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The meeting included members of Carney’s Privy Council Office, the Treasury Board, immigration department, Global Affairs Canada, and the Canada Revenue Agency.
(LifeSiteNews) — Access to Information records show that staff from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s own office held a closed-door meeting to decide which media outlets would get press accreditation and which ones would be denied.
The meeting was held on March 10, 2026, and included members of Carney’s Privy Council Office, Treasury Board, immigration department, Global Affairs Canada, and even the Canada Revenue Agency.
As noted by Blacklock’s Reporter, the agencies all came together to create what they saw as a central media accreditation system to counter ever-growing independent media outlets, which have boomed in popularity since COVID.
The documents show that federal bureaucrats held debates about which journalists were worthy, or considered “bona fide,” to be allowed media access.
“On March 10 we met with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Treasury Board, Canada Revenue Agency and the Privy Council Office to discuss the federal media accreditation process and assess whether departments should better align their approaches in light of a rapidly evolving media landscape,” stated a March 11 internal immigration department email.
The email also stated that not all federal departments were using the same standards when deciding which press should be qualified, noting, “Participants noted most departments rely on case-by-case judgment.”
In the meeting, officials discussed that independent media was growing and that the current rules did not reflect this and needed to change.
Of importance was that the closed-door meeting came a day after Canada’s immigration department admitted that it would not give media who are not “bona fide” access to ask it questions.
The records show that priority access would be focused on only news outlets that are federally subsidized to the tune of billions annually.
“Media accreditation criteria were developed to ensure resources we allocate genuinely support access to high-quality information while safeguarding press freedom,” one government document was said to have stated.