Mainstream media - refusing to publish the most newsworthy story in Canada in years

Canada’s entire mainstream media is owned by the wealthy who dictate what can be published. They give naive Canadians (like me ten years ago) the wrong impression that they are responsibly covering every topic that is newsworthy and impactful to the Canadian public. Is there a more newsworthy, impactful story than:

CPP’s $500 billion surplus can help millions of struggling Canadians

Based on standard pension practice, the CPP’s $500 billion surplus should be distributed. A no-risk $200 billion surplus distribution would give 20 million Canadians $10,000 each, on average. It would also lead to considerable improvements in Canada’s GDP, productivity, employment, business profits, poverty, income inequality, charitable donations and deficit. A recent study indicates 43% of Canadians are within $200 of insolvency. A deserved $10,000 payment would be life-changing. 

Moreover, young Canadians no longer need to invest for retirement, buy life insurance or contribute to other pension plans. This is because the CPP will likely give them a $100,000 CPP pension, in 2026 dollars. 

With as much as 15% more income available today and news of a secure retirement, young Canadians can shed much of their current anxiety and improve their quality of life. However, the financial industry and actuarial profession would suffer.  

Yet the entire mainstream media has refused to publish even the first paragraph of this reality. Two journalists who pushed the issue lost their jobs. In ten years, not once has the phrase “CPP surplus” appeared in mainstream media. 

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland should know about the media industry. At one time, she was Managing Director at Reuters, Deputy Editor at The Globe and Mail, and reported for The Financial Times, The Economist and The Washington Post. She explains why the Canadian media has published nothing on the CPP’s surplus in her book, Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-rich and the Fall of Everyone Else. The book describes how

“the super-rich have bankrolled a network of conservative think tanks, elite journals and mass media outlets to dominate the debate over economic policy.”

She implies the selfish, wealthy owners of the Canadian media are selectively publishing what is to their advantage, not what is newsworthy.

One mainstream journalist, when I suggested the wealthiest 1% are preventing news that would benefit the 99% from reaching Canadians, responded,

“I do not disagree with you at all. It was challenging working within the confines of mainstream media, and I tried to push as hard as I could to cover stories that are important to 99% of Canadians (and not the wealthy 1%) but parochial, short-term thinking and market-driven journalism often thwarted my attempts.”

It finally took a respected international publication, The Economist, to write:

“Canada’s vast pension fund is gaining even more financial clout. The fund’s portfolio size has more than tripled over the past decade and is going to become only more gigantic.”

And since those words were published in January 2019, the fund has increased by another $400 billion.

Award-winning John Miller was a Professor of Journalism at Ryerson University (now TMU) for 23 years. For 10 years he was Chair of the School of Journalism, Canada’s top-ranked journalism school. Before Ryerson, he was managing editor at The Toronto Star. He feels the current Canadian media is

“cannibalistic...They’re chewing away bone marrow of their own properties in order to make them a profit, so the whole public service aspect of journalism has sort of taken a back seat…the overall quality of journalism has been lost.” 

Marc Edge is a Canadian journalist, academic and author. He recently stated

“Media are being financialized and bought up largely by hedge funds, which are only interested in making a profit. They don’t really care too much about journalism. It’s just a means to an end, and that end, of course, is making money, As a result, journalism is being squeezed for every possible dollar of profit.”

In a moment of candour, on Sept. 8, 2022, Globe and Mail journalist, Lawrence Martin, wrote “The online world is skewing social political patterns and thwarting democracy”. In the article, he stated:

“The crisis in our information complex is glaring, but it isn't being addressed. Mainstream media, while demanding transparency everywhere else, rarely applies this standard to itself. Despite its exponential growth in importance, the media industry gets only a small fraction of the scrutiny that other powerful institutions do.

Big issues go largely unexamined in Canadian media. We rarely take a look at the unfettered rise of media ownership monopolies. There is no overarching media institute to address the problems.”

Few Canadians realize our Canadian media is completely owned by a few complicit companies. An independent publication, The Maple, is dedicated to publishing the truth. In a story titled “A Guide To The Ruling Class’s Domination And Destruction Of Canadian Media” they state

“News coverage and the opinion journalism of the largest newspapers in Canada has now been weaponized and monetized by the owners.”

In unbiased media coverage, Canada is inferior to the US

US media companies like FOX, CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times and 60 Minutes are highly diverse in opinion. Before the arrival of Donald Trump in 2024, they each cover whatever they want, eager to increase their readership. There is no veto on certain topics like the Canadian media’s veto on covering the CPP’s surplus and potential. (While Trump’s control of the media is blatant and clumsy, the financial industry’s control of the Canadian media is subtle and under-the-radar.)

For example, in 2011, CBS News’ popular program, Sixty Minutes, published a story that showed how several US politicians had made millions of dollars by buying stock just before favourable legislation was passed. This story led to the STOCK Act, which vetoed such unethical behaviour.

The impact on Canadians of this news void in Canada is colossal. If the news of the CPP’s surplus and potential were published, it is likely 20 million Canadians would receive $200 billion and much more. And millions more low-income Canadians might enter retirement financially secure.

How Does the Media Industry Sustain Itself?

The reality is that much of the traditional media business is under significant financial pressure. As Chrystia Freeland noted in her book Plutocrats:

“The publisher of the Financial Times once remarked ruefully that in a very good year the media group’s entire profit was equal to one midlevel Wall Street trader’s bonus.”

Consider the experience of the Toronto Star and its parent, Torstar Corporation. In 2019, Torstar reported losses close to $50 million.

The longer-term picture is even more striking. Once valued at over $2 billion around 2000, Torstar was sold in 2020 for approximately $60 million—a decline of about 97%. This reflects the broader structural challenges facing newspapers in the digital era.

Nevertheless, The Star was purchased for $60 million in 2020.

This raises an important question: how do major media organizations continue to operate under such financial pressure? It also raises broader questions about how financial constraints may shape editorial priorities. In any industry facing sustained economic pressure, understanding how organizations fund their operations is essential to understanding their incentives and behaviour.

These financial realities matter when considering how major economic issues are covered. If a topic—such as the long-term performance and funding of the CPP—has potentially significant implications for large sectors of the economy, including financial services, it is reasonable to ask whether it receives the level of analysis and public debate it merits.

With zero coverage of arguably the most newsworthy story in Canada in years, it is reasonable to presume The Star is receiving funding from the financial industry to veto any coverage of the CPP’s surplus and potential.

Ensuring that Canadians are fully informed about major public institutions like the CPP ultimately depends on open, well-resourced, and independent analysis.

Even “our” CBC has betrayed us

Canadians each pay roughly $40 per year for “our” CBC. In return, we understandably trust the CBC to give us the news that all privately controlled media members refuse to cover. Despite receiving repeated submissions from me, the CBC’s Senior Director of Journalistic Standards and Public Trust, CBC’s Executive Director of CBC News, and CBC’s Ombudsman have responded, saying this story is not “worthy” enough and not “of great public interest.”

The CBC answers only to one individual - our Prime Minister, who has obviously told the CBC to impose a total blackout on any mention of the CPP’s surplus and potential.

Based on their mandate, the CBC should be jubilantly notifying Canadians regarding the positive benefits available from the CPP’s $500 billion surplus. And they should be harassing politicians to legislate the CPP reform that could bring immense benefits to millions of struggling Canadians. The evidence is overwhelming - The CBC has abandoned Canadians based on instructions from our Prime Minister.

Mr. Poilievre’s desire to “Defund the CBC” is 100% justified unless they change their editorial policies.

On March 10, 2026, former CBC journalist Travis Dhanraj appeared before a parliamentary committee regarding the state of journalism and media in Canada. He said that when he raised concerns with the CBC about editorial control and newsroom practices, he faced disciplinary action and eventually left the organization. He recommended parliament investigate whether contacts between the Prime Minister’s Office and CBC management influenced editorial decisions.

How the media tried to combat the most honest politician in Canada

As described in detail here, Premier Smith refuses to remain silent regarding the CPP’s surplus and potential. She hired Lifeworks, an actuarial firm, to estimate Alberta’s fair share. Because Premier Smith had combated the cover-up, to confuse Canadians, they irresponsibly estimated Alberta deserved 53% of the fund. Then Canada’s mainstream media portrayed Premier Smith, not Lifeworks, as un-Canadian, unhinged and uncooperative.

Based on Town Hall Meetings in Alberta, many Albertans are aware of these deceptive efforts, want their deserved thousands of dollars from the CPP’s surplus, resent Ottawa’s control and want to separate.