OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) –– A Canadian Senator who was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau boasted to her colleagues that she was able to successfully get edits made to a commentary piece published by her political rival in a well-read newspaper. 

Ontario Senator Lucie Moncion, who was appointed by Trudeau in 2016 and is a former banker, recently told the Senate that she was able to get a August 21 piece published by Senator Donald Plett, who serves as the Opposition Senate leader, edited from its original form.  

The incident prompted Plett to state that Canada now has a “Senate communications police.” 

Plett, who is a Conservative Senator, wrote a piece in the Ottawa weekly newspaper the Hill Times titled, “Trudeau’s Experimental Senate Changes Are Turning Out To Be A Dud.” 

As per Blacklock’s Reporter, Moncion took issue with what was written in Plett’s piece, telling Senators, “Inaccurate information was presented,” and that they had to “remain vigilant.”  

According to Moncion, who serves as chair of the Senate committee on internal economy, she was able to get edits made to Plett’s piece. She had members of her staff make the revisions to Plett’s commentary, which included complaints about overspending in the Senate. 

Moncion claimed that “[o]nce a newspaper has the facts it is free to change an article, remove it or leave it as is,” adding, “I repeat: The newspaper is free to make corrections.” 

“In a democracy, it is essential to ensure information that is disseminated about our institutions is true in order to avoid contributing even passively to the spread of misinformation and disinformation that characterize our media landscape,” she said. 

Senators were told that the corrections made to Plett’s piece were not due to libel, or misstatement, but rather because of a technical aspect, according to Moncion. 

The Hill Times is one of Canada’s most heavily subsidized weekly newspapers, getting over $1 million in the last 18 months from grants, subsidies and sole-sourced government contracts. 

Censored Senator blasts edits, says Canada now has a ‘Senate communications police’ 

Plett was not too pleased with the changes made to his commentary, telling his fellow Senators that the Liberals wanted to “minimize” the actual cost increases made in the Senate since Trudeau took power in 2015. 

“They wanted to change the meaning of the text, trying to minimize the increase in Senate expenses since Justin Trudeau took power,” he said. 

“This is outrageous. We now have a Senate communications police that will not only ‘fact-check’ what senators say or write outside the chamber, but they will also, in secret, change how you present your thoughts.” 

According to Plett, the Liberal government has a pattern of “doing anything to silence dissent and opposition.”  

Other Conservative Senators expressed their disgust with the fact Plett’s piece was seemingly force-edited by a Liberal-appointed Senator. 

“This should concern each and every one of us,” said Senator Leo Housakos. 

Housakos observed that there can be disagreement on public opinion as well as what is written in op-eds, but Senators “don’t have the right to instruct my staff to call any news outlet in the country to edit anything you say.” 

This is not the first time the Hill Times has been caught editing its news pieces. In 2020, it admitted that it had deleted a column critical of then Governor General Julie Payette, at the request of an unnamed official.  

When it comes to government officials trying to influence people’s opinions via the media, LifeSiteNews recently reported on how disclosed records revealed that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) spent over a quarter of a million dollars tasking employees to create “news” reports, some of which were published by Canadian media.   

Trudeau has pumped billions into propping up the mostly state-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as well as large payouts for legacy media outlets ahead of the 2025 federal election. In total, the subsidies are expected to cost taxpayers $129 million over the next five years.  

Despite the interplay of the state in media, Trudeau has claimed that Canadians must continue subsidizing the CBC and others to “protect our democracy.”