including the NDP’s Jenny Kwan and Conservative Michelle Rempel Garner, have label it “anti-immigrant,” “anti-refugee,” and a threat to civil liberties.
This view is reflected in the June 5th, 2025 CBC News post, “Experts warn of Bill C-2 as 'anti-refugee' and 'anti-immigrant' giving Canada 'unchecked powers' like the US.”
It argues that the legislation breaches Charter rights by allowing warrantless data collection and mail searches, potentially aligning Canada’s immigration system with US policies in order to “appease” US president Donald Trump.
The June 5th, 2025 TIME post, “What’s in Canada’s Immigration Bill—and Why It’s Facing Backlash,” highlights these concerns, framing the bill as a capitulation to American pressure.
Posts on X, including the June 7th, 2025 6ixBuzzTV on “X” post, “Mark Carney’s Bill C-2 sparks concerns over criminalization of $10,000 cash deposits and privacy violations including new Police Powers that would enable them to install tracking systems on devices without a warrant,” amplify the bill’s surveillance aspects.
Some users, including @crimsonbamboopq in his June 7th, 2025 “X“ post, “and look at Canada MCarney's now introduced new Bill C-2 !! same gist towards ultimate surveillance and warrantless spying and worse on citizens ... and yes... here, too, *before* actual crimes have been committed” call the bill a step toward a “totalitarian surveillance state” or “Marxist” overreach and remind audiences of the Canadian prime ministers banking and globalist ties.
Other commentators see the bill as a betrayal of COVID relief expectations, alleging it repurposes health and income data collection without consent. The June 5th, 2025 @stocksnstuffeh on “X” post, “Bill C-2 was supposed to be about COVID relief,” is an example of this perspective.
Legacy media outlets like the June 6th, 2025 National Post, “FIRST READING: The wild overreach contained in the Liberals’ new border control bill,” and the June 5th, 2025 Globe post, “Conservatives raise privacy concerns over powers in government’s border security bill,” focus on the bills “overreach,” particularly privacy concerns.
This split in perceptions reflects agenda-driven reporting, with some outlets downplaying civil liberties issues to support the government and others sensationalizing the bill as a dystopian power grab to drive views to legacy media content.
For more on agenda driven reporting, check out the May 20th, 2025 International Policy Zone on YouTube post, “What Is Agenda-setting In Media? - International Policy Zone.”
In essence, and as regards to Bill C-2, no one seems to want to provide an informed, nuanced report to tie all the disparate opinions and disjointed facts into a coherent whole.
The media’s schizophrenic split between government cheerleading and alarmist criticism reflects broad fears about surveillance and national identity.
But the split is also designed to inflame, drive clicks, but not inform.
The sensational headlines and emotional language, incomplete information, and contradictory and/or outright misleading claims contained within the stories and comments are intended to increase website traffic and ad revenue.
For more on that, check out the November 12th, 2024 Hillel Fuld on YouTube post “The Media’s Broken Mechanism: How Clickbait Fuels Misleading Narratives.”
Just try to ignore the click bait in the title graphic.
But When Confronting the World, Trust the Authorities
What’s the most important thing about propaganda?
According to governments, we’re surrounded by a sea of disinformation and the only real truth is to put our trust in the power of their expertise.
God bless Elections Ontario.
Here’s an example of the difference between effective rhetoric and propaganda.
Rhetoric is mostly true and propaganda mostly isn’t. Both are designed to influence and drive narratives and both use mostly the same techniques to accomplish their goals.
Government’s dislike both, since they disrupt the government’s preferred narratives. Rhetoric is “misinformation,” while propaganda is considered to be the more malicious “disinformation.”
But both are bad and both are sanctioned under Canadian law, unless the information comes from an approved source and discusses approved topics.
For more, check out the April 30th, 2025 making Politics Simple on YouTube post, “What Role Does Propaganda Play In The Rhetoric Of Social Movements? - Making Politics Simple.”
When CNN Tries to Discredit RFK Jr, Who’s the Authority?
And finally tonight, here’s the May 25th, 2025 Mongo Minds on Bitchute post, “CNN Tries to Discredit RFK Jr.”
It’s a reminder of that, for all the bickering between authority figures over who the populace should be trusting, the people should independently verify any statement provided by experts before acting on them.
Trust, but verify.
“Roasting the Press,” is an open forum with new media journalists critiquing and complaining about our well funded competitors, the stories they create and the techniques they use.
For more information on the show, or to become a guest, please send an email to chuck.black@protonmail.com.
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