Vivian Bercovici
National Post, Aug. 27, 2022
“Mr. Minister: You are taking us for fools. You are calling on CMAC to answer “how they came to hire Laith Marouf”? Are you not aware that he and his wife Gretchen King *are* CMAC?”
Laith Marouf, who is now an international household name, seems to have had a bad week. After his many antisemitic Twitter rantings became a source of controversy for Ottawa, his government contract was suspended. Explaining why he locked his Twitter account, he blames three prominent “Zios” myself included, who he says were “directing their attack dogs” to him.
That’s the first I’d ever heard of Marouf, although I quickly learned that he is considered to be an “anti-racism” expert by the Canadian government, in particular Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen. Turns out, though, that Marouf has many admirers in Ottawa.
Community Media Advocacy Centre, or CMAC, which lists Marouf and his wife, Dr. Gretchen King-Marouf as the only principals, is the entity retained by Hussen’s department.
The largest of the many grants and contracts awarded to CMAC since 2016 is $133,000 from Heritage Canada, which was approved in April, 2022. This fee was for a series of anti-racism seminars led by Marouf, apparently for Canadian media.
Also a big fan of Marouf’s work is the CRTC, which has awarded him upward of $500,000 in contracts since 2016, according to data compiled by telecoms consultant Mark Goldberg. Additionally, his wife has received at least one SSHRC “scholarship” grant.
To many Canadians, one would hope, this guy and his views would be considered fringe and dangerous. But not so in official Ottawa. Policy is being radically rewritten in every government department to reflect the woke values celebrated by our prime minister and his team.