Motion tabled to end city advertising in controversial Italian-Canadian newspaper

Editorials in Corriere Canadese violate city's harassment and discrimination codes, says Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam

Torontosun.com
March 10, 2021
Bryan Passifiume

Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam during an afternoon session in council chambers at City Hall in Toronto, Ont. on Wednesday January 30, 2019.

Acting on complaints from constituents over newspaper columns described as homophobic and transphobic, a city councillor is aiming to end city-paid advertising in the publication.

The controversy surrounds a number of columns published in Corriere Canadese -- a Toronto-based Italian-language newspaper by publisher Joe Volpe -- which take aim at the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB,) a number of its trustees, and its programs enacted to assist LGBTQ students.

“When I read the articles, I had to do a double-take,” Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, who tabled the motion, told the TorontoSun.

“I couldn’t believe what I was reading.”

The English-language columns penned by Volpe -- a Liberal MP for more than two decades, who served as a cabinet minister -- include describing the website of an LGBTQ youth support service as a “smut site,” and attacking TCDSB trustees whom he felt betrayed the school board’s “Catholic ethic.”

Volpe did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

“They asked me, in no uncertain terms, why would I, as a city councillor, permit the city to buy advertising in a newspaper that (concerned residents and parents claim) ‘promotes discrimination and bigotry?'” Wong-Tam said.

Her motion says the newspaper fails to comply with city council’s human rights policies.

She said the city should withdraw funding until Corriere Canadese falls back in line with city policies.

The columns, Wong-Tam said, were vitriolic and clearly “crossed the line.”

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In late January, Volpe served Wong-Tam with a libel notice in response to the motion.

Lawyers she consulted advised her the notice was “baseless and totally without merit,” she said.

In November, Pizza Nova announced they were pulling advertising from Corriere Canadese, calling the columns “not in accordance” with the company’s beliefs.

The motion goes before council on Wednesday.