In Canada, Justin Trudeau’s government seems to keep getting mired in ever more allegations of mass surveillance and spying on the population, the latest being a report about contracts designed to monitor social media.
It’s another case of “not new news” – this time, also because of the actual chronology of it all.
Although it’s only now coming to light, Canadian press reports allege that Trudeau embarked on the policy of spending tax money in order to “better surveil” the country’s general population – pretty much since he took office.
According to this, the Privy Council Office (PCO) was in the business of giving contracts to a company called Meltwater in 2014 for the first time – that one cost $49,437 taxpayer, Canadian dollars.
But the allegation is that the value of these contracts has since blown up to “millions.”
At this point, there’s not too much need to outline the essential Trudeau government policies – they are witnessed all over the political, economic, and social spectrum – from “the Freedom Convoy” animosity to the World Economic Forum loyalty.
But what is Meltwater? According to the company’s site, it is “The Ultimate Social Listening Guide.”
Surely not – there must be many more non-third-party “ultimate listeners” out there for a government? But this is the sort of thing the Trudeau cabinet is now accused of spending a lot of money on.
The promise Meltwater makes is that those who pay will “never miss a social media mention.”
So a controversial government spending a lot of citizens’ money desperately wanting to know who’s criticizing it, where, and when. Not surprising – if this was some run-of-the-mill, flagged and labeled as such is mainstream media, “totalitarian state.”
But this is about Canada.
In 2023, Meltwater went from earning several dozen a decade before – to close to a $50 million contract just in 2023. PCO “blessed” the deal saying it was one focusing on communications professionals, and media monitoring and relations.
Take that for what you will – or what it is. As for how researcher Nya Pfannerstill takes it, here it goes:
“The Trudeau Government is not paying millions of tax dollars to find out how it can save us money, but to learn how to build better propaganda.”
That’s one way of damning the scheme, apparently set up to become a part of the “disinformation and misinformation combating industry.”
A scheme apparently any schmuck will pay for, and implicate themselves in the process, for good measure.
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