TORONTO – Canada’s National Broadcaster does a “hatchet-job” on the Canadian-Italian community with an all-out diatribe on Italy’s PM, Giorgia Meloni. 

On the eve of a personal visit from this year’s Chair of the G-7, Giorgia Meloni, some uncultured clown of an editor at the CBC thought it opportune to aim drive-by smears at Italy’s Prime Minister. And, by extension cover every Italian Canadian in the country with the same hatred-laced, snide mud. We pay for this “nation-building”?

Only a condescending ignoramus would suggest that a not-so-subtle attack on Giorgia Meloni might in some way nurture positive international relations with Italy and Europe, much less contribute to the integration of one of Canada’s most numerous and oldest ethnicities into the Canadian mainstream.

Unless, of course, the motive was generated by mischief, malice or hatred for Canada’s citizens of Catholic, Italian ancestry. If it was, I did not read that as goal sanctioned by Parliament in the Crown Corporation’s Mission Statement. Nor could I find a reference that says the Nation’s broadcaster should perpetuate a 100 – year- old stereotype of “fascist Italy”.

With one article, the CBC has turned the clock back to an era when it was a criminal offense to be Italian (thanks to the War Measures Act, 1940, that turned them all into Enemy aliens). The author, John Last, a freelance writer currently based in Padova, is a contributor to the New Republic, an American publication dedicated to the promotion of “progressive”, leftist, social/political issues”.

On Thursday, the CBC, an over-the-air broadcaster, decided to publish (i.e.., print) his extreme Left-wing meanderings to spew venom directly onto Giorgia Meloni, and by extension, on Italians, particularly among the diaspora in Canada. It is impossible to fully critique so smug and scurrilous an article in one short column. The soon to be former president Catherine Tait can help, she bears the responsibility.

Here is the contorted title of the original: Why Italy’s far-right leader Giorgia Meloni is sure to get a warm reception in Canada. If that did not conjure up images of jack-booted Nazis in our streets before a fawning public, then maybe this one will: …Giorgia Meloni, …” is widely regarded as that country’s most right-wing leader since the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. But don’t expect that detail to come up”. Thanks for bringing it up.

What are the authorities supporting the claim that she is ”widely regarded as…”? Do they go beyond the opinions of the Liberal-Democrats sources in the article or of our own Prime Minister’s “progressive views” on gender ideology?

The CBC seems to regret “[Meloni] has become a key power player in Europe” …how dare she? Heavens forbid: a woman with talent, her own view of the world and grit to boot. I am tempted to add… just like the Canadian Italians we know in Canada.

The CBC, hiding behind one academic source, adds, ”But for people on the left, it is a worrying trend.”

Really? Is that because Meloni is taking the lead in exploring ways to stop human trafficking from Africa, from impoverished areas of the Greater Middle East and from disadvantaged areas of Southeastern Europe?

Is it worrying because her economic plans include investments in building the infrastructure for transformation in the African states where the ravages of war have given rise to indentured labour, human exploitation and oppression? She is building multi-lateral approaches and cooperation on this file. That was one of the reasons for her visit.
The CBC accuses Meloni and Italy of “harsh policies on migration”. Has it looked at Canada’s very recent announcements re International Students and Mexican visitors? Or that immigration by Italians to Canada has been effectively blocked for ten years?

Over this last decade, an average of one thousand illegal “immigrants’’ per night – every night – have breached Italian “borders” and still processed and settled.

Undeterred by its freelancer’s shallow understanding of policy development on immigration, the Satate broadcaster insists on attributing [colonization/imperialist] policy initiatives from Italy (read Meloni) as “ambitions… extended across the Mediterranean”. For those who might not know, North Africa and Italians have had reciprocal relations for 3,000 years.

Today, the CBC confirms that Meloni’s ambitions come with a new investment plan that would transfer billions in cash to African countries. That strategy was one of the topics expected to be under discussion for the Meloni-Trudeau bilateral on Saturday.

But the CBC is pleading with Trudeau to hold fast on his positions regarding gender, reminding him that Meloni’s proposals for constitutional reforms in Italy “[according to unnamed] critics say parallel those enacted by Mussolini in the 1920s, which would likely hand sweeping new powers to her office”.
There is no more powerful Prime Minister than one ride the crest of a majority government.

The article was nothing short of an insult on those of us who finance the CBC. It should pull the article and apologize to all of us. The responsible Minister should do a complete overhaul of its directors.