CTV says staffers who altered Poilievre clip 'no longer' work for its news team
Poilievre called the CTV report 'extremely dishonest' and 'fraudulent'
Kkritika Suri
CTV has dismissed two members of its news team after an edited clip of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was aired in a recent national news segment, according to a statement the network shared on social media.
The statement explained that CTV "conducted an investigation to determine if there was a breach of our editorial policies and practices." The investigation concluded that "two members of the CTV News team are responsible for altering a video clip, manipulating it for a particular story."
CTV described these actions as a violation of its editorial standards and deemed them "unacceptable." The network did not reveal the names of the individuals involved, simply stating, "Those individuals are no longer members of the CTV News team."
Bell, which owns CTV and CTV News, has not responded to repeated requests for comment from CBC News over the past three days.
The issue arose from a CTV news report that aired on Sunday, featuring an altered clip of Poilievre during a recent media scrum with reporters. The Conservatives allege that CTV edited Poilievre's remarks to imply he was introducing a non-confidence motion aimed at ending the Liberal government's new dental care program.
In the original scrum, Poilievre said: "That's why it's time to put forward a motion for a carbon tax election." However, on the CTV broadcast, Poilievre was heard saying, "That's why we need to put forward a motion," immediately following a reporter's script discussing concerns over the future of dental care with a potential non-confidence vote.
Poilievre has not clarified his stance on the dental care program should he become prime minister, and has not cited it as a reason to bring down the government. Instead, he has called for a "carbon tax election" to decide on the continuation of the Liberal government's policy of taxing fuels and providing rebates to households.
Poilievre labeled the CTV report "extremely dishonest" and "fraudulent," while also criticizing Bell's leadership. He pointed to a recent downgrade of the company's credit rating to "near junk status" and accused Bell CEO Mirko Bibic of being "overpaid," alleging he "empties the books to pay his wealthy friends" and maintains an "unacceptably and unrealistically high dividend."
Without providing evidence, Poilievre suggested that the news team behind the edited clip was acting on behalf 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 stated.
In its Thursday statement, CTV did not directly address Poilievre's accusations but issued an apology, saying, "We sincerely and unreservedly apologize for the manner this report went to air and the false impression it created." The network emphasized its commitment to delivering "accurate, fair, and balanced coverage of the issues that matter to Canadians" with full independence.
