On March,  it was announced on CTV Your Morning that Rachel Gilmore, a former parliamentary press gallery reporter, would appear on the show every Friday to fact-check claims regarding the upcoming Canadian federal election.

In response to the announcement, Sebastian Skamski, a senior campaign official for the Conservative Party of Canada, made a post on social media to complain about this, claiming that this was simply a plot to manipulate viewers into supporting the Liberal Party. This complaint was echoed by far-right influencers and right-wing media outlets.

Given his position, Sebastian Skamski has a very clear interest in achieving a particular election result, not in making a neutral ground for voters to make informed decisions. Those who echoed him generally also had a clear interest in a particular election outcome. That Skamski made this complaint shows that he believes that the Conservative Party has something to gain from a lack of fact-checking.

Journalists should not pander to pressure from political interests. They should not withhold relevant information from the public just because political campaigners don't want the public to see it. This response from CTV shows a lack of journalistic integrity.

Please tell CTV to uncancel this segment with Rachel Gilmore, allowing her to fact-check claims relevant to the upcoming election.