Fake News And Politicians’ Lies Find Believers In Ill-Informed Public

Patrick Gossage • February 2, 2024

The rise of social media as an unreliable news source and the precipitous decline of traditional news media serves as an answer to the question: How is it possible that so many people believe the outright lies of politicians and the frightening spread of disinformation?

To be presumptuous, if the New York Times and other major authoritative media were the only source of information for the vast majority of Americans, the ongoing lies of Donald Trump would have little currency. The same might be said for our own Pierre Poilievre who disdains regular, “mainstream” media, and relies heavily on social media channels and YouTube to disseminate his message. Consider if Canadians relied on the Globe and Mail and other major other national “traditional” media who analyze economic trends and causes independently, Poilievre would not have the power or willing audience to blame Justin Trudeau for the current unaffordability crisis.


Andrew MacDougal, Prime Minister Harper’s director of Communications put it this way in an insightful article for The Line: “The House (the mega social media sites) actually prefers and privileges the crank’s counterfeit currency. It’s cheaper to make, it goes viral more often, it keeps more people engaged for longer on their platforms…Quality doesn’t count in the online information casino… Why stay hemmed in by truth when you can invent a vastly more entertaining “Pope endorses Trump” fiction? Whatever keeps us stuck in the casino. We stay, they sell ads, we go broke. Say it with me: the House always wins.” This is how it is in the information age we now live in.“  Not news but Clickbait and controversy.


Perhaps the most horrific inflation of a fake story occurred in 2016, when it was alleged that Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton and her chief of staff, John Podesta, were operating a child sex ring out of a pizza parlour’s basement in Washington, DC. What started as internet rumour quickly became a social media trend. The hashtag #pizzagate went viral as thousands of accounts tweeted “evidence” both for and against the story.


Political lies may be appealing because they deliver a moral narrative or confirm sentiments that people already hold.  A study in Social Psychological and Personality Science+

 suggests people have more leniency for politicians' lies when they bolster a shared belief that a specific political stance is morally right.  “It appears to be because those lies are perceived by supporters as an acceptable and perhaps necessary means to achieve a higher moral end,” says the lead author of the study. “A troubling and timely implication of these findings is that political figures may be able to act in corrupt ways without damaging their images, at least in the eyes of their supporters.” 


The other fact worth noting about the amplification on social media of the most controversial and startling stories including fake ones is that once you pull up a few of these on your phone or computer an algorithm kicks in that makes sure you get more like it. Unwillingly and likely unknowingly you become a target for political lies and fake news.


In a prescient Policy Magazine in 2017 Andrew Potter described the transformation of news consumption this way:  “A journalist was someone who worked for a media organization that had formal and effective procedures for ensuring transparency, accuracy, correction of errors and basic accountability, and this fact alone provided a considerable degree of what we might as well call consumer protection. Then along came the internet, blogging platforms, social media, smart phones with cameras and video and editing and publishing apps, and suddenly anyone on the street has more publication power, in terms of platform diversity and potential audience reach, than the entire New York Times newsroom of just 25 years ago. Add to this the cult of the ‘citizen journalist’ and the now-discredited late-1990s cant about the democratizing power of the internet, and you get people seriously claiming that ‘everyone is a journalist.’ Journalism has been effectively de-institutionalized because those consumer protections are no longer in place. There is no longer any way of ensuring that we can trust the news.” 


Canada is not immune from the power of an untrue story which now passes as the truth given its widespread amplification in alternate media. This is evident in the claim by Pierre Poilievre that the Carbon Tax imposes major costs on all Canadians. In Winnipeg last month he made his case on the cost of the tax standing near two trucks:  "Everything transported in these trucks becomes more expensive because of the Trudeau tax on carbon and on diesel." His endless “Axe the Tax” campaign ignores the fact that numerous analyses over the years have shown that most households receive more in rebates than they pay in direct and indirect carbon-tax costs. He promises that there will be a carbon tax election. One run on a false premise. Something to look forward to!


Those few of us who do relay on traditional media are not as exposed to the outrageous fiction which can dominate conservative news outlets, many open line programs and alternate news sources. A recent event in Alberta featuring the discredited Fox News host Tucker Carlson and the Premier treated the audience to the most egregious views on immigration of the far right. Carlson said: “Canada has the highest immigration rate per capita in the world…If you change the population of the country you change the country and you dilute the voting power of the people who are invested in that country.” This “replacement theory” so  prominent in far-right circles claims that white people are being replaced by nonwhites to further the ideology of leftists. 


And of course, there is Trump who empowers conspiracy theorists everywhere. He uses his own social media to pump out his own fictional version of what’s wrong with America, and what will make it right including sending all millions of illegal immigrants out of the country. Responsible TV Media like the US networks and CNN wrestle daily with how much of his vitriol to carry live. 


To make matters worse CNN’s fact checking by the Canadian Daniel Dale doesn’t have the prominence it once did – but he is still on the case – witness this CNN report: “Trump Tuesday night (in New Hampshire) said, ‘Do they hate our country? They must hate our country. Because there’s no other reason that they can be doing the things they do. Take a look – the taxes, they want to raise your taxes times four.’ Facts First: This is false. Neither Biden nor other top Democrats are proposing anything close to quadrupling people’s taxes.” Think how revealing this kind of treatment would be if given to Poilievre's or Doug Ford’s or Danielle Smith’s regular bending of the truth.


In a New York Times recent editorial Maureen Dowd made an interesting suggestion: “Maybe we should just run a Chryon (subtitle) under Trump at all times: No your opponents are not vermin, no immigrants are not poisoning the blood of our nation, no January 6 was not a beautiful day, no Presidents should not have total immunity because crooks can be President.”


There is a rule of thumb when hearing politicians distort the truth. If it sounds too simplistic or too good to be true for the source it probably is not true. And this from a career PR man.


I would be remiss if I did not examine the use of exaggeration, spin or near lies which is so much part of just about any utterance by any politician. Our PM Justin Trudeau is no exception as I listened intently to his rosy speech to the troops at a recent caucus meeting. He went through a recounting of his greatest hits – the child tax benefit that has lifted hundreds of thousands out of poverty. He reiterated the success of Liberals “working hard to strengthen the middle class and support those working hard to join it” which means nothing to the millions dreading the renewal of their mortgages in the next two years. Then he closed with a strange line that took him further into some fantasy world of good intentions: “As we build the prosperous future that everyone is looking for in this country, we have remembered that the economy is not numbers. The economy is people.” Really? A new value with which to confuse a worried public. 


This refurbishing of reality is very Canadian. It’s a long way from the arrogance, hate and basic deception of Trump, but it is worrisome click bait nonetheless.


Patrick Gossage Insider Political Views

Two Opposites – Mark Carney and Donald Trump

By Patrick Gossage • March 12, 2026
One of the major differences between these two men is that Carney understands the value of well-thought-out strategy, abundantly clear in his Davos speech, which laid out one for middle powers to deal with the end of a rules-based international order and the rise of hegemony. Trump's lack of strategic understanding is clear in his bumbling attempts to justify the billion-dollar-a-day Iran war. His overall tactic of “flooding the zone” – mounting a new initiative or major announcement every day, or even several times a day to ensure press and opposition can never catch up. This tactic has served him well – confusing the world and his would-be opponents into submission under a valley of activity and harsh opinions from the leader of the world. Contrast this approach to leadership from Carney. He is systematically building a nation less dependent on US trade by travelling the world building new alliances and trading partners. And in the scare of Australia giving substance to his idea of alliances with middle powers. All laid out in the Davos speech. It is instructive to appreciate how much Trump was irritated by the Davos speech. Carney got a standing ovation; Trump’s rambling lengthy diatribe did not. He won’t soon forget being so upstaged. He surely recognized an intellectual power he could never match. Carney is a realist and pragmatic when he stated recently “We take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.” He is dealing with the world that is being reshaped by an irrational power-mad president, a world the powerful Stephen Miller said “that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world.” Does Carney sometimes err on the side of supporting Trump likely to ensure that critical talks on free trade and tariffs have some chance of finding a sympathetic ear? Yes; first he seemed to fully support Trump’s war with Iran. He later made his support more nuanced, saying Trump’s actions were against the rules-based international order. He now says we will not get involved unless a NATO ally is threatened. But generally, Carney is highly rational in contrast to Trump’s self-centered irrationality. Take Trump’s bizarre ill-informed letter to the Prime Minister of Norway, who had no role in deciding if he got the Nobel Peace Prize: “I no longer feel obligated to think purely of Peace (he subsequently engaged in an ever expanding war against Iran). He then reiterated his demand for “complete and Total Control, of Greenland. Thank you!”. His late-night rants, complete with caps, on social media show a mind out of control. Thay are dutifully reported on US news media and often astonish with their non sequiturs and nastiness. One of his more unpresidential quotes came as he fingered White House drapes: “I chose these myself. I always liked gold." The big question for Canadians who are more and more disillusioned with the antics of the President: could these two opposite ever sit down and do a deal that works for Canada. The two do text, and Carney has admitted that in private Trump does listen. But there is also evidence that the trade people in the White House do not like Canada, and as Trump has said, we owe our very existence to the US. And we are “difficult”. They have said that the current trade deal is not good for the US and could be trashed entirely and -deals with Mexico and Canada could be separate and the current trilateral deal may be dead.  Canada was at the brink of reducing the heavy sectoral tariffs on steel, aluminum, and lumber when Premier Ford’s unfortunate ads during the Rose Bowl that featured President Reagan speaking against the usefulness of Tariffs led To Trump suspending talks. They only recently resumed. So can our world-renowned businessman and banker hope to sit down with the unpredictable and unstable President and cut a deal? Some hope that if we extend talks, the President, weakened by the midterms, the bad economic fallout from an unpopular war, and the fragmentation of the MAGA movement may be easier to deal with. On the other hand he may badly need a “win,” bullying big concessions out of Canada and reaping so-cabled benefits from a weaker free trade deal. There is a scenario where Trump gets a black eye if Carney simply walks away with the conviction, perhaps easily shared with an increasingly nationalistic and confident Canada that “no deal is better than a bad deal.” In any case, what a decisive and challenging future we face with Canada at play. Can Carney win for Canada against his opposite by losing a deal?"

A New Canada to Fight for Our Survival

By Patrick Gossage • December 29, 2025
There has been nothing like the mobilization of our country since we went to war against Hitler “for King and Country.” Now we are mobilizing in a new war against Trump’s depredations with renewed patriotic fervour. Our building a resilient sovereignty against the word’s most irrational and powerful regime - who believe we have no right to exist - will require an enormous dedicated and concentrated effort to redefine our nation. . Make no mistake. We are not seen as important in Washington, a lesson I learned as the Minister of Information at our embassy in the Reagan years. Like Trump’s disparaging attitude to Justin Trudeau, Reagan had little use for his crusading father, Pierre Ytudeau. The difference is that with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney r Reagan actually became a key figure in establishing the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed in 1988. Ironically, it is precisely the success of this pact that led to 75% of our trade going to the US, a dangerous dependence which is now under extreme threat. The future of the successor to the FTA is at dtake. The US Canada Mexico Agreement (USMCA) is about to be renegotiated and is by no means secure. Bilateral trade discussions on the sectorial tariffs that are destroying our steel, automobile, aluminum and lumber industries were going well but were cancelled on October 23 after Trump, in a fit of pique was annoyed by Ontario TV ads using a Reagan clip to decry tariffs. Prime Minister Carney clings to the hope that these issues will be addressed in the context of the USMCA talks. They are supposed to begin in January. We live in hope. Make no mistake. Trump recently suggested that USMCA’s future was not certain. His strong belief that Canada would be better as a US state _ “and there would be no tariffs” – seems unshakeable. Perhaps the most striking evidence of what low repute Canada is held in the White House comes from Vice President Vance. He has publicly criticized Canada's our generous immigration policies, blaming them for the country's "stagnating" living standards and referring to our approach as "immigration insanity". Vance pointed to a chart from IceCap Asset Management showing that Canada's GDP per capita growth has fallen behind that of the U.S. and the U.K. in recent years. He argues this stagnation is a direct result of Canada's approach to immigration and not U.S. trade policies. He specifically targeted Canada's multiculturalism model, contrasting it with the U.S. "melting pot". Vance claimed that "no nation has leaned more into 'diversity is our strength’... immigration insanity “ than Canada". The White House recently released National Security Strategy (NSS) which also note how immigrants can destroy our democracies. Thomas Friedman, a New York Times columnist signaled this: “It cites activities by our sister European democracies that “undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence. “‘Should present trends continue,” it goes on, “the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less.” These views are totally inimical to Canadian values.  As is this, Trump’s most outrageous recent anti- immigrant outburst as reported by NBC : “For a second day in a row, President Donald Trump launched into a hate-filled rant against Somalia and Somali immigrants living in the US, saying they’ve “destroyed Minnesota” and “our country.” Minnesota, Trump said, is “a hellhole” right now. “The Somalians should be out of here. They’ve destroyed our country.“ The NSC also can affect Canada in its focus on the Western hemisphere. an area to be dominated by US interests. The US will secure critical supply chains in its own interests; and insists on the right of the US to have access to “strategically important locations.” The US National Security Council is to identify strategic points and resources in the Western hemisphere with a view to their protection and joint development with regional partners. Obviously, Canada as a source of critical minerals, will be under US scrutiny. Some observers fear that Trump wants Canada to become a “vassal state”. A December Toronto Star editorial states coldly that “Thanks to Donald Trump, we know that nothing about our country is guaranteed anymore, not our sovereignty, our democracy, our prosperity.” We now know the Canadian policies standing in the way of a new USMCA agreement. US Trade representative Jamieson Greer said our online Streaming Act, which will make profitable US streaming services support Canadian programming is a major irritant as is our sacrosanct supply management regime for dairy and poultry products. These both are very difficult bargaining chips for Canada to play. Trump’s love affair with tariffs is unlikely to subside so Canadian products may continue to be frozen out of the US. Prime Minister Carney’s ambitious strategy of finding alternate markets for these may work. And his new policy framework for rebuilding a successful economy, major infrastructure projects and attracting important foreign investment is a significant redefinition of our national political priorities. He enjoys wide public support for his strategy which also receives good business and media support. There is already some optimism about the economy in 2026 - take Bank of Montreal’s recent outlook paper: “We’re looking for a stronger economy in 2026 than 2025. Consumer spending has helped prop up the economy. The “Buy Canadian” campaign has helped, and more people are travelling closer to home. Also, there’s no question that federal government spending has also supported economic growth. As we move into the latter part of the year—boosted by firmer economic growth and lower population growth—we expect the unemployment rate to fall in the second half. “Canada’s position in the trade dispute isn’t as bad as it appeared earlier in the year. The average Us tariff rate on imports of Canadian goods is between 6% and 7%, compared to the 17% rate the U.S. charges the rest of the world on average. (these rates are goods under the existing CUSMA) Sectorial tariffs are heavily focused on certain targeted industries, such as steel and aluminum, lumber, and auto imports and non-USMCA auto parts. These are important sectors, but they represent a relatively narrow slice of the economy. “ In addition there is good news on the overall trade front. Canada’s trade swung to a surplus of C$0.15 billion in September 2025 from a C$6.3 billion deficit the month before and well above expectations for a C$4.5 billion deficit, Exports rose 6.3 C$ 64.231 billion, the largest monthly increase since February. Nine of 11 product sections posted gains. Metal and non-metallic mineral product exports jumped 22.7% driven by a 30.2% surge in unwrought gold; aircraft and other transportation equipment rose 23.4% and crude oil exports climbed 5.8%. We just may have a more resilient economy than we thought. Nevertheless, we cannot count on Trump agreeing to a new trade regime that is as good as the original NAFTA – and the cost of reducing tariffs on key sectors may be too high, Trump’s love for tariffs and distain for us won’t change. We can only hope that a smart, well connected and determined Prime Minister can rebuild an economy that will be immune to the vagaries of our neighbour.
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