'You've got to go': Liberals apologize to conservative broadcaster banned from public rally
'They wouldn't even recognize me as a Canadian citizen wanting to hear a prime minister speak at an event,' Andrew Lawton said
Stuart Thomson September 26, 2019 8:23 PM EDT
The Liberal Party has apologized to a journalist who was booted from one of Justin Trudeau’s public rallies in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Wednesday.
Andrew Lawton, a conservative broadcaster who has worked in journalism since 2013, says despite the apology he’s still fighting to get access to the kind of media events the party has barred him from this week, and he’s at a loss to explain why he’s been targeted.
“I actually take a great deal of pride in my career, that I have the relationships I do with people of all parties. I’m not someone who does stunts, I’m not someone who disrupts events. I’m not someone who protests. I like to have an honest dialogue,” said Lawton.
For five years, he hosted the Andrew Lawton show in London, Ont., ending in 2018 and was a columnist for Global News.
To summarize: I'm still fighting for access to press conferences and media events. The difference now is that I'm not at risk of being arrested for attending public rallies.
— Andrew Lawton (@AndrewLawton) September 26, 2019
Lawton says the True North Centre, a right-leaning think tank and journalism outlet where he is a fellow, even raised thousands of dollars for him to join the Liberal campaign on the media bus, but the party turned him away on Sunday when he tried to join the tour.
On Monday, he was unable to get details of a Trudeau press event in Niagara Falls, so he tried to follow the bus to the venue. He was soon pulled over by a police officer who questioned him for about 15 minutes and who said he didn’t think Lawton was doing anything illegal, Lawton said.
On Tuesday, he was barred from a Trudeau policy announcement in Burnaby, B.C. and told that he was not an “accredited” journalist. After being turned away from Trudeau’s event, Lawton said the New Democratic Party happily admitted him to their party’s event nearby, where he was able to quiz leader Jagmeet Singh.
Lawton then hopped on a plane to Thunder Bay where he planned to cover Trudeau’s public rally on Wednesday night. He filled in an RSVP form and stood in line for about an hour before a campaign worker approached him, took his photograph and then showed it to the police officers in attendance. The officers promptly asked him to leave the venue. Lawton asked the officers why he was being removed and they said they didn’t know. The Liberals also gave him no answers.
“They wouldn’t even recognize me as a Canadian citizen wanting to hear a prime minister speak at an event,” said Lawton. “They didn’t say, ‘We’re worried you’re going to disrupt it.’ They didn’t say there’s a security concern. They just said, ‘You’ve got to go’.”
This has nothing to do with media credentials or accreditation. This was an ejection from a public rally. Not even a townhall where there was a risk I could *gasp* ask a question. What do the Liberals find so scary about me?
— Andrew Lawton (@AndrewLawton) September 25, 2019
Lawton said he wasn’t sure whether he was personally being targeted or if the Liberal Party had a problem with the True North Centre.
The think tank and news outlet, which is a registered charity, has been described by founder Candice Malcolm as “a cross between the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the Fraser Institute but for national security and immigration.” It’s designed to bring a right wing perspective to those issues and Lawton identifies himself as a conservative. He emphasizes that he’s “small c conservative,” not a partisan, although he did run for the Ontario Progressive Conservatives in the 2018 election. During that race, Lawton had to apologize for offensive comments he had made in the past.
Lawton has been barred from three Liberal news conferences, in Burnaby, Brampton and Hamilton, with little explanation other than he wasn’t “accredited.” Lawton says he watched two people approach a campaign worker and get admitted on the spot in Burnaby and he’s struggled to get an explanation of what “accredited” means, when there’s no formal process for Canadian journalists.
Many journalists who cover the government in Ottawa are part of the parliamentary press gallery, but that’s not required for election campaign events and local media and foreign media have covered events featuring all the major parties.
From his discussions with Liberal campaign staff, Lawton said he think “they don’t really have a working definition” for media accreditation.
“So my position is that they’re making it up on the spot,” he said.
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Lawton acknowledges that the Liberal Party has the right to remove anyone they like for the events, but the idea that they would remove a journalist and bar him from press conferences worries him.
“There is a leadership by example question here, specifically with this government, who, back during Stephen Harper’s time was priding itself on being the party that would be open to the press, and would allow all reporters to come and ask the tough questions,” said Lawton.
“And it’s also the party that was thumping its chest years ago, and saying that it doesn’t kick people out of rallies for not being supporters. And, you know, there’s a hypocrisy in what they’ve done,” he said.
Perhaps the most baffling thing to Lawton is that he’s asked Trudeau questions at a press conference before. On Wednesday, he posted a two-year-old photo of himself and Trudeau posing for a photo together after a media event.
• Email: sxthomson@postmedia.com | Twitter: stuartxthomson
