Guilbeault to probe taxpayer-funded magazine that gloated over Charlie Kirk’s death

Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said he would look into the Montreal Magazine, Cult MTL, after it printed a column titled “To Hell With Charlie Kirk”.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said he would look into the Montreal Magazine, Cult MTL, after it printed a column titled “To Hell With Charlie Kirk” the day after the U.S. conservative activist was assassinated on a public stage.

While testifying at the Commons Canadian Heritage Committee on September 24, Conservative MP Rachael Thomas pressed Guilbeault on why federal funds flowed to the publication through the Canada Periodical Fund.

Thomas cited a September 11 column that mocked Kirk’s death and ended with “You reap what you sow,” questioning if taxpayer dollars should subsidize such content.

Guilbeault, speaking in French, replied that his department was not aware of the article and said he would “quickly look into this with the department and see what in fact was printed … and convey this to all the members of the committee”.

He added that “spreading hate has no place in the public discourse in Canada,” and promised, “If … the organization does not deserve to continue receiving government funding, the funding will be withdrawn”.

Public records show Cult MTL has received multiple grants from Canadian Heritage under the Canada Periodical Fund, including $46,719 in 2020 and smaller amounts in subsequent years.

Guilbeault also faced questions about other government-funded groups, reiterating that Ottawa “has withdrawn funding from organizations which did not act in keeping with the federal the government’s values.”

The minister did not commit to an immediate cutoff of funds but said his department would verify the facts and “take the necessary steps” if warranted.

Responding to Thomas’s questions about the CBC workplace controversy involving former host Travis Dhanraj, Guilbeault said he “deplores what happened to this employee of CBC,” but stressed that “the government’s role is not to get mixed into the daily operations and management of the CBC.”

Dhanraj has filed a human rights complaint alleging discrimination and a toxic workplace at CBC.

Dhanraj said he was “used as a token of diversity” and that “the CBC didn’t get the brown guy that they thought they were going to get” when he tried to include conservative perspectives on his show.

On Tuesday, September 23, Dhanraj announced on X that CBC had finally accepted his resignation.

While Thomas questioned him in English, Guilbeault replied entirely in French.

This was a point of tension in November 2023 when Liberals accused Thomas of “insulting francophones.”

Thomas later apologized to then-heritage minister Pascale St-Onge for asking her to speak English during a committee meeting. Guilbeault, however, answered most questions from his Liberal colleagues in English.