This investigation was edited on September 28, 2019 at 12pm EDT. New sections have been added to the end of this article that identify greater issues concerning ethics, the media, and relations with Canadian politicians that may, or may not, constitute electoral interference.

September 23, 2019

By @MsAmyMacPherson

In no way, shape, or form is Free The Press Canada defending or justifying past racist behaviour by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. However, the sensational release of brownface and blackface media depicting the Liberal Leader in his younger years raised numerous questions that require answers to confirm the provenance of this material – especially since it was never mentioned or released prior to the current election.

This investigation by Free The Press Canada has discovered several troubling issues that call the ethics of Time magazine into question, and by extension, its bombshell exposé about Trudeau. Due to these lapses in professionalism, it must also be asked if Time participated in foreign election meddling for partisan purposes.

Time Magazine

In total, three examples of racist photographs and/or video have been released in succession by different news agencies. The first appeared in Time magazine, otherwise known as an American titan in news media (original / archive). It featured a picture of Trudeau dressed in brownface makeup for an Arabian Nights themed event, during his tenure as a teacher at the West Point Grey Academy private school (circa 2001).

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Source: Time magazine

Given that Time is an American enterprise, it raised suspicion that no Canadian media was approached with the original brownface scandal, to have any knowledge about the prime minister’s former transgression. No parliamentary bureau chiefs, with decades of sources and contacts, were prepared for this extremely damaging exposé. Even journalists hired by the Liberal government, and the Conservative opposition, are scrambling to make sense of how they got scooped by a foreign competitor.

Also given that foreign interference is a major issue in Western elections, it became prudent to examine the Time story with a skeptical lens. Free The Press Canada is an advocate of journalism ethics and periodically lectures on the Canadian university circuit (original / archive), so it undertook this analysis with a view to examining the power and means of foreign influence. With great surprise, the initial investigation of Time magazine led to curious discoveries within the article itself, as well as a web of deceit that surrounds the scandal.

The first issue with the infamous Time article is that reporters didn’t interview the purported source of the Arabian Nights photo, who they named as Michael Adamson. Instead they only paraphrase a disparate explanation regarding how Adamson came to possess this politically explosive evidence.

First they report he was involved with the West Point Grey Academy community, leaving readers to insinuate that Adamson may have participated with the school at the time of Trudeau’s employment. But the magazine follows up with a counter-statement that indicates Adamson only became aware of the offensive yearbook in July 2019, barely prior to the writ dropping for the current federal election. Time further describes Adamson as a “Vancouver businessman”, concealing his profession or any other information that would allow him to be identified and verified, according to Canadian journalism standards.

Oddly, Time addressed its source of the yearbook by name but it spoke on Adamson’s behalf, referring to him in the third-person. At no point does the magazine include a quote from the star of its story, who was apparently concerned enough to bring this matter to the attention of American media. When a source doesn’t wish to speak on the record due to fear of reprisal, it’s standard for a journalist to offer anonymous attribution. But that’s not what Time did. Instead it named Michael Adamson as a token lightning rod, in an effort to validate the magazine’s legitimacy and motive for unleashing the greatest scandal to rock another country’s election – its main economic trading partner, no less.

Less than 24-hours later, lead author, Anna Purna Kambhampaty, granted an interview to NPR that only added to the confusion (original / archive). Because this is a Canadian scandal, the American press isn’t fully invested in chasing down the story and more gaps, as well as misinformation, were subsequently seeded through NPR‘s Morning Edition radio show.

On the program Kambhampaty claims that she heard about the brownface photo from gossip circles in Vancouver, British Columbia.

GREENE: How did you get the photo? I mean, you’re not based in Canada, right? KAMBHAMPATY: No, so I had heard about it as a source of gossip in Vancouver community and, you know, contacted a source to see the photo and was sent the yearbook. And – yeah. (Source: original / archive)

The host doesn’t question how Kambhampaty became involved with gossip circles based in Vancouver, despite the fact she’s a novice reporter, located across the continent in New York City. The internet makes the world a smaller place, but there is no explanation regarding how Kambhampaty became so deeply connected with Trudeau’s old stomping-grounds, to give her an edge unrivaled by any Canadian reporter whatsoever.

Moreover, Kambhampaty claims she heard about the gossip and contacted a source of her own volition, to get a copy of the photo she had presumably not seen yet. But in the original Time article, she fails to explain the gossip circle or that the magazine initiated contact with Michael Adamson. She fails to express how he became known to the reporter as someone who could provide Time with the evidence.

Instead it appears as though Adamson contacted Time magazine because he “felt it should be made public” (original / archive). This is a reckless tactic that has now imperiled every person in Canada with the name, Michael Adamson. This is especially true because no Canadian journalists can locate a Michael Adamson from Vancouver to verify his participation as a source. No Canadian media can locate a gossip circle either, to verify the American news could have come upon this information honestly. This is having very real consequences for innocent bystanders that will be addressed shortly.

This young lady further contradicts herself in the very next statement, made on the NPR program.

GREENE: So the Vancouver community, people were talking about it there. Is this like alumni of the school or who is – where was this gossip happening? KAMBHAMPATY: You know, people who had formerly worked there, parents, former parents. It wasn’t widely talked about, but a few people were talking about it, yeah. (Source: original / archive)

Anna Purna Kambhampaty claims on one hand there was a “gossip circle” that is frequented by former staff of the West Point Grey Academy, parents of former students, and parents of current students. But on the other hand, she confesses that only “a few people” were talking about it.

In colloquial language, “a few” is defined as three. In mathematical language, “a few” is defined as not many but more than one, and can mean as little as two. Regardless of the measurement, no Canadian reporters have been able to verify the existence of this circle. There is no record on Google prior to the Time article, no public forum for school alumni, and no group of social media accounts that can verify how Kambhampaty stumbled upon this information herself. There is a single Facebook group dedicated to the West Point Grey Academy alumni, but it’s closed to the public, no one new has joined in the past 30 days (covering the period of Time‘s investigation), and it has only five posts in the past 30 days that don’t lend to the description of a gossip circle (original / archive).

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Source: Facebook

At no point does Anna Purna Kambhampaty admit to receiving a tip, instead crediting her own ingenuity for the first big news story she would ever break in her brand new career.

The NPR interview is then contaminated with misleading information about the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

GREENE: OK, so you confirm its existence with some people. You have your hands on it. You and the magazine decide to publish it. What did Trudeau’s campaign say when you reached out to them? KAMBHAMPATY: Right. So initially they said we need to take a look at the photograph. And after being sent a version of the photograph, they pretty much immediately confirmed that it was him. We tried speaking to the prime minister’s office directly. We’d left several voicemails and phone calls but never heard back from them. So we decided to go to the campaign. (Source: original / archive)

This biased report is doubly exacerbated by Kambhampaty’s Time article.

On Wednesday, Zita Astravas, the media relations lead of the Liberal Party of Canada, which Trudeau is the leader of, confirmed that the Prime Minister was in the photo. “It was a photo taken while he was teaching in Vancouver, at the school’s annual dinner which had a costume theme of ‘Arabian Nights.’ He attended with friends and colleagues dressed as a character from Aladdin,” said Astravas. Trudeau is planning on addressing the photograph to the media later this evening, according to Astravas. The prime minister’s official director of communications did not return multiple calls. (Source: original / archive)

What Ms. Kambhampaty is incapable of understanding as a new American journalist is that the Prime Minister’s Office doesn’t function during the writ period of an election campaign. The government is legally dissolved and becomes a “caretaker government”, until a new one is elected. Only the civil service operates on a limited basis and this does not include speaking on behalf of members of that dissolved parliament.

During a caretaker government only the political parties can represent themselves and any incumbents, up to and including the prime minister. Due to Kambhampaty’s lack of worldly experience, she conveyed arrogance on behalf of the PMO and spent her time attempting to contact the wrong entity. This misunderstanding of constitutional monarchies, that are very different from the American government, led Time magazine to misrepresent Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. That no editor at Time possessed this knowledge to advise Kambhampaty, is evidence of negligence and why American media should not be in charge of covering the election in place of Canadians.

Unfortunately Anna Purna Kambhampaty wasn’t finished with this exercise in misrepresentation. In her next response to NPR, she failed to admit that Justin Trudeau had already given a public apology. She mentions the prime minister’s press conference for this exact purpose, but somehow omits that he ever said sorry. In some divine intervention, Kambhampaty insinuates that she discovered a Canadian who doesn’t apologize profusely, whether something was their fault or not. And Trudeau was at fault. But he did apologize more than once and torquing a story against the leader of another country, during an election, is still an act of foreign meddling, as well as journalistic fraud. Now NPR is suffering a hit to its reputation for giving Kambhampaty another soapbox to mislead the public.

GREENE: OK, so then you have Prime Minister Trudeau who we should say is fighting for his reelection right now. He addresses this controversy on his campaign plane. Talk about that and talk about what the reaction has been in Canada since you broke this. KAMBHAMPATY: Right. So the reaction’s been pretty strong. A lot of Canadian politicians and interest groups are talking about it, calling upon him for an apology. And so far he’s been pretty honest. And he’s admitted to a past event that mirrors this, as well. (Source: original / archive)

Compounding the lack of professionalism at Time and requisite effort to publish a hit-piece, Kambhampaty claims she tried to contact others from the gala but came up empty-handed. Yet as soon as the brownface story went live, alumni from that Arabian Nights fundraising gala approached Canadian media to tell their side of the story.

On Omni Punjabi, Sunny Khurana defended the prime minister to ethnic Canadians in his primary language. (For American readers, please note that Canada embraces its multicultural identity, so much so that the Omni media brand carries mainstream programming in numerous languages.)

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In the Globe and Mail, Wayne Hamill, Megan MacMillan, and Wendy Valdes also came to the prime minister’s defence (original – subscription / archive – public).

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Source: Globe & Mail

There was another side to this story that Kambhampaty ignored, for the sake of sensationalizing a purely negative reputational take-down of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It was neither fair, balanced, nor ethical coverage and the consequence is throwing a foreign election, in favour of regime change. This is a serious allegation and Free The Press Canada stands by it fully, with more reasons to follow.

Who Is Michael Adamson?

On the NPR radio program, Michael Adamson is omitted as Anna Purna Kambhampaty’s source for the brownface story. In the Time article, Michael Adamson is vaguely depicted as approaching Kambhampaty, when it was the other way around. So who is the real Michael Adamson?

All Canadian news agencies have been scouring the country and the greater Vancouver area for this illusive whistleblower. The White Pages telephone directory produces a few results, but two numbers for a Michael Adamson have long been disconnected. Another Michael Adamson who conducted business in Jody Wilson-Raybould’s riding has ceased to exist since the late 1990’s. Another lead comes from a cellphone number, but that Michael Adamson’s handset has been consistently turned off without any ability to receive voicemail. Free The Press Canada is aware that reporters were dispatched to the latter’s address, only to find there is nobody there. The West Point Grey Academy also hasn’t confirmed any association with a person named Michael Adamson.

The final possibility and the only Michael Adamson who will speak to the press is a fine artist who was educated at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, that is also located in Jody Wilson-Raybould’s riding of Vancouver-Granville. Although he hasn’t achieved the same level of fame as the Group of Seven, this Adamson is a prolific painter who is rather outspoken and celebrated in the global arts community. His work hangs in executive homes, private island mansions, and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). It’s also featured on the Design Inc. home renovation series that caters to the upper class (original / archive).

Michael Adamson, the fine artist, shares his extensive curriculum vitae at Concordia University (original / archive), as well as his art gallery website (original / archive). He has guest lectured at the University of Toronto and the Globe and Mail once described Adamson as a wunderkind painter who acknowledges the achievement of European colonization (original / archive).

In some ways this approach to art has put Adamson at odds with Canada’s Indigenous culture and much of the theology that is taught at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design. His goal is to revive the arts community to become a sustainable lucrative profession, as opposed to art for art’s sake that is continuously subsidized to keep it afloat. He is offended by the ideology of socialism, and that in its own way puts him at odds with Justin Trudeau.

Digging deeper into Michael Adamson the fine artist, anyone can find his most recent work. In 2019 he partnered with True Patriot Love, a charity that supports more than 25,000 military families. It funds research to assist with their specialized needs that may include post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), physical rehabilitation, and civilian reintegration issues (original / archive).

This year Adamson contributed to fundraising by painting a helmet to honour the Navy for bringing home soldiers during WWI. It’s designed in the spirit of camouflage for the SS Olympia, a sister ship to the Titanic (original / archive).

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Source: Michael Adamson Studio

In the meantime, Michael Adamson has been active with exhibitions since the day he graduated from the Emily Carr University. His work is coveted in Britain, Sweden, Italy, Hong Kong, and Canada-wide, including Toronto, Ottawa, and Kelowna, British Columbia. Political reporters may also note that Kelowna is the location of Jody Wilson-Raybould’s family (original / archive) and the name of her husband’s business (with a minor spelling variation).

Regarding Adamson’s fundraising partner, True Patriot Love, there are significant political ties with the Conservative Party of Canada.

The charity’s CEO is Nick Booth, who worked in the United States and United Kingdom before taking this position in Canada. He oversaw Prince Harry’s charitable projects and instituted the Invictus Games, where the royal first courted Meghan Markle in Toronto, Ontario (original / archive).

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Source: True Patriot Love Foundation

This coming-out event for the royal couple led to significant media attention from the fashion industry, because the Duchess of Sussex has a best friend who helps her dress for public occasions and that special confidante is stylist, Jessica Mulroney. The daughter-in-law of former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney played one of the most important support roles during the subsequent royal wedding (original / archive).

Shaun Francis is the Chair of True Patriot Love. He serves on the board of directors at Fraser Institute and he’s been the Chair of the Progressive Conservative Ontario Fund. He’s accepted awards from former Conservative ministers and senators such as Peter MacKay, Steve Blaney, Julian Fantino, and Linda Frum (original / archive).

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Source: True Patriot Love Foundation

Chad Rogers also sits on the True Patriot Love Foundation‘s board of directors. He is better known as a co-founder of Crestview Strategy (original / archive).

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Source: True Patriot Love Foundation

Crestview Strategy should ring a bell for pundits, as a public affairs agency that’s served prime ministers, premiers, and run election campaigns (original / archive). Within this company there are several executives who have served political parties. Ashton Arsenault managed a Conservative campaign in the 2015 federal election (original / archive). Zakery Blais was the legislative assistant to Minister David Lametti, before he became the new Attorney General to replace Jody Wilson-Raybould (original / archive). In fact, he joined Crestview immediately upon losing his job with the Trudeau Liberal government (original only, as Linkedin accounts can’t be archived).

At Crestview Strategy we can also find Andrew Brander. He worked for numerous ministers in the Harper Conservative government. He was Chief of Staff to Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition, prior to the Conservatives coming to power. More recently he’s been senior staff within the Ontario Conservative Ford government, and Director of Communications for the Ontario Minister of Finance. He’s also served multiple terms on the executive board of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party (original / archive).

They are joined by Melissa Caouette (original / archive), who was a special assistant to former Alberta Conservative Premier Jim Prentice (original). Celine Chang (original / archive) worked in the PMO of the Harper Conservative government, after a stint with the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party (original). Alex Chreston worked for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party under John Tory and Tim Hudak, before joining the team at Crestview Strategy (original / archive). Hal Danchilla has been shaping Conservative politics for the past 30 years in Alberta. He was Chief of Staff during the Klein administration, ran the leadership campaign of Stockwell Day, and now he advises the Jason Kenney government. His specialty is influencing public opinion (original / archive).

Crestview Strategy‘s COO is Matthew John. He was once the Manager of Outreach in Conservative Stephen Harper’s PMO. He also graduated from the Ivey School of Business, where Conservative MP Kellie Leitch was an executive and the Harper government funded to the tune of $5 million (original / archive). Joseph Lavoie came from the same cohort, as a staffer to former Conservative Minster John Baird and Director of Strategic Communications in the Prime Minister’s Office of Stephen Harper (PMO). He had a hand in the party’s digital voter platform and further implemented the Conservative government’s influence campaign in Iran (original / archive).

Michael Lohner was the Chief of Staff in Alberta’s Ralph Klein government. He was in the Conservative war room for each of the past three provincial elections (original / archive). Ginny Roth was also an organizer for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (original / archive).

Jaskaran Singh Sandhu is another executive with Crestview Strategy. He is a lawyer and former executive director of the World Sikh Organization of Canada (original / archive). When news of the brownface scandal broke at Time magazine, he immediately hit the media circuit to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and he discussed the Liberal Party’s inability to defend the interests of racial minorities in light of this scandal (original / archive). In this regard, Sandhu’s comments are justified and no one is denying that brownface and blackface displays are racist. But it’s what he told a particular radio host that may be cause for deeper investigation.

On September 19, 2019, less than 24-hours after Trudeau’s public apology, Jaskaran Singh Sandhu appeared on the John Oakley Show (original). Oakley is better known as the person Rob Ford thanked during an election victory speech for giving him a weekly spot on the 640am program to energize Conservative voters (original / archive).

In talk radio it’s common practice for the host to discuss questions and answers with the guest beforehand, to ensure enough time is allotted for the interview. Free The Press Canada does not have evidence of that discussion, but Jaskaran Singh Sandhu and John Oakley each confirm a troubling detail early in the podcast. Oakley claims the brownface photo at the heart of the Time exposé was actually a product of opposition research by a political campaign team in this election. Sandhu confirms the same in his response and this runs contrary to the Time narrative that credits a phantom Michael Adamson, who no one can manage to find in Canada.

If this information is true, it would mean that a party or candidate was the real source behind the Time article and that someone solicited a foreign entity to interfere in the Canadian election, instead of transparently approaching the Canadian media. It would also mean that Time magazine committed an international fraud by naming an incorrect source to shield the real leaker and meddled with a foreign election to benefit that person. In the alternative, if this is not true, then a Canadian lawyer and radio host spread misinformation through a public broadcast.

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Source: John Oakley Show

(Free The Press Canada has a backup copy of this radio program, in the event this clip becomes deleted by Global.)

Finally, Mark Spiro is one of the founders of Crestview Strategy (original / archive). He is well known as a “high-powered Conservative strategist” (original / archive) and his specialty is manipulating public opinion.

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Source: Crestview Strategy

Rob Silver was another co-founder of Crestview Strategy, but as the husband of Katie Telford, he left the company when she became Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (original / archive).

Circling back to the True Patriot Love Foundation that is involved with Michael Adamson (the fine artist), we also find Rick Byers on the executive board (original / archive). He has an extensive history working for provincial and federal Conservative parties, as well as former Minister of Finance Michael Wilson, in the Mulroney Conservative government (original / archive). Wilson helped negotiate the original NAFTA deal and he was later elevated to become Canada’s Ambassador to Washington by the Harper Conservative administration. In that position Wilson faced a scandal that rocked the party and sparked an investigation. He was implicated in leaks to Canadian media that meddled with Barack Obama’s run for president (original – subscription / archive – public). More recently, Rick Byers was vying to become the Conservative candidate for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound in the current federal election (original / archive).

So there is noteworthy overlap between the True Patriot Love Foundation, Crestview Strategy, and Conservative parties, whether federal or provincial. As a result of that suspicion, Michael Adamson (the fine artist) has been facing intense scrutiny in the mission to discover the infamous Time magazine leaker.

Mr. Adamson (the fine artist) was gracious enough to grant Free The Press Canada a 4.5 hour interview in the effort to clear his name. When asked if he was responsible,

Adamson responded, “Did I do something that I would call treason? Uh, no. Thank you very much. Did I send this negative information about a standing PM to a foreign entity? I certainly did not. Thank you very much.”

This spirited painter was adamant and unwavering for the entire conversation long. The question was re-approached from many directions and every time Adamson was firm. He relayed what information he could to help the investigation along, including details about getting calls from other Michael Adamsons in different parts of the country, who were trying to figure out which one of them it was. It sounded like a micro version of something akin to Where’s Waldo.

But the discussions between Michaels were anything but funny because each of them is concerned in one way or another. They’re being harassed by numerous calls from the press, partisans, and curious sleuths. Some are worried about the negative impact that a case of mistaken identity could have on their work. Michael Adamson (the fine artist) is perhaps the most affected, because his reputation is everything in art and he has an extra obligation to keep his clients’ business private. For the record, he would not divulge the name of a single patron.

The exculpatory evidence in Adamson’s favour is his ardent and libertarian rejection of party politics. He also has a supreme respect for military and the rule of law, that causes him to believe the leak to Time magazine was an actual act of treason. He is questioning if someone fabricated this name out of the blue, or if anyone he knows used his name on a whim, or maybe even maliciously. However hard the public is wondering who the Time leaker is, Michael Adamson (the fine artist) won’t be resting easy until that person is found. This brownface scandal has global media attention and there’s no telling what a stranger might do, when that many people in the world are angry and they’re in prospective markets where Adamson is expected to feature his work at art exhibits.

In support of Adamson’s denial, he shared an email with Free The Press Canada that was sent by him to the lead author at Time, Anna Purna Kambhampaty. In his message he shares legal considerations about the accuracy of her story and the unreasonable harm it is causing to bystanders.

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Source: Michael Adamson

After 4.5 hours of interrogation, Free The Press Canada is reasonably convinced that Michael Adamson (the fine artist) is not responsible for this controversy. Despite the curious connections between the charity that sought his support and the Conservative political machine, his clientele spans every belief system from Toronto to Tokyo and Kelowna to the United Kingdom.

Who Is Anna Purna Kambhampaty?

Lead author of the Time exposé, Anna Purna Kambhampaty, graduated from a private American Christian high school in 2015 (original / archive). She hails from Brooklyn, New York and deleted her own website upon breaking the story about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Fortunately the Google cache retained a copy of Kambhampaty’s page (archive). Although it doesn’t list her educational experience, it appears she began in the journalism industry quite recently.

More details can be gleaned from Kambhampaty’s Linkedin account (original). She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Information Science from Cornell University with emphasis on economics, data, and app development courses – but none pertaining to bona fide journalism.

This may explain why Anna Purna Kambhampaty didn’t pursue a quote from her purported source, Michael Adamson. She didn’t inquire how the source came to posses an inflammatory yearbook, from eighteen years ago and a school he never attended. She didn’t pursue a comment from Trudeau prior to publishing and didn’t know where to contact when attempting to verify her own story. Ms. Kambhampaty was so lax in her investigation that she managed to put several innocent people in harm’s way by failing to collect enough details. These are all basic requirements to differentiate the news from tabloids and advertising.

But what Kambhampaty does have is experience with databases, writing code, and working for politicians (original). She spent time assisting the Mayor’s Office in Syracuse, New York with data-driven techniques for managing municipal issues. She also campaigned for Dan Maffei in the same city, who was eventually appointed by President Donald Trump to become Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission.

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Source: Wikipedia

This aspiring data maverick was interested in the politics of social movements, coupled with brand recognition. Before graduating from Cornell University, Anna Purna Kambhampaty interned with CNBC as an interactive web developer (original). It was here that she was granted permission to write a single story under the guidance of a retail editor (original / archive).

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Source: Linkedin

With no real study or experience reporting the news, this young religious ideologue made the leap from Cornell University to become an intern at the New York Times. Strangely any description of her duties is omitted from the Linkedin profile, but Kambhampaty uses this opportunity as a springboard to attain subsequent employment with Time magazine. Stranger still, the former publication doesn’t return any search results that acknowledge her participation (original / archive).

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Source: Linkedin

The very few articles penned by Anna Purna Kambhampaty at Time magazine are primarily focused on fashion’s relationship to politics (original / archive). She began the job at the same time Michael Adamson claims to have discovered the controversial brownface photo of the prime minister.

In any event, Free The Press Canada is not familiar with mainstream media allowing an untested junior to break a major scandal that will directly impact a foreign election. Either Time magazine is failing journalism ethics, or there is more to this curious backstory.

Inspection of Kambhampaty’s Twitter account only adds to the doubtful intrigue (original / archive). She’s been a member since 2011 with only six hundred followers, despite claiming to be a reporter for at least four major publishers in the United States of America. She posted about the Trudeau scandal, albeit briefly and without engaging her audience. She also isn’t responding to any requests for interviews made by Canadian reporters. Kambhampaty hasn’t responded to Michael Adamson (the fine artist) either.

One person asked how they could trust her account was real when it wasn’t verified by Twitter. In the only banter with her readership, Kambhampaty responds a while later with the accredited blue check mark as requested (original / archive). According to Twitter they stopped verifying accounts, so this verification-on-demand service appears to be anomalous (original / archive).

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Source: Twitter & Archive.is

But make no mistake that Anna Purna Kambhampaty has skills. It’s just that they’re more political and data-driven than her experience with mainstream journalism. Upon further inspection, Free The Press Canada was able to locate a more personal venue where Kambhampaty published a pet project. It’s of such an ilk that it has the potential to make her the darling of personalities like Steve Bannon and Peter Thiel.

At Medium.com, Kambhampaty shared the details of an experiment she coded for U.S. elections and researched using potential voters from the Cornell University campus (original / archive).

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Source: Anna Kambhampaty & Medium.com

Pocket Democracy is not for the faint-of-heart, or anyone who takes issue with Cambridge Analytica. Kambhampaty is designing a way to obtain photographs of every ballot and influence voters in their private space, as they’re standing in front of the ballot box. It works through augmented reality, sentiment analysis, and psychographic manipulation – with no apologies, security measures, quality control, or regard for the legalities (original / archive).

Anna Purna Kambhampaty admits this system will suffer from biases, depending which sources are aggregated to form an opinion and advise voters about the suitability of political candidates. That source bias is further amplified by any biases the coder may harbour. She suggests that issue could be mitigated as the collection of data grows larger; but if misinformation gets into the system, she fails to consider how it will magnify the biases exponentially.

Moreover, the Pocket Democracy program gives no thought to preventing fake news from entering the equation. It doesn’t seek to limit partisan sources, PAC material, or special interest groups from influencing voters at the very moment they’re casting a ballot.

Ms. Kambhampaty manages to demonstrate this point about bias in her example without realizing it. In a mock presentation, she selects Democrat Andrew Cuomo to solicit Pocket Democracy‘s recommendation (original / archive).

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Source: Anna Kambhampaty & Medium.com

The first criterion to rate Cuomo as a politician is his position on abortion. Because he favours women’s rights, it lists the Democrat with 74 percent negative sentiment. If someone had used this app while in the process of voting, Kambhampaty clearly programmed the analysis to reject the Governor of New York based on harder right policies that are more favourable, in her opinion.

Coincidentally, Anna Purna Kambhampaty has no remarkable relationship with Canada, except through a Christian prep school that supports the anti-abortion lobby and National March For Life that is syndicated in Ottawa on Parliament Hill (original / archive). Every year they’re joined by Conservative and Republican politicians who inevitably call for leaders like Justin Trudeau to be banished from government.

The Canadian Context

No one is able to fully resolve the mystery surrounding “Vancouver businessman, Michael Adamson” or how Anna Purna Kambhampaty might have become acquainted with him. It’s worth noting however, that the West Point Grey Academy is adjacent to Jody Wilson-Raybould’s riding and that’s where opposition research discovered the brownface material – or an invisible man discovered it – depending who’s telling the story. But next door in the riding of Vancouver-Quadra, Liberal Joyce Murray is defending her seat and position as President of the Treasury Board (original / archive). Former Conservative Prime Minister Kim Campbell calls this area home and she’s been actively involved with a number of the individuals mentioned in this report as well (original).

This mystery is exacerbated by other details that also don’t appear to add up. For example, Warren Kinsella was on top of the Trudeau scandal before any other reporters in Canada. His article in the Toronto Sun was published exactly 2-hours after the Time exposé, but it’s hard to tell anymore because the publication re-dated his entry for an entire day later.

The first edition from Time happened on September 18, 2019 at 6:32pm EDT (archive).

The first edition from Kinsella was released on September 18, 2019 by at least 8:35pm EDT (archive).

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Source: Toronto Sun & Archive.is

Now the same article by Warren Kinsella reports that it wasn’t published until September 19, 2019 by at least 11:42am EDT (archive).

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Source: Toronto Sun & Archive.is

Despite any reason for the incompatible timestamps at the Toronto Sun, the original material suggests that Kinsella wrote approximately fifteen paragraphs (that included the effort of hyperlinked sources), had it edited, fact-checked, formatted for publishing, and posted within a 2-hour time frame. He covered Trudeau, Wilson-Raybould, and American politicos, but didn’t credit Time magazine with breaking the scandal. He doesn’t even explain where he obtained a copy of the offensive photograph.

Also coincidentally, Conservative Premier Jason Kenney flew to New York exactly two days before Anna Purna Kambhampaty published the brownface exclusive (original / archive).

Conclusion

Free The Press Canada reiterates that it does not support brownface, blackface, or any other racist behaviour. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must make amends and millions of people have been hurt by his past actions. This needs to be a learning opportunity that helps Canadians grow and become better at eradicating the inherent racism that pervades our culture. The Conservatives, NDP, Green Party, and People’s Party have all been similarly impacted by racial scandals. This is no time to use racism as a manipulative tool, reserved for campaign war rooms and foreign interference. It is a problem that needs solving through education, tolerance, inclusiveness, and respect for one another.

With that said, there is enough evidence of possible foreign meddling to warrant a proper investigation by Elections Canada. Time magazine will not respond to multiple queries to resolve these inconsistencies and only a formal enforcement body could have the power to compel answers. It is inappropriate to spark an international scandal that affects the federal election and hide behind a wall of silence. Anna Purna Kambhampaty must be accountable for the controversy she unleashed on Canadians. Certainly all the innocent Michael Adamsons deserve to be released from the risk to person and livelihood that she carelessly unloaded upon them.

Jody Wilson-Raybould faces indirect scrutiny that has the potential to impact her campaign. It would be horrendously ironic if a scandal about racism was allowed to cause another schism with Indigenous nations. There is just as much at stake for them as there is for Justin Trudeau, in very different ways but due to the same dubious influences (original). Without legitimate answers, everyone will blame each other and a campaign of foreign influence will succeed in driving Canadians further apart.

This section has been added by Free The Press Canada. The edit occurred on September 28, 2019 at 12pm EDT, due to several new developments that impact the provenance of the brownface exposé regarding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In addition to the original investigation involving Time magazine, this new information implies that Elections Canada may need to investigate both foreign and domestic media behaviour to ensure the integrity of the federal election.

Global News Versus CTV News

Warren Kinsella and the Toronto Sun are not the only Canadian media that altered publication of the brownface scandal and failed to provide attribution for the materials they distributed.

On September 19, 2019, Mercedes Stephenson and Global News went live with exclusive video they obtained of Justin Trudeau dancing in blackface makeup, also from his younger years. The original story was archived by Free The Press Canada and it reported the short video clip was received from an unnamed source (archive).

Global News claimed the exclusive media was obtained earlier in the week, that would have been the same period Time magazine received a yearbook. As the lead author, Stephenson reported that Global News was able to locate the person who filmed Trudeau (based on information provided by the source), but she failed to explain how that source became the guardian of this political dynamite. Whoever filmed the prime minister declined to verify the video, or describe the time and place where it originated. Stephenson also didn’t explain why Global News withheld the name of its source. There was no assertion of anonymity due to fear of reprisal. It was just a video that came from somewhere secret, without any reason whatsoever. This behaviour doesn’t comply with the most basic Canadian journalism standards.

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Source: Global News & Archive.is

Later in the same day, David Akin from Global News followed up with the prime minister during a scrum. Instead of asking a straightforward question he said the following,

I know there’ll be a lot of people here today of all races who will be, uh, very happy to hear you denounce, uh, racism in all its form and your earlier behaviour. But the prime minister’s job was not created so you could work through your issues. Maybe it’s time that you realize you’re not the indispensable man, as the Leader of the Liberal Party, as the Prime Minister. You have very many capable leaders in your party that perhaps you should step aside, for some reflection, for, some more understanding and discussion. Have you considered asking someone else to lead the party in this election? (Source: original / archive)

David Akin’s statement, that preceded any question, also fails the ethical standards required by Canadian media. The chief political correspondent for Global News directly attempted to interfere in the election by telling Justin Trudeau to quit the campaign midway, due to his personal interpretation of what was best for Justin Trudeau and/or the country. It would be unprecedented for a reigning prime minister or president to abandon an election. Akin’s assertion is not only unethical and inappropriate; it’s also a preposterous suggestion that he used Global News to distribute across Canada and worldwide.

After Justin Trudeau responds, David Akin continues with a second question that pressures the Liberals to stop performing opposition research on other parties, since the prime minister was also guilty of poor behaviour in the past. Prior to the brownface scandal, that research was focused on Conservative candidates who displayed racist, anti-abortion, and anti-gay sentiments. There can be no other conclusion than David Akin was interfering on behalf of the Conservative Party of Canada, and abusing his position in the Canadian media to advance partisan interests.

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Source: Global News

As David Akin was on the campaign trail with Justin Trudeau in Manitoba, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer was making a confession on CTV News in Quebec. It caught everyone by surprise when the latter admitted it was the Conservative Party that gave the controversial video of Trudeau to a ‘responsible news outlet for verification’. This contradicted Mercedes Stephenson’s report at Global News that attempted, unethically, to conceal her ‘exclusive’ source (original / archive).

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Source: CTV News

The written report by CTV News that covered Andrew Scheer’s confession was doubly documented by a producer on video.

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Once this cat was out of the bag, Mercedes Stephenson and Global News were forced to amend their story. The piece was extensively rewritten, so much so that the first and second editions can’t be compared side-by-side anymore. The new article kept the same title and the same timestamp despite being fundamentally altered, without noting the piece was edited to name the Conservative Party as the secret Global News source. Again this fails journalistic standards and in this case it represents an act of deliberate journalistic fraud, in the opinion of Free The Press Canada (original / archive).

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Source: Global News

In no uncertain terms, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer admitted to using Global News as a partisan researcher. Because Mercedes Stephenson also tried to conceal the Conservative Party as her source, it indicates that Global News was a willing partner in this opposition research. Global News provided this service-in-kind and it must be reported to Elections Canada as a political donation.

Raising further concern, Mercedes Stephenson is a product of the U.S. Pentagon, as well as the American army. She was also a Koch Fellow in Defense and National Security Policy in the United States (original / archive).

The Koch brothers are infamously known as key Republican operatives who dabble in dark money, and who harbour an extreme disdain for the Liberal Party of Canada. And Stephenson is otherwise known as the boss of David Akin at Global News (original / archive).

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Source: Mercedes Stephenson & Twitter

The Second Unattributed Photo

Although serendipity and CTV News managed to catch Global News red-handed, the former also failed to attribute its use of a second brownface photograph. Another image of Justin Trudeau began circulating mainstream media, but no one was willing to say who gave it to the press corps. The only attribution was that it appeared in a West Point Grey Academy newsletter that detailed the Arabian Nights themed gala (original / archive).

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Source: CTV News

A photo from the West Point Grey Academy yearbook arose in Time magazine, but this newsletter appeared from nowhere and it was being cited without attribution in all news publications across Canada. Free The Press Canada had to investigate to locate its original use by reporters.

The first appearance of an alternate Arabian Nights photo seems to have occurred in the Niagara Falls Review in an article by Ray Spiteri (original / archive). The Niagara Falls news is part of the Southern Ontario market in the coveted 905 area code. It partners with the Welland Tribune and St. Catharines Standard within the Torstar network, and all productions syndicated the same story with the same unattributed image as CTV News was sharing with its audience.

The Southern Ontario newspaper collaboration used the photo as an opportunity to embarrass all Liberal candidates in the region. It quite specifically painted the Liberals as flawed and the Conservatives as righteous and free of racial scandals, despite the fact they have a continuing problem with racist candidates and the Liberal examples are from two-to-three decades ago (original – with photo / archive – text only).

Upon deeper investigation, Free The Press Canada was able to find an explanation for the second image and it arose in alternative press at Canadaland, in a blog by Robert Jago (original / archive). Mr. Jago is a well known Indigenous activist from Quebec who strongly dislikes the Liberals.

In the blog post Jago claims the second Arabian Nights image was always available in the Wayback Machine archive since 2004. Although this is technically true, Jago’s innocent claim doesn’t seem to hold water. Inspection of the archived PDF file presents a few challenges, in that it isn’t searchable in the database by the name of West Point Grey Academy (search results). It isn’t searchable to find the name Justin Trudeau and it really isn’t searchable at all as a PDF, with the only identifying information as “April2001.pdf” (Wayback archive).

Furthermore, Justin Trudeau is not identified in the Arabian Nights gala coverage and the photo where he appears in brownface isn’t identifiable either. The photos are very small and all fit on a single page, lacking any notation of who appears in them.

Free The Press Canada sincerely regrets any ill feelings caused by examining Robert Jago’s work from a negative perspective. Discussing racism that has historically impacted Indigenous nations and continues to the present day is particularly challenging and no offence is meant toward Mr. Jago. Free The Press Canada reiterates this investigation is focused on election interference and press ethics. It does not dispute that Indigenous Peoples are discriminated against, nor does it lack compassion for the original inhabitants.

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Original Source: Wayback Machine

Regardless of how Robert Jago was inspired to locate the West Point Grey Academy newsletter, it doesn’t change the fact that all mainstream media failed to provide attribution to either Jago or the Wayback Machine. All of the biggest names in Canadian media failed this ethical duty, in the most critical reports they’ve ever written about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. According to all reports, the second image came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

Jason Kenney & Time Magazine

On September 26, 2019, Time magazine published a new edition. It featured a cover with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appearing stoically defeated. The story arose from an interview that was conducted by Time‘s editor-at-large, Ian Bremmer, before his novice reporter had released the contaminated exposé that turned the Canadian election on its head (original / archive).

The interview that was published on the heels of that hit-piece had occurred on September 3, 2019. Bremmer gives no reason for sitting on it for two weeks, until after Kambhampaty received a copy of the yearbook and the writ had dropped to commence the election.

In a departure from Ian Bremmer’s former stature as a respected academic, he manages to blame Trudeau for complying with the American order to arrest Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou, as though it was somehow Canada’s idea. He further blamed Canada for running afoul of Saudi Arabia, as if the murder of Jamal Khashoggi means nothing to the American press. This display is partisan and shameful enough that Bremmer tries to assert the new world order belongs to populism. At every turn he declares liberalism dead and depicts Western democracy as obsolete.

This exercise in gaslighting a prime minister in a cover story is truly amazing and it doesn’t hide that it too is a hit-piece meant to help the Conservative Party. Bremmer is direct in his severely biased comparison within the opening two paragraphs (original / archive).

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Source: Time magazine

Time further denigrates other Western democracies such as France and Germany for not having populist leadership. In another incredulous leap, this editor-at-large relinquishes his hard-earned credentials to chastise Canada for failing to please Vladimir Putin.

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Source: Time magazine

Time‘s so-called interview of Justin Trudeau resembled nothing of the sort, as Ian Bremmer abused the space in the name of foreign interference and his prerogative to editorialize. In Canada this egregious display would not meet journalistic or ethical standards.

To drive the point home, or rather across the sovereign border, Bremmer interviews Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in the same edition and this time it’s a respectful if celebratory interview (original / archive).

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Source: Time magazine

The interview with Jason Kenney was however brutally edited. This cherry-picking throughout the partial transcript causes issues with words missing in certain sentences and questions with responses that sometimes aren’t applicable. If there was any doubt that Time magazine was partisan-meddling in the election, it is this article that seals the deal by providing contrast to illuminate Bremmer’s incredible and purposeful biases (original / archive).

But the editor’s prejudice against Liberal democracy might be better explained by his conflict-of-interest that he never bothers to disclose within the pieces he’s written. Ian Bremmer is also the president of Eurasia Group, “a political risk consultancy” (original / archive) and Canada’s former Conservative minister of foreign affairs, John Baird, is an advisor to his company (original / archive).

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Source: Time magazine & Archive.is

At Eurasia Group the two men are attempting to ‘redefine’ Canada’s energy and oil strategy, against the grain of a Trudeau Liberal government and its commitment to a carbon tax in the effort to mitigate climate change (original / archive).

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Source: Eurasia Group

John Baird and Jason Kenney were both cabinet ministers in the Harper government and Kenney is currently being wooed by Ian Bremmer, of Time magazine and the Eurasia Group.

Although Bremmer failed to disclose this additional conflict-of-interest, he met with Kenney on behalf of Eurasia Group, two conspicuous days before the brownface scandal was published (original / archive). Two days before Time launched its reputational take-down of the Liberal prime minister is when Anna Purna Kambhampaty claims to have received the scandalous yearbook. Two days earlier is when Global News received the video from the Conservative Party, and two days earlier is when the Niagara Falls Review discovered the unattributed second photo from the West Point Grey Academy newsletter.

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Source: Jason Kenney & Twitter

A case of divine timing is all the Canadian media will admit and the Conservative Party’s American operatives are refusing to answer any questions. But Andrew Scheer was in Quebec when Robert Jago published in Canadaland. Scheer also confessed it was the Conservatives who secretly partnered with Global News. Jason Kenney was with the editor of Time at the very moment a yearbook appeared, and Doug Ford was travelling to meet up with Kenney on a political tour of the United States. That may have easily put him at the border in Niagara Falls when the Review received its hot tip (original only).

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Source: Narcity

Michael Adamson & Christy Clark

In response to this investigation by Free The Press Canada, the Globe and Mail took up the challenge to locate Michael Adamson in Vancouver, British Columbia. With two journalists supported by another three researchers, they were also unsuccessful in securing a statement or interview just like everyone else who tried before them. What resulted was a bizarre story that reported on the Adamsons’ travel complaints that were posted online, and one account of the phone number being disconnected upon contact from the media (original – subscription / archive – public).

But this did assist Free The Press Canada with some important clues. The Globe and Mail painted a picture of a very wealthy Michael Adamson who also owned a luxury property in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was reported to be a generous donor to the St. George’s private school in Vancouver, that competes directly with the West Point Grey Academy where Justin Trudeau was once a teacher.

The Globe and Mail dug up some records that indicate Adamson also supported Cornell University, where Anna Purna Kambhampaty was a student before her new job at Time magazine and where she invented the dangerous Pocket Democracy voting application. They noted that Kambhampaty was friends with a young man by the name of Bennet Tadashi Adamson, and he is the son of this mysterious character who purportedly discovered the scandalized yearbook.

Unfortunately the Globe and Mail came up with little else and Free The Press Canada responded that this story was insufficient to resolve the issues of foreign election interference (original / archive). It amounted to a distraction that insinuated there was nothing to see here.

The Globe and Mail didn’t take issue with Kambhampaty’s journalistic fraud. But ethical considerations should have dictated that Time magazine couldn’t allow the rookie reporter to use a personal friend as a source. The story should have been handed to a different journalist and if there was no other option, she was obligated to disclose this conflict-of-interest transparently within the article.

Free The Press Canada became concerned that the Globe and Mail scoured the internet and Kambhampaty’s social accounts without finding a significant person of interest, who is also close friends with Bennet Tadashi Adamson. Inspecting the latter’s Facebook account places Hamish Marissen-Clark at the top of Adamson’s list (original only).

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Source: Facebook

Hamish Marissen-Clark is the son of former British Columbia Premier Christy Clark. He attended St. Georges private school with Bennet Tadashi Adamson in Vancouver, where the senior Adamson was a gracious donor and the parents would have known each another. After graduation both the boys departed to the United States for university and that’s where the friendship ignited with Time magazine’s Anna Purna Kambhampaty.

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Source: Google

Since Free The Press Canada discovered this on September 27, 2019 and hinted there was a shocking twist coming to the story, Google became scrubbed to erase that very information by the morning of today, September 28, 2019. All that’s left are the screencaps to prove what’s now been edited in one of the fastest turnaround times on the internet.

The young Mr. Marissen-Clark is now an adult and he’s heavily involved in theatrical arts. He’s also spent time in New York, where both Adamson and Kambhampaty are located since everyone graduated from high school.

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Source: Facebook

The former premier’s son emphatically supports the arts and he celebrated an investment in the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where the fine artist Michael Adamson had attended and became wrongly implicated in the brownface scandal.

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Source: Facebook

Another curious consideration about the former premier’s family is that Hamish’s uncle on his father’s side has written for the New York Times (original / archive).

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Source: Facebook

Although Free The Press Canada doesn’t know what role Michael Adamson (the philanthropist), Bennet Adamson, Hamish Marissen-Clark, Christy Clark, or Jason Kenney might have played, it is clear that someone from Canada solicited a powerful American to meddle in the federal election with zero accountability and deceitful intent. The provenance of Anna Purna Kambhampaty’s story still can’t be verified and the dubious young reporter continues to decline contact with any media organizations in Canada to atone for her misrepresentation.

In the meantime Christy Clark continues to hit the media circuit, in support of Jason Kenney’s agenda and to criticize Justin Trudeau.

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Last but not least is the latest press release from Michael Adamson (the philanthropist). When it became clear that Free The Press Canada wouldn’t be deterred from telling this story, Adamson finally dispatched a statement through the Newswire service on September 27, 2019. In it he repeats the identical characterization that was communicated by Anna Purna Kambhampaty in the Time magazine article. The only new information is that he’s asking for his family’s privacy (original / archive).

The Newswire service is not free and a press release that is distributed Canada-wide costs a flat fee of $1,160 CAD. Therefore Michael Adamson (the philanthropist) has paid to cover up whatever it is that’s happened here.

In Closing

All the individuals mentioned in this investigation are presumed innocent of wrongdoing. However, there is clearly enough evidence to not just warrant, but urgently require, a judicial and/or electoral inquiry to insulate Canadians from foreign interference.

One strange outcome that may result from this heinous scheme is a threat to press freedom and the ability to protect sources. Because all the possible meddling occurred through irresponsible and/or partisan media, only journalists will be able to assist Elections Canada or the RCMP with an investigation. Currently there is a contentious case that went before the Supreme Court of Canada to determine these particular limits and an outcome has not yet been determined (original / archive).

To combat foreign interference in this federal election, reporters will either have to submit to interrogation willingly, or risk losing important rights permanently if they force the issue through the justice system. Either way, press freedom is the loser and all the honest journalists in Canada will have to pay the price of their worst-behaved colleagues. Canadian voters will lose even more, if an illegitimate election transpires and it takes years to sort this out.

Make no mistake that someone has hoodwinked all Canadians and put us in a can’t-win-for-losing situation. The pillars of our democracy have just taken a beating and the road to recovery is going to be just as painful.

If readers wish to file a complaint with the commissioner, Elections Canada can be contacted by using the link provided here (intake form).

Free The Press Canada hopes for a free and fair vote, and we leave you with this audio interview to assist you in mulling it over.