Rebel News owner Ezra Levant was 'mentor' to Poilievre, says author
Pierre Poilievre campaigned for Ezra Levant in Calgary riding nomination
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has documented historic ties to Rebel News owner Ezra Levant, the media personality at the epicentre of a controversy that has engulfed Canada's Leaders' Debates Commission.
After facing criticism for allowing right-wing media activists to dominate the post-French debate press conference, the commission cancelled Thursday's post-debate question-and-answer session citing undefined security concerns.
The commission's decision Thursday came amid tensions between Levant — a political activist behind two entities registered with Elections Canada as third-party advocacy groups — and some journalists covering the English debate on-site.
The controversy that flowed around Levant and his right-wing Rebel News online media employees partly overshadowed the central event of the evening.
The federal leaders English-debate was a pivotal moment for Poilievre who was seeking to grab the momentum and polling lead away from Liberal Leader Mark Carney as the campaign headed into its final week.
Ethan
Cox, left, of Ricochet Media remonstrates with Ezra Levant, CEO of
Rebel News, after the cancellation of leaders' scrums during the
English-language federal election debate in Montreal on Thursday. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)
"On the most important night of the most important campaign of Poilievre's life, Ezra Levant showed up," said Mark Bourrie, author of a recently published book on Poilievre, Ripper, in an interview with CBC News.
"If things hadn't derailed, [Levant] would have probably been dominating the questions himself that night and that would have been really something, to have this come full circle after 25 years."
Levant said in a written statement to CBC News that he has not read Bourrie's book or spoken to the author, who Levant described as pushing a "political agenda."
"I haven't had any meaningful dealings with Poilievre in nearly 25 years," Levant said in the statement.
"Poilievre was a volunteer on my campaign. I myself was still in my 20s. I don't doubt he learned from that campaign but I don't know what teaching I was doing other than being the candidate and working with the team."
CBC News asked the Conservative Party if Poilievre still considered Levant a friend and if there had been any discussions or co-ordination between the two around election communications.
"No. Your insinuations are false. Conservatives are focused on our own campaign to bring home Canada's promise, lower the cost of living, axe taxes, build homes and make Canadians safe, for a change," said the statement.
Worked to get Levant elected
In his book, Bourrie writes that Poilievre became part of a "historically important clique" at the University of Calgary that "became a large part of the core of the modern Conservative movement." This group included people like former Alberta premier Jason Kenney, law professor Benjamin Perrin and journalist Levant.
Poilievre and Levant would end up working closely together, even co-authoring a Calgary Herald op-ed in 2002.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks during the English debate on Thursday. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press)
Bourrie said that Poilievre was in his early 20s when he joined a team that included Levant behind a push to have Stockwell Day lead the newly minted Canadian Alliance — a party with Western populist roots that eventually merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to become today's Conservative Party.
Day won the leadership of the new party in 2000, defeating Preston Manning, who founded the Reform Party. Day soon lost the 2000 federal election to Jean Chretien's Liberals and resigned his post in 2001.
Historian Mark Bourrie recently authored a book about Pierre Poilievre called, Ripper. (Courtesy of Mark Bourrie)
But Poilievre and Levant had their sights on another goal. Poilievre began campaigning to help Levant — then a young lawyer in his late 20s — become the Canadian Alliance candidate in the riding of Calgary Southwest, which Manning held but would soon vacate on his retirement in January 2002.
Poilievre helped purge the Calgary Southwest riding association of Manning supporters to pave the way for Levant to win the riding's nomination and become the next likely MP, wrote Bourrie.
But they wouldn't leave anything to chance.
"Poilievre was working for Ezra.... Poilievre was his media manager. Poilievre was the one putting together TV commercials, billboard ads. They spent a lot of money," said Bourrie.
One TV commercial featured Poilievre and his current campaign manager Jenni Byrne, with Stockwell Day's grandchild, posing as an Alberta family.
This
image, taken from a 2002 television commercial promoting Ezra Levant in
his bid to be a Canadian Alliance candidate in Calgary. Poilievre,
second from right, appear in the commercial, along with his current
campaign manager Jenni Byrne and the grandchild of Stockwell Day. (CBC News)
This ad, along with details of Poilievre's work for Levant in the riding nomination campaign, is also recounted by a second book, Pierre Poilievre: A political life, written by current Conservative candidate Andrew Lawton.
Despite running about 80 radio and television ads, renting billboards and spending reportedly over $100,000, Levant would never get a chance to represent the riding, even after securing the nomination in February 2002.
Stephen Harper would become Canadian Alliance leader that year, force Levant aside, and take the riding for himself in a May 2002 byelection.
Why is the Leaders' Debates Commission coming under fire?Bourrie said Levant and Poilievre's paths diverged at this point — Poilievre would stay in the electoral political game while Levant would become an influential player in the right-wing media sphere.
But during this era, as a Western-based conservative movement turned into a national political force, Levant became a "mentor and somebody who opened opportunities" for Poilievre, said Bourrie.
"Poilievre got to go from basically a college politician to running a real campaign, making big decisions, spending money," he said.
"That must have helped him to really move ahead of people his age and his generation of political people. He's a staffer ... and soon after, runs and he wins. He obviously earned his spurs on that."
A quarter of a century later, Levant and Poilievre's paths again crossed in Montreal. But this time, Bourrie said it was Levant campaigning through his registered third-party advocacy entity, ForCanada, paying for a truck to flash messages attacking Carney while rolling around the debate venue.
Levant said that Rebel News "attends all leaders debates, every election, irrespective of who the leaders are." He said the media entity's questions to Poilievre "are on the record."
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From: Ezra Levant, Rebel News <info@rebelnews.com>
Date: Sat, Apr 19, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Subject: INSIDE SCOOP: What on earth happened at the leaders' debates?
To: David Amos <David.Raymond.Amos333@gmail.com>
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Harper '02 vs Ezra Levant
- 9 years ago
- News
- Duration 4:12
Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre see very different threats to Canada
This week's debates may have only scratched the surface of Canada's new reality
Thirty-seven years ago, inside a television studio in Ottawa, John Turner thrust an index finger at Brian Mulroney and warned that with one stroke of a pen Mulroney had reversed 120 years of national development and thrown Canada into the "north-south influence of the United States."
"When the economic levers go, the political independence is sure to follow," Turner said.
Turner lost both the election and the larger debate — the free-trade deal between Canada and the United States went ahead and came into effect two months later. But that exchange — possibly the most dramatic in the 60-year history of televised leaders' debates in Canada — is still replayed on television at election time. And Turner's warning now could be said to hang over the 2025 campaign.
In truth, a televised debate is not well-suited to settling big questions of national purpose and direction.
In 1988, the three leaders — John Turner for the Liberals, Brian Mulroney for the Progressive Conservatives and NDP leader Ed Broadbent — spent six hours in close proximity, three in English and three in French. They were each given three minutes — a luxurious amount of time by current standards — for both opening and closing statements. And Turner still insisted that a third debate, devoted entirely to the free-trade deal, was necessary.
In 2025, four party leaders shared four hours together, two in each official language. They raced through a couple dozen topics. They were given 10 seconds to say what they felt was the biggest security threat facing the country. Their closing statements were capped at 45 seconds.
The result of a modern debate is always something of a blur. But what this year's encounters underlined is that this election is primarily about both two very different candidates for prime minister and two very different ideas of what the greatest threat to the country actually is.
For Liberal Leader Mark Carney, the pre-eminent crisis facing Canada is Donald Trump and everything he represents. For Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, the primary crisis is Justin Trudeau and the Liberal agenda of the last nine years.
Poilievre's 'change' election
"It may be difficult to, Mr. Poilievre — you spent years running against Justin Trudeau and the carbon tax and neither — they're both gone," Carney said at one point on Thursday night.
Of course, for the Conservative leader, that is not nearly enough.
"Are you prepared to elect the same Liberal MPs, the same Liberal ministers, the same Liberal staffers all over again for a fourth term?" he asked viewers.
For Poilievre, this election is entirely about "change" — change that, in Poilievre's telling, is desperately needed. Holding himself out as an example of what's possible in this country, Poilievre posits that the "promise" of Canada has been broken.
"Many of you are worried about paying your bills, feeding your families, even owning a home. You're worried your kids are in danger," Poilievre said in his closing statement. "But I'm here to say it doesn't have to be this way."
At Issue | Did the federal leaders’ debate change anything? Poilievre's response is to do things very differently — to cut spending, repeal regulations, build pipelines and wield the notwithstanding clause to impose harsher sentences on those convicted of crimes. Whatever Mark Carney promises to do differently or better, Poilievre contends that he cannot be trusted.
"You, sir, are not a change," Poilievre said to Carney during one exchange.
But whatever Poilievre's desire to cast himself as the candidate of urgent and dramatic change, the Conservative leader who showed up on the debate stage this week was conspicuously milder than the candidate he has often shown himself to be over the last two years, at least on some fronts.
The word "woke" did not cross his lips even once, despite his oft-stated objections to "woke culture" and his party's stated commitment to end the "imposition of woke ideology in the federal civil service and in the allocation of federal funds for university research." And where he has repeatedly mused at rallies about turning the CBC's Toronto headquarters into housing, on Thursday night he held out the possibility that the public broadcaster would somehow survive, even if a Conservative government withdraws all federal funding.
Such omissions and adjustments suggest the Conservative leader may have come to understand, however belatedly, how much of a liability his populist echoes of Trumpism have become — either by limiting his own party's ability to attract support or by galvanizing the non-Conservative vote behind Mark Carney.
Carney's 'crisis' election
From Carney, there is a stated intent to do some things differently — to refocus the government on larger economic issues, to accelerate the building of houses and national infrastructure. But nearly everything is framed in the context of a world changed by Donald Trump.
In making his own proposed changes, Poilievre argues, Canada will be better positioned to deal with the economic threats posed by Trump's agenda. But it is Carney who forcefully argues that Canada's entire relationship with the United States has changed or must change.
"We are facing the biggest crisis of our lifetimes," Carney said in his closing statement. "Donald Trump is trying to fundamentally change the world economy, the trading system, but really what he's trying to do to Canada — he's trying to break us, so the U.S. can own us. They want our land, they want our resources, they want our water, they want our country."
Did the leaders' debates change anything for these voters?Carney talks about diversifying Canada's trading partners and working together with "like-minded" countries. More simply, Carney argues he is better suited and more qualified to lead the country at this particular moment.
Of the four leaders, Carney seemed most eager to discuss Trump — perhaps because the other three have calculated that it is not a particularly winning topic for them. An opening section that was nominally supposed to be about "Trump and tariffs" quickly devolved into a discussion about pipelines.
Barely scratching the surface
In the midst of that exchange, Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francous Blanchet posited that by the time a new pipeline is completed — maybe a decade from now — Trump won't even be president.
"He might be," Carney quipped, smiling.
Even if Donald Trump isn't still president in 2035, it would surely be Carney's argument — and the argument of many other informed observers — that the world will not by then have returned to some comforting pre-Trump normal. And it is fair to say that this year's election may have only barely scratched the surface of everything that might be debated about this new reality.
On Wednesday night, Canada's safe-third country agreement with the United States was briefly discussed. But there was no real debate about whether that agreement is likely to survive or what Canadian leaders would do if it becomes politically or legally untenable.
Such questions may eventually become unavoidable. For now, there is the big question of how Canada should approach this moment and who should lead it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
46 Comments
Fundy Royal campaign targets middle class with focus on jobs
Fundy Royal voters have elected Conservatives all but 1 time in 28 elections over 101 years
Fundy Royal, New Brunswick Debate – Federal Elections 2015 - The Local Campaign, Rogers TV
Rogers tv What should voters expect as parties enter the final stretch of the campaign? | Power & Politics
CBC News Should the Leaders’ Debates Commission be axed? Bureau chiefs panel – April 18, 2025
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Tense, possibly physical confrontations result in cancellation of post-debate press conferences
CTV News 352 Comments
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SHOCKING: A Carney Liberal staffer assaulted David Menzies; Sheila Gunn Reid responds.
Singh questions Carney over Brookfield and taxes: 'Whose side are you on?'
The National | Canada Votes: Post-debate special
- 1 hour ago
- News
- Duration live
April 17, 2025 | With less than two weeks until Canada votes, federal party leaders face off in the only English-language debate. Chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault and the CBC News team break down the key moments and how they could shape what happens next.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXZUGeB0xD0
Cross Country Checkup host Ian Hanomansing will take your calls after the federal leaders' English-language debate. What's your reaction? Who do you think should be prime minister? Call 1-888-416-8333 or visit cbc.ca/checkup to share your thoughts.
Did the leaders' debates change anything for these voters?
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Date: Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Subject: Our coverage of the French Debate begins soon!
To: <David.Raymond.Amos333@gmail.com>
Our coverage of the French Debate begins soon!
We hope you’ll be able to join our LIVE coverage of the French-language debate. Our coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. EDT.
TUNE INTO OUR COVERAGE OF THE DEBATE See you soon! Juno News © 2025 Candice Malcolm
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Candice Malcolm is a journalist, broadcaster, author, entrepreneur, Founder of True North and Juno News. She is a wife and mother of four.
Malcolm was formerly the director of research at Sun News Network, completed a fellowship in Washington, DC, worked at the Fraser Institute and the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, and was press secretary to a federal minister in Ottawa. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Alberta, a Master’s in International Relations, and a Master’s in International Trade and Commerce Law from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
Malcolm is also a contributor to the new book, “I . . . Do? Why Marriage Still Matters” (Cascade Books, 2024).
Greens protest being dropped from leaders’ debates
From: Media Relations / Relations avec les Médias (JUS / JUS) <media@justice.gc.ca>
Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Subject: Réponse automatique - Automatic reply: The Great Canadian Gong Show Round Two
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
(le français suit l’anglais)
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From: Mairie <mairie@sherbrooke.ca>
Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Subject: Accusé de réception
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Bonjour,
Nous vous remercions de votre correspondance au cabinet de la mairesse de Sherbrooke. Nous vous assurons que cette dernière recevra toute l’attention requise.
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Subject: [Auto] Thanks for reaching out! Re: The Great Canadian Gong Show Round Two
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From: Anand, Anita - M.P. <Anita.Anand@parl.gc.ca>
Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Subject: Automatic reply: The Great Canadian Gong Show Round Two
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Hello,
Thank you for reaching out to the office of Anita Anand, Member of Parliament for Oakville. We are receiving an extremely high volume of emails. Our priority is to respond to inquiries from Oakville residents. Please ensure you provide your address including postal code to confirm you are a resident of the Oakville constituency, as well as a concise explanation of your matter so we can assist you.
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From: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Subject: Fwd: The Great Canadian Gong Show Round Two
To: <anna.keenan@greenparty.ca>, <media@greenparty.ca>, <hilda.baughan@teamppc.ca>
Malpeque Candidates Debate 2025 - Kensington & Area Chamber of Commerce
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From: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.
Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Subject: Re: The Great Canadian Gong Show Round Two
To: pm <pm@pm.gc.ca>, Marco.Mendicino <Marco.Mendicino@parl.gc.ca>, Nathalie.G.Drouin <Nathalie.G.Drouin@pco-bcp.gc.
Cc: <rosemary.barton@cbc.ca>, <ezra@forcanada.ca>, <ezra@rebelmedia.com>, <acoyne@globeandmail.com>, <herle@rubiconstrategy.com>, <media-medias@debates-debats.
Post-debate news conferences cancelled over safety concerns
- 33 minutes ago
- News
- Duration 7:00
The standard post-debate news conferences between federal leaders were cancelled on Wednesday because of concern about the 'environment' of the scrums. The move came after several altercations between journalists throughout the day.
Levant holds court at the federal leaders' debate after the mainstream media tried to kick him out
From: Drouin, Nathalie G <Nathalie.G.Drouin@pco-bcp.gc.ca>
Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Subject: Automatic reply: The Great Canadian Gong Show Round Two
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Good day,
Please note that I am currently away from the office until Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
During my absence Ted Gallivan will be acting on my behalf.
For any assistance, please contact my office at (613) 957-5056.
Thank you
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Bonjour,
Veuillez noter que je suis présentement absente du bureau jusqu'à mardi le 22 avril 2025.
Pendant mon absence Ted Gallivan assumera l'intérim.
Pour toute assistance, veuillez communiquer avec mon bureau au (613) 957-5056.
Merci
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Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Subject: Automatic Reply
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Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Subject: Automatic reply: The Great Canadian Gong Show Round Two
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Subject: Automatic reply: The Great Canadian Gong Show Round Two
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Thank you for emailing my office, I appreciate you reaching out to me.
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From: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Subject: The Great Canadian Gong Show Round Two
To: pm <pm@pm.gc.ca>, Marco.Mendicino <Marco.Mendicino@parl.gc.ca>, Nathalie.G.Drouin <Nathalie.G.Drouin@pco-bcp.gc.ca>, fin.minfinance-financemin.fin <fin.minfinance-financemin.fin@canada.ca>, mcu <mcu@justice.gc.ca>, <ps.ministerofpublicsafety-ministredelasecuritepublique.sp@ps-sp.gc.ca>, <Kody.Blois@parl.gc.ca>, charles.murray <charles.murray@gnb.ca>, Chrystia.Freeland <Chrystia.Freeland@parl.gc.ca>, dominic.leblanc <dominic.leblanc@parl.gc.ca>, djtjr <djtjr@trumporg.com>, David.Akin <David.Akin@globalnews.ca>, rfife <rfife@globeandmail.com>, robert.gauvin <robert.gauvin@gnb.ca>, Susan.Holt <Susan.Holt@gnb.ca>, robert.mckee <robert.mckee@gnb.ca>, jan.jensen <jan.jensen@justice.gc.ca>, leader@ourcanadianfuture.com <Leader@ourcanadianfuture.com>, <David.Cochrane@cbc.ca>, davidmylesforfredericton@gmail.com <DavidMylesForFredericton@gmail.com>, <RobMooreFundyRoyal@gmail.com>, hon.melanie.joly <hon.melanie.joly@canada.ca>, Hans Johnsen <notyourprince@gmail.com>, leader <leader@greenparty.ca>
Leaders’ debate: English event with 4 major party leaders about to begin
4 main federal party leaders arrive at English-language debate in MontrealThe Latest
- The English-language debate will begin at 7 p.m. ET.
- Liberal Leader Mark Carney is expected to be a target again tonight, as his party commands a lead in the polls.
- NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, meanwhile, is fighting for his party’s future.
- Last night’s French debate covered a range of topics, from housing to pipelines to the economy.
- CBC News Network will be streaming the English debate live.
Updates
April 17
The moderator is a referee, says Paikin
As Jenna mentioned, TVO's Steve Paikin is tonight's moderator.
Paikin has moderated three federal debates, so he knows the pressure that goes into the role. He told Power & Politics host David Cochrane outside Maison de Radio-Canada that he sees himself as a kind of referee.
"Any referee who sees his name in the paper the day after a game knows that that's a bad thing," Paikin said, adding he's aiming to keep a low profile.
The goal, he said, is for people not to notice he’s there. Instead, the focus will be on the leaders to say what they need, and answer the questions in viewers’ minds — all "in a relatively civilized fashion."
As for dealing with the stress of it all? Paikin says he's not trying to picture what people might say. "You feel what feels right in the moment. You bring your experience to bear," he said.
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During leaders' debate, Carney praised a nuclear firm he bought while at Brookfield
Investment fund co-headed by Liberal leader acquired 51% of Westinghouse in 2023
During the first leaders' debate on Wednesday, Liberal Leader Mark Carney praised nuclear energy and named two companies in the sector with which he did business during his tenure at Brookfield Asset Management.
In 2023, Brookfield formed a partnership with uranium mining firm Cameco to purchase the Westinghouse Electric Company. Brookfield Asset Management acquired 51 per cent of Westinghouse while Cameco got the rest, according to a news release.
The purchase was made within the Brookfield Global Transition Fund, an investment fund that was co-headed by Carney at the time. He was an executive at Brookfield Asset Management from 2020 until early 2025, when he entered politics and became leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister of Canada.
During Wednesday's French-language leaders' debate, Carney praised nuclear energy in response to a question from host Patrice Roy. In Canada, nuclear energy falls within the jurisdiction of the federal government, which invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the sector earlier this year.
"It's a great opportunity," responded Carney, adding it's up to the provinces to decide whether or not to invest in nuclear power.
"We have a great advantage here in Canada. We have uranium, that's one of the advantages. We have major nuclear companies including CANDU, Westinghouse and Cameco," he said.
Carney then began talking about "small" modular reactor technology in which several firms including Westinghouse are active, but he was interrupted.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney takes questions from reporters after the French-language debate in Montreal on Wednesday. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
According to documents made public by Brookfield Asset Management, as of Dec. 31, Carney had stock options in the firm worth $6.8 million US.
Carney has repeatedly explained that he co-operated with the ethics commissioner when he entered politics to establish a blind trust to hold all of his assets except cash and his personal real estate holdings. In addition, Carney established anti-conflict of interest screens as prime minister to avoid intervening in matters affecting Brookfield.
Carney facing calls for more transparency
Political scientist Geneviève Tellier said she wonders whether some of Carney's assets are still linked to his time at Brookfield, adding a clear answer should be provided before the federal election on April 28.
"To directly mention companies in a leaders' debate, when he perhaps has interests in these companies or has benefited from these companies, I think that raises major ethical questions," the University of Ottawa professor said.
"I understand the law does not require it, but morally and for the sake of transparency, we should have more information."
In answer to questions from Radio-Canada, the Liberal Party said Carney has more than complied with current ethics laws.
"He is beneficiary of a blind trust and does not know the current composition of assets in that blind trust," said Liberal spokesperson Mohammad Hussain.
"By definition, he does not know the activity of the blind trust, including any sales or divestments. With respect to his conflict screen, this was established proactively with guidance of the ethics commissioner to manage any real or perceived conflicts that he may encounter," Hussain added.
Conservative
MP Michael Barrett, seen here awaiting the start of a committee meeting
in January 2024, is urging Carney to 'come clean now and disclose all
his assets and conflicts of interest before Canadians go to vote.' (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
In a written statement issued Thursday, Conservative MP Michael Barrett criticized the Liberal leader's failure to disclose whether or not he has an ongoing financial interest in Brookfield.
According to the Conservatives, Carney's response during the debate was designed to "promote" nuclear energy and Westinghouse.
"If Westinghouse was to rake in billions of Canadian tax dollars, Mark Carney would almost certainly benefit financially," Barrett said.
"[He] should come clean now and disclose all his assets and conflicts of interest before Canadians go to vote. If Carney has done nothing wrong and has nothing to hide, he should have no problem doing so."
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