Poilievre lashes out at Bell Canada after CTV airs altered clip

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre tore into BCE Inc. on Tuesday after CTV News — which is owned by BCE — ran an edited clip that altered the meaning of his words.

Rising in the House of Commons during debate on his non-confidence motion, Poilievre said CTV's Sunday news item on that motion was "extremely dishonest" and "fraudulent."

He blasted Bell, citing a rating agency's recent decision to downgrade its credit rating to "near junk status." He accused CEO Mirko Bibic of being "overpaid," said he "empties the books to pay his wealthy friends" and claimed the company pays "an unacceptably and unrealistically high dividend."

Poilievre has been a frequent critic of the news media and the Parliamentary Press Gallery in particular. He has accused media outlets like CTV, CBC, the Canadian Press and others of being pro-Liberal when he takes issue with their coverage.

But it's unusual for a senior politician like Poilievre to condemn in such strong terms a major publicly traded company like Bell — although Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the company out earlier this year for what he called a "garbage" decision to lay off journalists and media workers.

Poilievre suggested, without evidence, that the news team behind the altered clip was somehow doing the bidding of Bibic.

"The reason why he and his other cronies at that company are going after me is because he knows that I'm standing up for the people against the crony capitalists and insiders like him," Poilievre said.

Bibic has been a Conservative Party donor in the past, according to Elections Canada records. In 2004, he made a donation to a local Liberal candidate in Ottawa.

Bibic also gave money in 2022 to Jean Charest, Poilievre's main opponent in the last Conservative leadership election, records show.

Poilievre's pointed attack this time stems from CTV News's decision to rearrange some of the words Poilievre uttered in a scrum with reporters. The Conservatives say CTV spliced together his words in a way that gave the impression that Poilievre was introducing a non-confidence motion — which would bring on an early election — because he wants to do away with the Liberal government's fledgling dental care program.

In his scrum with reporters, Poilievre said: "That's why it's time to put forward a motion for a carbon tax election."

On the CTV broadcast, Poilievre was heard saying: "That's why we need to put forward a motion." Those words came right after the network's reporter read from a script that said there are "questions" about dental care's "future" with the non-confidence motion looming.

In a statement, a spokesperson for CTV said it "presented a comment by the Official Opposition leader that was taken out of context."

"A misunderstanding during the editing process resulted in this misrepresentation," the spokesperson said. "We unreservedly apologize to Mr. Poilievre and the Conservative Party of Canada."