The Privy Council has declined comment on why it hired the wife of a heavily-subsidized publisher to act as a “senior advisor.” David Skok, editor of The Logic, said he would play no role in coverage of the Liberal government that hired his spouse and paid his news site millions.
“We don’t make editorial decisions based on whether it will secure us such funding,” Skok wrote in a commentary headlined Editorial Independence. “Accepting an investment, sponsorship or grant doesn’t mean we endorse the person or organization behind it.”
Skok said as editor and majority shareholder he “is excluded from involvement in newsroom coverage” of anything to do with the Government of Canada. “This broad recusal began with the appointment of Skok’s wife Alison Loat as a senor advisor to the Privy Council on August 12,” The Logic wrote in a statement How We Avoid And Manage Conflicts Of Interest. “It will remain in place for the duration of Loat’s time in government.”
The Privy Council did not respond to questions regarding Loat’s appointment. There was no announcement of it at the time.
The Logic since 2020 has received $1,922,210 in federal funds. Payments included $955,742 in sole-sourced contracts, $966,467 in federal grants and additional undisclosed sums under a Canada Revenue Agency subsidy that pays government-approved publishers a secret yearly rebate of up to $29,750 per newsroom employee.
“An Insult To The Audience”
Skok, a former associate editor at the Toronto Star, publicly announced prior to soliciting federal aid that government subsidies were corrosive and insulting. “Canada’s new journalism subsidies will pick winners and hurt start-ups,” he wrote in 2019.
“This is a problematic policy because it will have a direct impact on the daily assigning and editing of a journalism product,” wrote Skok. “But worse, the policy is an insult to the audience.”
“I founded The Logic on the belief that journalistic independence comes from financial independence,” wrote Skok. “I still don’t think government intervention was needed. Necessity breeds innovation, and the government’s intervention removes that necessity for Canadian journalism.”
Skok in 2024 also accepted a Liberal appointment to a seven-member panel at the Department of Canadian Heritage to “provide advice on how to strengthen” the CBC. The committee’s work was never made public.
The Logic also received an unspecified sum from a 2025 election fund that paid cash for election coverage. Grants were financed through groups like the Rideau Hall Foundation whose directors included Mark Carney.
Beneficiaries received up to $35,000 to “support election focused journalism.” Sums paid to individual publishers were never disclosed.
By Staff 
