Bloomberg on the NCC

Stephen Harper’s victory has certainly increased the profile of the National Citizens Coalition.

But that’s a double-edged sword, because certain media elements have taken to distorting the NCC’s agenda.

Case in point, an article sent out by the Bloomberg News agency described the NCC as a “lobby that called for abandoning the nation’s public health-care system and revoking union rights.”

When I saw this piece I emailed the reporter the following message:

“In your article “Harper Helped Split Canada's Conservatives, Now Leads Them Back”, you described the National Citizens Coalition as a lobby group that calls for “abandoning the nation’s public care system and revoking union rights”.

That’s an incorrect description.

The NCC promotes free enterprise, less government and individual freedom. We are not a lobby group, but an advocacy organization. That’s a big difference. We don’t lobby politicians; rather we raise awareness about issues through advertising campaigns.

Nor do we call for the country to abandon public health care. We think having a government monopoly on health care is wrong and inefficient and we think there should be more choice for consumers.

Again that’s a big difference.

Finally the NCC does not call for “revoking union rights.”

We have, in fact, pushed to protect the rights of unionized workers against oppressive labour laws.

For instance, we don’t think anyone should be forced to join a union against their will and we don’t think a worker’s forced dues should be used to support political causes the worker may not support.

You can learn more about the NCC at our website www.morefreedom.org

I hope you can clarify this matter for your readers.

Thank you.”

I must admit I didn’t expect anything to come from this.

But lo and behold, the article on the web today, is updated and now describes the NCC as “a lobby group that calls for ending the government's ‘monopoly’' on health care and easing labor laws.”

OK he still calls us a “lobby group” but this is still a big improvement.

Credit to Bloomberg News for doing the right thing.