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Friday, August 15, 2025

LEVY: The hostages are coming home – thank Trump

By
Sue-Ann Levy
-
Source: GPO Israel

Although I can’t vote in the United States, I supported Donald Trump because I felt he’d be the one to get a peace deal in the Mideast, especially given his past success with the Abraham Accords.

I knew only strong words and actions would move the needle on what has been a pathetically handled situation by most of the world’s very weak leaders, especially Joe Biden and our own Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

So when Trump told Hamas on Jan. 7 that the hostages must be released by his inauguration on Jan. 20, I was thrilled.

I knew it was terribly naive to think that they’d be freed by next Monday. But at least someone was showing strength, compared to what we’ve seen in the past 465 days. 

On Wednesday, my heart skipped a beat when word came out that a peace deal had been reached between Hamas and Israel.

It’s not just because a ceasefire, if it holds, will finally come to pass. But I hope that this will be the start of hitting back against the evil Iranian regime (instead of sending them money as Biden and Barack Obama did.)

I hope that this will be the start of renewed focus on the Abraham Accords, which Trump started before they were cast aside under Biden’s watch.

And perhaps the sickening and relentless antisemitism my community has come to endure in major Canadian and American cities will run out of steam. 

It’s been a long, tortuous 465 days for all Jews in Israel and in the diaspora.

The newly inked deal will see the release of 33 hostages out of 94 still believed to be in Gaza, dead or alive and taken 465 days ago.

This will occur during what is called Phase 1 in return for a pause in the fighting and the release by Israel of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

There’s no doubt this is a deal with the devil and many are critical that it is only 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

It is tragic, as well, that hundreds of IDF soldiers were lost during the conflict.

But the deal had to be done. 

Several issues have become clear over the past several months as the conflict dragged on. 

The longer it continued, the more the world turned on Jews and Israel. 

We’ve been excoriated not just by the Jew-haters and the Hamasniks. but the Red Cross, the corrupt UN and other alleged humanitarian organizations, leftist professors, doctors and lawyers. 

The attacks have been relentless and vicious.

Hamas was very effective at making victims out of the Palestinians in Gaza, although many of them support the terrorist rule and in fact aided and abetted the atrocities of Oct. 7. They were adept at purporting that a genocide had occurred, even as the population of Gaza increased.

People are easily duped and antisemites, who wanted to believe the very worst about Jews, came out from under their rocks in droves.

Biden and the would-be president Kamala Harris made it abundantly clear they had little interest in fighting for the hostages, particularly the Americans, let alone protecting the Jewish state.

He in his enfeebled state was never able, since Oct. 7, to show strength. He flip flopped continuously, leaving Israel in the end to fight on its own.

At every turn Biden warned Israel to stop doing what they were doing, threatening to cut off their financial aid. For example, he told Israel not to go into Rafah. Imagine what would have happened if Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu had listened.

Trudeau and his ministers weren’t much better, voting more than once to withhold arms to Israel.

Despite this, Israel’s forces fought brilliantly, bringing the Hamas leadership to its knees and masterminding the brilliant pager plot against Hezbollah forces last September. 

That didn’t stop Biden from crowing shortly after the deal was announced that he deserved the credit.

He said he proposed the same deal last May. 

But whether he did or not, he didn’t close it.

I believe it took the strong words of Trump and his Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff to get Netanyahu to trust that the U.S. has Israel’s back.

If this can be done before Trump is officially president,  I’m equally interested in what happens next.

I hope and pray that Trump and his envoys keep a close eye on Iran and that the Abraham Accords are renegotiated.

I hope and pray that a strong signal is sent from the new administration that antisemitism won’t be tolerated on college campuses or on the streets of major cities.

Sadly, with the weak leaders at all levels in Canada – from Trudeau to Ontario Premier Doug Ford  to Olivia Chow the mayor of Toronto – I suspect the violence and harassment on our city’s streets will not subside for some time, unless the terrorist sympathizers find themselves a new cause.

I’ve said this before but it bears repeating: For the past 465 days, our leaders have all let us down. They are shameless.

At least the new regime in Washington will have Israel’s back. That will make a world of difference.

Changes to eligibility rules for Leaders’ Debates Commission will likely exclude PPC

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
-
Source: YT PeoplesPartyofCanadaOFFICIAL

The Leaders’ Debates Commission has now raised the bar for who can participate in the next federal leadership debate, which will likely only affect one candidate.

People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier has criticized the commission, which Trudeau established before the 2019 election, for seemingly moving the goalposts to exclude him.

In the 2021 election, a party needed to have at least one elected MP, received 4% of the vote in the last election, or have an average level of polling support at 4% in a sampling of polls chosen by the commission.

If those rules were maintained, Bernier would be allowed to participate as the PPC ended up getting 4.94% of the votes in that election, even though it did not win a seat.

The  Leaders’ Debates Commission announced Tuesday that for a leader of a federal party to qualify for participation in a debate this time around, the party has to meet two out of three criteria set out by the commission instead of just one.

For a leader to represent their party on the national debate stage, their party has to hold at least one seat in the House of Commons when the general election is called, have at least 4% support in the national polls 28 days prior to the election, or have candidates in at least 90% of the federal ridings in the same period.

The announcement was prefaced by citing the commission’s mandate, which states that the debates should “benefit from the participation of the leaders who have the greatest likelihood of becoming Prime Minister or whose political parties have the greatest likelihood of winning seats in Parliament.”

Former Radio-Canada executive and the commission’s head secretariat, Michel Cormier, said the criteria are “simple, clear, objective and measurable.”

“They measure both electability and viability, and they serve the public interest and the voting public by ensuring the leaders invited on the debate stage represent a current picture of the country’s political forces at play at the time of the next general election,” he said in the announcement.

In a statement released to social media Wednesday, Bernier accused the commission of changing the rules to prevent his party from participating in this year’s debate despite garnering more support than the Green party in the 2021 election.

He alleged last year the debate commission used “dubious polls” to exclude the PPC from the debate as many of the polls did not list the PPC as a party to vote for and only marked the option to support his party as “other.” Bernier participated in the 2019 election debate organized by the commission.

“This change only has one obvious purpose, one that unites the whole political establishment in Ottawa: Making it easier to exclude the PPC,” he said in a media release. “These new rules only affect me, the leader of the only new party to emerge forcefully on the federal political scene in decades, and none of the other leaders expected to participate.”

“They want to deny a voice to 840,000 Canadian voters who supported the PPC in 2021.”

He said it was still possible for the PPC to qualify for the debate but again referenced being at “the mercy of dubious polls,” which he said “deliberately exclude the PPC.”

The leadership commission selected the produce to host the leadership debate last October.

The English debates will be moderated by Steve Paikin, the host of TVO’s “The Agenda with Steve Paikin,” while the French debates will be moderated by Patrice Roy, a journalist and anchor of Radio-Canada’s “Téléjournal avec Patrice Roy.”

The Leadership Debate Commission attempted to bar True North and Rebel News from covering its leadership debate in the 2019 election. The exclusion attempt was defeated in court, allowing the two independent media organizations to cover the discussion after the Federal Court deemed that the commission’s actions were irrational and lacked logic.

According to information obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, The Leader;s’ Debate Commission and the federal Department of Justice spent $131,281 taxpayer dollars on legal fees fighting against True North and Rebel News in a bid to bar them from attending.

Danielle Smith refuses to support potential tariffs on Alberta energy 

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
-
Source: Facebook

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she would not allow for tariffs to be applied to her province’s energy, nor would she entertain the idea of cutting off Canada’s biggest trading partner.

Smith opted out of participating in a joint statement signed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the other premiers on Wednesday that outlined proposed retaliatory measures in response to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s potential tariffs.

“The Government of Alberta did not approve the joint statement between the Government of Canada and the Council of the Federation,” reads a release from the prime minister. 

The statement was released following a meeting between Trudeau and the premiers to discuss how best to collectively respond to Trump’s threat of a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports to be implemented upon taking office.

Applying tariffs to Canadian energy south of the border and even outright cutting it off were among the retaliatory measures discussed during Wednesday’s meeting. 

These ideas have already been publicly bandied around by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly.

Smith however, being the only premier to have personally already met with Trump to negotiate its future trading issues, announced she won’t be going along with such measures, taking issue with even the notion of it. 

“Until these threats cease, Alberta will not be able to fully support the federal government’s plan in dealing with the threatened tariffs. Alberta will simply not agree to export tariffs on our energy or other products, nor do we support a ban on exports of these same products,” wrote Smith in a statement released on Wednesday.

“We will take whatever actions are needed to protect the livelihoods of Albertans from such destructive federal policies.”

The Alberta premier intends to travel to Washington for Trump’s inauguration next week and announced plans to return to the U.S. “several times over the coming months to meet with U.S. lawmakers and officials to continue to make the case against the imposition of tariffs on Canadian products.”

She believes her approach will better “strengthen and grow the trading relationship between our two great and independent nations.”

Premier Ford criticized Smith’s stance, suggesting that Trump’s tariffs affected the country as a whole, not just certain provinces and their pertinent industry sectors.

Referring to Trump, Ford said, “He’s sitting there with a big smile on his face thinking ‘I’m going to divide and conquer.’ Remember one thing, united we stand and divided we fall. We need to be united.”

Trudeau echoed Ford’s remarks, saying “Nothing can be off the table if the U.S. continues to move forward with these punishing tariffs.”

The prime minister addressed how Ontario’s auto sector would also be hit hard by Trump’s tariffs but that Ford is a “Canadian first” and wasn’t prioritizing his province ahead of the country. 

After Smith initially returned from a face-to-face meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago to negotiate trade on Monday, she warned the Trudeau government not to halt energy exports to the U.S. as a response.

She said it would only be an “empty threat” that would ignite division within the country. 

“We also urge our entire nation to use this tariff threat as an opportunity to correct the misguided direction of this country and commence multiple infrastructure projects that focus on developing, upgrading and exporting our oil, gas and other natural resources, instead of effectively land locking them and keeping us fully reliant on one primary customer,” reads Smith’s statement. 

While Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe had previously expressed his support for Smith’s notion, he ultimately signed the joint statement.  

The government said it will wait until Trump takes office before announcing the exact details of its retaliatory measures.

Capital gains tax will drive down competition, chase away investment: study 

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
-
Source: Obert Madondo

The Liberals’ increased capital gains tax rate will likely hurt the country’s competitiveness globally. A new study finds its effects will reverse “investment, productivity, entrepreneurship, and innovation in Canada.”

According to research released by the Fraser Institute, increasing the number of Canadians included in the new capital gains tax bracket will ultimately lower the country’s “competitiveness relative to other advanced countries.”

“At a 50% inclusion rate, Canada’s top capital gains tax rate ranked between 17th and 23rd, depending on the province, out of 37 OECD countries,” reads the study. 

The newly hiked capital gains tax was part of the Liberals’ 2024 federal budget,  requiring Canadians making more than $250,000 in capital gains annually to pay taxes on two-thirds of that profit instead of half. 

The Department of Finance said that the $250,000 threshold was created to “ensure this increase in the capital gains inclusion rate is concentrated among the wealthiest, while keeping taxes lower on the middle class.” 

According to the 2024 Budget, the tax should only affect “0.13% of Canadians with an average gross income of $1,411,000 per year (including capital gains) would face higher capital gains taxes as a result” in 2025.

However, the Fraser Institute takes issue with the government’s figure, saying that it misrepresents how far the tax extends. The study noted how capital gains taxes are “incurred infrequently and involve assets purchased decades ago that have significantly appreciated in value.” 

“A small business owner selling a business at retirement or a family selling their cottage represents two instances that may occur only once or twice in a lifetime, generating capital gains far exceeding what could be considered a modest income,” reads the study. 

“In these cases, the year in which individuals sell their assets—and realize a capital gain—becomes a year in which their income is greatly inflated and not representative of their typical earnings.”

For example, an individual who earns $80,000 per year may take in a capital gain of $400,000 the year that they decide to sell their cottage, which they may have owned for decades. Despite otherwise earning a middle-class income, that individual will have to report earnings of $480,000 that year, meaning that they have well exceeded the $250,000 threshold. 

That individual would now be forced to pay higher taxes under the Liberals’ expanded inclusion rate.

The government’s decision to raise the inclusion rate to 66.7% moves Canada up the ranks of between eighth and 13th highest of any OECD country, depending on the province.

“Simply put, Canada now has effectively no capital gains tax advantage over three-quarters of OECD countries,” said study authors Jake Fuss and Grady Munro.

The study goes on to say that by reversing such actions and lowering the inclusion rate to one-third of the population, Canada could put itself back on the map in terms of global competitiveness. 

“At a 33.3% inclusion rate, Canada’s top capital gains tax rate would rank between 30th and 31st. In other words, every Canadian province would enjoy a lower top capital gains tax rate than the majority of OECD countries,” it said. 

Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation and subsequent proroguing of Parliament, the Canada Revenue Agency confirmed it will continue to administer the Liberals’ increased capital gains tax rate.

The CRA intends to do so even though it hasn’t passed in Parliament.

The Fraser Institute projects that entrepreneurs and innovators will be hurt the most by these changes. Additionally, “investors may sell off their share of whatever new technology or business is created.” 

“By depressing the level of entrepreneurship and innovation, capital gains taxes ultimately lower technological advancements, employment, and overall economic growth productivity and overall economic growth,” it said. 

The study emphasized the importance for the government to recognize that Canadian businesses are also competing with other businesses globally, not just domestically. 

The new increase is not only detrimental for higher taxes “relative to what they used to be within Canada, but that it raises Canada’s capital gains taxes relative to other countries towards which capital investments could be redirected.”

However, the authors argue that a reversal of the Liberal’s recent decision “would foster higher rates of economic growth and help boost living standards for Canadians.”

Trudeau won’t seek re-election as MP

By
Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
-
Source: CPAC

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will not seek re-election as a member of Parliament in the upcoming federal election, ending a 17-year political career.

Trudeau announced he wouldn’t run for his sixth consecutive time at a press conference on Wednesday following the first minister’s meeting in Ottawa. 

“In terms of my own decisions, I will not be running in the upcoming election,” said Trudeau. “I honestly haven’t had much time to think about that at all. I am entirely focused on doing the job that Canadians elected me to do in an extraordinarily pivotal time right now.”

Trudeau previously announced that he would resign as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and prime minister once his successor is chosen, which will occur by Mar. 9.

While Trudeau was clear when he announced his resignation that he wouldn’t be leading the Liberals into the next election, he had not indicated what his plans were for his own riding.

The party tightened its leadership election rules after Canadians exposed that the party was vulnerable to foreign interference because anyone—regardless of citizenship or residency status—was permitted to take out a membership, including international students.

Parliament is prorogued until Mar. 24, meaning Canada’s new prime minister will have two weeks to prepare for a potential non-confidence vote and ensuing election. 

Trudeau was first elected as an MP in the Quebec riding of Papineau in 2008. He has held the riding ever since. The Bloc Québecois held the riding between 2006 and 2008 but Liberals have otherwise held the riding since 1953.

According to the poll aggregator 338Canada, the Liberals have a 79% chance of winning the riding based on odds from Jan. 12, 2025. The NDP have a 21% chance. 

Trudeau will remain an MP after resigning as Liberal party leader and prime minister until an election is called, at which point the Liberals would have to nominate another candidate. 

Trudeau announced his intention not to run for re-election during a meeting between all the premiers where they discussed how to best deal with President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith attended virtually and did not attend the closing press conference with the other premiers and Trudeau.

Smith previously delivered the most scathing rebuke to Trudeau’s resignation.

“It is one of the most irresponsible and selfish acts of a government in Canadian history,” she said.

The first ministers and Trudeau released a joint statement following the meeting.

“The Government of Alberta did not approve the joint statement between the Government of Canada and the Council of the Federation,” read the statement.

Alberta launches 24/7 GPS ankle monitoring to address bail system failures

By
Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
-
Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery - Source: X

The Alberta government has implemented a new GPS monitoring program aiming to fight Canada’s catch-and-release bail system that has let high-risk and repeat offenders roam free.

The provincial ankle bracelet electronic monitoring program officially launched on Wednesday.

The program will allow offenders and accused who are deemed a public safety risk to be subject to court-ordered 24/7 electronic monitoring by Alberta Correctional Services.

“Ottawa’s Bill C-75 has broken the bail system… High-risk offenders pose a significant risk to public safety and require enhanced supervision in the community,” said Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis. “Ankle bracelet electronic monitoring is another tool in the toolbox for courts to consider when determining sentencing or bail conditions, helping us combat rising crime and create safer Alberta communities.”

Canada’s provincial and territorial premiers previously called on the federal government to reform the bail system following various murders by those out on bail.

The federal government shifted the blame to the provinces, saying it was up to them to fix the crime issues caused by the catch-and-release bail system.

The Alberta government said ankle bracelet monitoring will help secure offender-restricted areas such as victims’ residences, places of employment, and other areas deemed off-limits by an accused’s bail release conditions.

The previous system saw probation officers monitor high-risk individuals only during regular business hours and did not include GPS monitoring.

Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery said that the province remains committed to the safety of Albertans by implementing measures like ankle monitors and by strengthening the Crown Prosecution Service, the courts, and policing so that Albertans are protected from violent criminals.

“Alberta’s government continues to call for federal bail and sentencing reform to stop violent criminals from re-entering our communities,” said Amery. 

The Alberta government allocated $2.8 million to cover the implementation costs for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Alberta previously released a provincial police force plan and stricter penalties for repeat offenders. Bill 11, which was part of the previous announcement, provides the legislative amendments to establish the ankle monitoring program for violent and sexual offenders out on bail. 

The ankle bracelet monitoring program is part of the Alberta United Conservative Party’s Safe Streets Action Plan, which has various measures to increase public safety for Albertans.

The Rachel Parker Show | Danielle Smith prepares for the worst

By
Rachel Parker
-
Source: Facebook

Today on the Rachel Parker Show, Rachel is joined by True North Alberta reporter Isaac Lamoureuxto break down the latest in the looming trade war with the U.S.

Isaac has the latest on Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s visit to Mar-a-Lago and explains how the premier doesn’t expect oil to be exempt from the 25% tariffs.

He also has news about former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s thoughts on Canada’s predicament in a recent interview.

Tune in now!

Poll shows majority of Canadians want an early election

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
-
Source: Elections Canada

A majority of Canadians want to head to the polls to have a say on the future of Canada’s government before October 2025. 

According to a Leger360 poll conducted from Jan. 10 – 13, nearly six in ten Canadians want an election before the fixed election date of Oct. 20.

Leger asked 1,545 Canadian voters, randomly selected and statistically weighted to be representative of Canada’s population, what their thoughts were on the ongoing Liberal party leadership race and a potential election.

Though a margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample, a probability sample of this size yields a margin of error no greater than 2.49%, 19 times out of 20.

According to the survey, 29% of Canadians don’t care to wait for the Liberals to choose a new leader and want an election to be called immediately. Another third, 30%, of Canadians, want one held no later than spring of this year.

Some 32% of Canadians would rather wait until the fixed election date for the general election.

The numbers have shifted when compared to an Abacus Data survey, which was conducted on the day of former Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s fiery resignation just hours before being set to announce the government’s fall economic statement.

The poll found that 60% of Canadians wanted an immediate election before Trudeau’s resignation announcement.

According to the Leger poll, more than three-quarters of Canadians are concerned about the Liberal government’s ability to manage the relationship with the incoming Trump administration.

It also said that among Liberal voters, 27% prefer Liberal finance advisor Mark Carney, while 21% say Freeland should win the party’s leadership race.

For Canadians, however, Freeland and Carney garner near identical levels of support, with 14% of Canadians saying they’d rather see Freeland take over and 13% saying the same for Carney.

Both candidates are expected to run in the leadership race, which is set to conclude by Mar. 9, 2025, but haven’t officially announced their bid to become Canada’s next prime minister.

Carney is expected to launch his leadership campaign in Edmonton on Thursday. He recently appeared on Monday’s late-night The Daily Show with John Stewart, where he all but said he was running.

However, the ongoing Liberal leadership race has done little so far in swaying Canadians’ voting intentions.

Nearly half of Canadians, 47%, said they intend to vote for the Conservative party in the coming federal election. Conservatives are 26 points ahead of the Liberal party, which garnered only 21% of support.

Trudeau and premiers gather to discuss Canada’s response to Trump’s impending tariffs

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
-
Source: Instagram

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada’s premiers convened to discuss Canada’s response to President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming tariffs, highlighting the reciprocal trade relationship between the two G7 economies.

Canada has been on high alert since Trump pledged 25% tariffs against Canada’s imports on day one of his administration. Since then, the incoming U.S. president has repeatedly brought up the idea of Canada becoming America’s 51st state and threatened to use “economic force” to merge the two countries.

“This is certainly a moment to gather and reflect on challenges and opportunities in the relationship with the United States,” Trudeau said ahead of the first ministers meeting on Wednesday. 

“Every different region of the country has a deep relationship with our single biggest trading partner, and making sure that the interests and the concerns of all Canadians are fed into our national response.”

He said Canada will continue to be looking to demonstrate that Canada is looking for a path that benefits both countries in order to deepen Canada’s “great relationship” with the U.S. 

He said that the morning would be spent discussing what mutual advantages Canada can bring to the negotiating table – while the afternoon, the premiers and Trudeau, along with Global Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc will look into potential retaliatory measures.

They will be addressing how Canada will answer Trump’s call to strengthen the U.S.-Canada border and increase its fight against illegal drugs, specifically fentanyl, ensuring integrity in Canada’s immigration system and joint management of the border.

Trudeau said they would also look at “other opportunities for partnership,” including energy and critical minerals.

“We all know in 2023 for example, the U.S. imported about $123 billion worth of energy into the U.S.,” Trudeau said. “It is an extraordinarily important relationship for them that powers their jobs, their industry, their homes. We need to continue that, and we can even do more on energy, as I know they want to.”

He said he hopes to leverage U.S. concerns over China in the future negotiations.

“Critical minerals represent a key area of development as well, where we have the ingredients in the technological transformation of our economies that the Americans need,” he said. “If they don’t get them from Canada, they’ll get them from China. And if they can’t get them from Canada or China, they don’t get them from anywhere.”

The joint defence of North America will also be a topic in the morning as they discuss “procurement opportunities” with the U.S. to further meet Canada’s responsibility to protect the Arctic in a way that satisfies Trump’s concerns.

Premier Doug Ford was particularly interested in what retaliatory measure Canada could bring to the negotiation table.

“We need to enter these negotiations from a position of strength with as much leverage as possible,” Ford said at the top of the meeting. “I’m a strong believer in retaliatory tariffs. You can’t let someone hit you over the head with a sledgehammer without hitting him back places twice as hard, in my opinion.”

Ford said the premiers will hear what other retaliatory measures Canada has available to it beyond tariffs. He recently suggested cutting off energy to America’s Northeast as it relies heavily on Canadian energy, but Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said doing so would create a national unity crisis.

Without naming her, Ford took a likely jab at Smith for saying she would not be willing to cut off energy supply to the U.S.

“I’ve been in business for years, like a lot of people around this table. I’ve been in politics for years. You don’t go into a meeting or a negotiation showing the opposition what sort of cards you have in your hand,” he said. “It doesn’t work that way. And rest assured, if we use every tool, Canada has a lot of leverage.”

Before the meeting, he was wearing a Trump-style hat that said, “Canada is not for sale.” He was asked if he was referring to Smith when he said Canada should not be “showing its cards” before negotiations. He said it would be a topic of discussion at the meeting.

Ford also asked for “regular meeting engagement” with either the Prime Minister or his ministers going forward until the potential economic crisis was resolved.

Court upholds Elections Canada fine against Ezra Levant’s anti-Trudeau book lawn signs

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
-
Source: Ezra Levant/X

The Federal Court of Appeal upheld a decision that the Rebel News founder’s use of lawn signs to promote a book highly critical of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was an act of unlawful campaign activity. 

Rebel News founder Ezra Levant was initially fined $3,000 by the Elections Commissioner in 2021 for his book entitled, “The Libranos: What the Media Won’t Tell you About Justin Trudeau’s Corruption.”

The Libranos details the various scandals and corruption charges faced by the Trudeau government since first taking power in 2015. 

The book was published in 2019 during a federal election but had been written earlier.

The cover of the book featured Trudeau and his then-cabinet ministers in an image akin to the popular promotional poster for the hit series The Sopranos, which focused on a mob boss and his family. 

The Commissioner referenced the book title as a reason behind the charge at the time, writing “…the book title’s reference to ‘Libranos’, which was clearly designed to create an association between the name of a registered party and The Sopranos, a mafia-themed television show, and to link the party to corruption.” 

“The advertising message also contained an edited version of a graphic used to promote the show; drawings of the show’s characters were replaced with drawings of the leader and other public figures of the party,” the Commissioner continued.

Ads using its cover were taken out to promote and sell the book, including billboard ads and lawn signs which were available for purchase.

The ads came under fire by Elections Canada, which it deemed to be a form of unregistered campaign advertising, prompting the fine. 

Levant appealed the decision but was rejected by the Federal Court of Appeal on Monday. 

In an 11-page ruling, the judges cited Levant’s use of lawn signs to promote the book for not including “the information as required by section 352 of the Act; and (b) Rebel News incurred at least $500 in relation to the lawn signs and did not register as a third party for that Federal election as required by subsection 353(1) of the Act,” referring to the Canada Elections Act.

The Federal Court determined that Levant’s distribution of lawn signs to promote the book was an act of election advertising and thus violated election campaign advertising laws. 

In a recent statement responding to the latest ruling, Levant said the years-long court battle involved “More than a dozen bureaucrats. Half a dozen lawyers. Not just government lawyers, but they hired expensive law firms, too.”

“I’m not sure why they did that. You’d think I was the Chinese Communist Party trying to interfere in the election,” said Levant, adding that there “were 24 books published about Trudeau in the 2019 campaign. 23 of them were friendly to him. Mine was critical. Guess which one was prosecuted as an illegal election activity?”

Elections Canada said that they were not going after the book itself, but instead issued two notices of violation that were specifically directed at the lawn signs used to promote it. 

However, Levant argues that the lawn signs simply displayed the cover of his book with the words “buy the book” and were not designed to be viewed as campaign signs for an alternative political party.  

“They effectively criminalized the cover of the book, because they said the picture of Trudeau was negative,” said Levant. “They absolutely hated that photo. In all four of the hearings, the government’s lawyers were obsessed by it. I think they must have had some specific instructions from Trudeau to go after that picture. It was really quite strange.”

Levant could now appeal the latest decision with the Supreme Court of Canada. However, the case would have to be accepted by the court beforehand.

“And I think my odds of overturning this latest decision are very low,” he said.

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