Liar Liar The PEI Press Gallery’s pants are on fire

This article was last updated on May 25, 2022

Canada: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

The PEI Press Gallery's pants are on fire. Lobbyists get exposed on Prince Edward Island

By Stephen Pate – The PEI Legislature Press Gallery lied about me 4 years ago. They used those lies to take away my press pass. It was a lie and a cheap trick to call me a lobbyist for volunteer work with the disabled.

Recent stories on The CBC and Guardian about "unregistered lobbyists" on PEI have exposed the Press Gallery lies. If the Press Gallery simply didn't understand in 2009 what the word "lobbyist" means, they can simply apologize.

There is a good reason the public don't believe journalists. They lie. They get the facts wrong and then lie to cover their tracks. According to PEW Research, 75% of the people believe journalists get the facts wrong, favor one side and are "often influenced by powerful people and organization."

The Big Lie – A Paid Lobbyist

The big lie the Press Gallery President told was that I was a paid lobbyist. He and his cohort, the CBC Executive Producer,called me a lobbyist 13 times in the meeting trying to convince the 13 journalists in the room I was unfit for my job. A really good lie needs to be repeated to convince the uninformed.

Wayne Thibodeau, President PEI Press Gallery

May I also point out Mr. Pate is an active lobbyist. He is a lobbyist. He lobbies regularly on behalf of Disability Alert and other groups. (Wayne Thibodeau, Press Gallery of the PEI Legislature October 19, 2009)

The lie was taking up by Donna Allen, CBC PEI Executive Producer who asked 4 times  "So I can I ask Mr. Pate – do you consider yourself a lobbyist or an advocate?"

CBC News Producer Donna Allen (CBC photo)

"I am not a lobbyist," I replied. "I don't lobby for anybody. Nobody pays me to lobby."

No one has ever hired me nor have I accepted any payment as a volunteer at Disability Alert. Every time Thibodeau made the false accusation, I refuted it but the big lie does not like the truth.

Thibodeau warned the Press Gallery that dire consequences would occur if they did not remove my press pass.  The government would stop handing out press releases, he warned,  if lobbyists like myself were allowed to be journalists.  Of course, that was probably not true since the government appears to like lobbyists such as LeClair and King.

P.E.I. lobbyists operating in the dark

The Canadian Taxpayers Foundation, reported the CBC, wants lobbyists registered. You don't know who's being paid for by who and who is lobbying for what," said Executive Director Kevin Lacey. The CBC story reported,

The registry would include the names of lobbyists who are paid by a group to convince the government to change or maintain its policies on specific issues.

When I read that story it occurred to me that CBC did know the meaning of lobbying.  Was the CBC lying in October 2009 at the meeting when they called me a lobbyist?

The Guardian Gets It Right

Teresa Wright, Charlottetown Guardian (Twitter official photo)

Guardian reporter Teresa Wright knows what lobbying is. Now she does.

This week, she wrote Call for lobbyists to testify leads to fiery debate connecting people who get paid to influence politicians with the word lobbying.

She called Chris LeClair and Cynthia (Dunsford) King "two politically connected lobbyists" 6 times in the store, saying,

The two have been hired by the Potato Board and Cavendish Farms to co-ordinate meetings with as many provincial MLAs as possible to lobby in favour of lifting the current moratorium on irrigation wells.

Hiding the truth

PEW found that "journalists try to cover up their mistakes, rather than admit them." The CBC and The Guardian have spent more than $100,000 in legal fees is to keep the Press Gallery lies out of the public's view. A public Human Rights Tribunal will expose the truth, which is one reason I filed the human rights complaint.

At the Human Rights Tribunal, Thibodeau, Allen and Wright will be asked "Do you know what a lobbyist is?"  The Press Gallery are not likely to lie under oath but if they do that will get reported in the media.

The CBC and The Guardian do not want to truth to be known which is why they are fighting so hard.  Complaint against press gallery goes to court.

75% say journalists can't get their facts straight

Only one-quarter of those surveyed say news orgs get the facts right, a new low since 1985 when the question was first asked. Two-thirds (66 percent) say stories are often inaccurate, a new high. And nearly three-quarters of Americans believe that journalists try to cover up their mistakes, rather than admit them. PEW

Alternative theory

There is an off chance the 13 members of the Press Gallery had no idea in 2009 what a lobbyist was, although Thibodeau claimed to have researched the topic.  In that case, they were not lying. The Press Gallery were merely mistaken in calling me a paid lobbyist. It could be they didn't know the difference between a paid lobbyist and a journalist in a wheelchair. If that's the case, the Press Gallery should apologize.

Follow me on Twitter at @sdpate, on Facebook at NJN Network and OyeTimes.

By Stephen Pate, NJN Network

Share with friends
You can publish this article on your website as long as you provide a link back to this page.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*