Canada Still Lacks Dedicated Full-Time Fact-Checking Media Coverage

Canadian Fact-Checking Pioneer Daniel Dale Stands Alone in Media Landscape

Daniel Dale has earned the unique distinction of being Canada’s most prominent fact-checking journalist, though his rise to fame reveals much about the differences between Canadian and American media approaches to political accountability.

The Toronto native began his career at the Toronto Star in 2008, where he eventually covered the controversial Toronto mayor Rob Ford before being dispatched to Washington as a correspondent. It was during Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign that Dale found his niche, documenting Trump’s numerous false claims in posts that quickly gained traction with American audiences.

Working with his editor Ed Tubb, Dale transformed his initial social media posts into a systematic fact-checking operation for the Star. “It was never his sole day job, but it did become more of one for him,” Tubb recalled. The database they created eventually documented thousands of Trump’s questionable statements, consistently ranking “at the top of the charts” for pageviews and reader engagement.

In 2019, CNN recruited Dale, following a well-worn path of Canadian talent heading to the larger U.S. market. Since then, he has become a familiar face on American television, continuing his work of holding Trump accountable during both his first and second terms.

But Dale’s departure highlighted a striking reality: Canada lacks dedicated fact-checking journalism infrastructure. Unlike the United States, which has established organizations like PolitiFact and FactCheck.org, along with dedicated fact-checkers at major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post, Canada’s approach to fact-checking remains sporadic and unspecialized.

A recent example emerged when Trump posted misleading claims about the new bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. While Canadian media covered the controversy extensively, only one traditional fact-check appeared from a Canadian outlet – CTV – written by a regular reporter rather than a dedicated fact-checker. Predictably, Dale published a thorough fact-check for CNN’s American audience.

Several factors explain this disparity in fact-checking approaches. Canadian political campaigns are significantly shorter, lasting only a few weeks compared to America’s perpetual campaign cycle, making it difficult to justify full-time fact-checking positions. Canadian legacy media outlets also face severe financial constraints, making specialized roles seem like an unaffordable luxury.

Furthermore, Canadian political discourse operates within narrower parameters. “It’s impossible to think of a precedent” for Trump among Canadian politicians, Tubb noted. Political rhetoric tends to be more measured, with a greater emphasis on appealing to persuadable voters rather than extremes. Canadian politicians are also generally more willing to concede mistakes when confronted with errors.

Despite the absence of dedicated political fact-checkers, Canada has developed adjacent approaches to combating misinformation. McMaster University’s Digital Society Lab employs machine learning to analyze misinformation flows on social media and maintains a “promise tracker” monitoring commitments made by the prime minister and provincial premiers.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recently launched a visual investigations team combining open-source investigation, digital forensics, and traditional journalism to tackle misinformation. This unit has successfully debunked AI-generated images shared by political figures, verified crowd size claims at political rallies, and exposed deepfake pornography operations.

Toronto has also become home to specialized fact-checking initiatives like Factnameh, which focuses on claims from and about Iran. Led by Farhad Souzanchi, the service has even fact-checked Iran’s supreme leader – work that would be “absolutely off limits inside Iran.”

With Canada’s educated, information-seeking population and growing expertise in combating misinformation, the ad hoc approach to traditional political fact-checking might seem puzzling. However, as Tubb suggests, this approach likely reflects Canada’s distinct political culture rather than a lack of interest in accountability journalism.

While the Toronto Star occasionally returns to fact-checking when necessary, it seems Dale’s comprehensive approach to political accountability will remain an exceptional case rather than the norm in Canadian journalism.