By December 4, 2016 Read More →

Ezra Levant organizes a carbon tax rally that turns really, really weird

Ezra Levant

Ezra Levant, Rebel Media

Levant accuses AFL head of having an Ashley Madison account and a progressive blogger of planting fake offensive signs, while Bernard the Roughneck throws his shoes at the Legislature

Disgruntled Albertans gathered at the Legislature Saturday afternoon to protest the Rachel Notley government’s soon to be implemented carbon tax…and then things turned weird.

ezra Levant

Ezra Levant, rebel commander of Rebel Media

They were so weird that the least weird thing was that the rally organizer was a supposed media organization, Rebel Media.

When I started in this business 30 years ago, political groups or activists put on rallies and news media reported on them. Now, we’re supposed to accept that Rebel Media – and its notorious “rebel commander” (who needs a staid title like publisher or managing editor anymore?) Ezra Levant – is both the subject of the news and the news reporter.

Unthinkable not that long ago, this new post-truth, fake news media model has been legitimized by the triumph of Donald Trump in the United States. The President-elect is turning the relationship between government and media on its head. Who needs media, says Trump, when you have Twitter? And who needs TV news networks when you have Steve Bannon, the godfather of online fake news at the influential alt-right Breitbart website, as the senior advisor of your incoming administration?

If you don’t like the media, make your own.

And if you don’t like a government’s political philosophy or their policies, make your own news event and provide your own news reporting.

Just like Ezra Levant did on Saturday.

But I already said that who was behind the gathering of roughly 1,000 wasn’t nearly the weirdest thing going on at Levant’s “rally.” What was? Well, I counted five or six pretty weird things.

gil-mccowan-ezra-levantOne, disagreement over the crowd count took a very strange turn on Twitter.

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, was grinding Levant’s gears over attendee numbers, claiming the former Sun News Network “host” (he has the same rosy cheeks as Vanna White) inflated them by quite a lot. Levant claimed 3,000, media estimated 500 to 1,000.

Then an extraordinary exchange took place. Levant claimed McGowan had an Ashley Madison account, the site for cheating married adults, an apparent accusation that McGowan is an adulterer.

You can read it in the screenshot graphic on the left.

I cannot remember a single instance of a real journalist (I have argued for a long time that Levant is not a legitimate journalist, nor are most of the Rebel Media crew) threatening in a public forum to reveal personal information about a public figure.

McGowan denied having a file and dared Levant to do his worst:

. I have no “file.” Post whatever you like. But be prepared to face the legal consequences, you sorry excuse for a man.

You’ve really picked the wrong guy to mess with. If you think you can bully or blackmail me, you have another thing coming.

McGowan tweeted that he planned to consult a lawyer about Levant’s alleged “slander.”

McGowan did not respond to an interview request. Levant, however, did. But not in the way most sources reply.

Here is the email correspondence:

EL: You’re a malicious crank. You can quote me on that.
Me: I’m also a real journalist who has never been refused media accreditation and demands that you be held to the same standard. If that qualifies me as malicious, then I’ll gladly wear the label. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve declined to comment. Thank you for your response.
EL: I have not declined comment. Don’t lie. My comment is that you’re a malicious crank who rants about me on Facebook so much that I’ve blocked you.
Me: You’ve declined to be interviewed, which is what I requested. Thank you for replying.
EL: I have just done an interview with you. Your refusing to acknowledge it is more proof of your malice.
Me: I requested an phone interview in which I could ask you questions about your accusation that Gil McGowan has an Ashley Madison account. You have refused to grant the interview. That’s your right. But there has been no malice whatsoever in my request or my correspondence with you. You’re very thin-skinned to mistake my criticisms of your work for malice. Are you above criticism?

And that was the end of the emails from Levant.

ezra-levant-duncan-kinney-rally2Two, the dudes with signs saying the Alberta carbon tax equals sodomy. I have no clue what those signs mean, but it must be bad because…sodomy, right?

Then it got even weirder.

Levant accused Duncan Kinney, a progressive journalist and activist, of planting the men with the signs at the rally for a photo opportunity. Kinney denied the accusation:

“This is, of course, an utter and outright fabrication. These men were at your rally for its duration,” he tweeted to Levant.

“Your assertion that they are associated with Progress Alberta [Kinney is the executive director] is an outright lie.”

Kinney would not agree to an on the record interview until he consults with his lawyer.

At this point, the only person not consulting a lawyer is me. Let’s hope I avoid the aggravation.

Bernard the Roughneck throwing his shoe at the Alberta Legislature. Photo: Video screen capture.

Bernard the Roughneck throwing his shoe at the Alberta Legislature. Photo: Video screen capture.

Three, Bernard the Roughneck’s speech.

Bernard Hancock is an on-again, off-again oil and gas rig worker in northern Alberta. A few years ago he began showing up at anti-pipeline protests in his Nomex overalls and hardhat to annoy the eco-activists. He has an interesting look (check out the fright wig hair) and plenty of opinions, so naturally became a protege of sorts of Levant’s.

I wrote about him because he participated in a Canadian Association of Oilfield Drilling Contractors public relations campaign.

Bernard took a lot of heat for that campaign, but I was reluctant to pile on because I grew up in a blue collar town with plenty of guys just like him, guys that only wanted to work and raise their families in a decent lifestyle. In a way I get Bernard.

But Bernard jumped the shark in his speech.

At one point he asked supporters if they knew a “computer hacker” because “I know there’s a bunch of stuff they can dig up on what’s going on in that building [the Legislature]…we need their help.”

At another point in his 10-minute ramble he suddenly pulled off a shoe, turned, and threw it at the door leading into the Legislature. The he pulled off his other shoe and threw that.

I am not making this up. You can find the video on Youtube.

Four, while federal Conservative Party leadership candidate Chris Alexander was at the microphone the crowd began chanting “lock her up,” referring to Premier Notley.

The phrase has particular currency now because it was shouted frequently during the rowdy Trump campaign rallies. Trump even threatened to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton during the third presidential candidate debate.

The threat to “lock her up” is considered a part of the bullying and threats that female politicians endure these days, and it’s received plenty of criticism. The crowd, many of them Wildrose supporters (leader Brian Jean spoke at the rally), didn’t seem to care about the phrase’s notoriety, they belted it out with gusto.

Enough to make Alexander nervous.

Many on social media accused him of chanting along, a charge he denies.

“I could clearly hear what they were saying and I was uncomfortable,” Alexander told CBC News on Sunday.

“It was not something I initiated, it was not something I said at any point and it’s not something I agree with. I was smiling because I was trying to think of a way to change the chant.”

Five, the carbon tax equals sodomy signs weren’t the only awful placards at the rally.

One sign read, “Don’t let gay activists in schools.” An anti-immigration leaflet calling for less immigration was passed out to the crowd.

How did Canadian politics become so debased?

Many of the actions described above are right out of the Trump/KellyAnne Conway/Breitbart playbook. Is Canada about to embrace the same post-truth, fake news politics as the United States, where “facts” no longer exist?

If Canada does, Ezra Levant may be the drum major at the head of the parade. And if you think things were weird at Saturday’s Rebel Media rally, just wait.

Ph: 432-978-5096 Website: www.mapleleafmarketinginc.com

Ph: 432-978-5096 Website: www.mapleleafmarketinginc.com

Posted in: Markham on Energy

12 Comments on "Ezra Levant organizes a carbon tax rally that turns really, really weird"

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  1. Geoff says:

    Ezra has been relatively quiet for a while so I’m guessing he’s doubling down on his few minutes in the spotlight by being WAYYYYY more offensive than usual. Maybe this is another example of what to expect from the right wing after Trump’s win, but things are going to get weirder I can just feel it.

    • Les Landry says:

      For the last few months, I have been asking myself, “Just what is Ezra and his bias propaganda going to do if The Wildrose wins the next election?”
      The possibilities are scarier than what he is doing now.

      • Geoff says:

        The Wildrose had their chance last year and they still couldn’t pull off a win, that’s how scary they look to most people and they seemingly do something almost weekly to show why. I can’t even fathom another opposition party anywhere so completely mired in their own stupidity and ignorance, they are utterly useless.

  2. Les Landry says:

    On December 3rd we had a protest on the steps of the Legislature and I say good, I love protest. I love the fact that people are participating in our issues that concern them. Protesting is a right of the people and I may even do it myself someday. We have had several protest there for many different reasons and most of the time they are very respectful and informative with various results.

    What happened on the steps that Saturday was anything but respectful. There was a “key note” speaker with very questionable credibility spewing a vulgar barrage of profanity, anger and hate without care or concern of the children there. He went on with personally insulting some of our MLAs with unsubstantiated claims that many of them came from a life of privilege. I know many of our MLAs and their lives are anything but privileged.

    But these insults towards people that I find unacceptable is not the issue I want to point out. Near the end of this non-credible rant the individual took off his shoes and threw them at the building like a spoiled nine year old brat.

    Now I want to point out that there is a very big difference between disrespecting a building a not agreeing what happens inside the building. And of all people that ought to know this should be our elected officials.

    Both Brian Jean and Wildrose MLA Don MacIntyre attended and spoke to the crowd. I do not know if they spoke before or after this disrespectful act of shoe throwing, but I do know that neither one of them have not spoken out against it. This is once again a display of Brian Jean promoting, perpetuating and now even participating in a childish display disrespecting our institution of governmental debate.

    In closing I want to add that what happened on the steps that day was one of the most pathetic self-serving political protest I have witnessed in my lifetime. You see for some people including Jean and MacIntyre may think it may be “just a building.” But it is much more than that, it is even more than the Institution of our Governments.

    Our Legislature building is the true symbol of violence and abuse towards women. Every time and I do mean every time I walk through the doors of our Legislature I bow my head and say a little pray for a young lady named Victoria Breitkreusz. Maybe Mr. Jean and Mr. MacIntyre are not informed or don’t care about Victoria. I do know they have no respect for what happened to her. On October 27, 1977 when Victoria was shot and killed by her deranged ex-husband. And what sickens me the most is the fact that her body was wheel out through the same doors Jean’s poster-boy threw his shoes at.

    I did say, I bow my head and pray for Victoria and all victims of abuse when I walk through the doors. Mr. Jean and Mr. MacIntyre you sicken me and until you apologize for your actions on Dec.3rd, you ought to hang you head in shame and you are not deserving to even enter our Building.

    Let me say, I would have the same feelings about this regardless of political strip. This is not an issue of politics, this display about the lack of respect is about common decency. And that is something we have been witnessing to much lately.

    Les Landry
    Redcliff, AB

  3. Al Mueller says:

    I don’t understand how you could not decipher what “Carbon Tax = $odomy” means…simply put, it means that the carbon tax is sticking it up the butts of Albertans. Financial siding. I got it immediately.

    • Randy Huot says:

      I got it right away too, as I’m sure the author did. Why did Levant claim a left wing group planted the signs is the question being asked.

  4. Greg says:

    Ezra uses the Rush Limbaugh model which is to cherry-pick the worst, and dumbest of their opponents and exploit them with emotionally charged rants and selective editing. They’ll bait them into saying things, cut out the pretext and just show when they get mad in the end to mock them. It’s cheap tabloid journalism.

    Incidentally that’s exactly what you’ve done with this article too. Maybe put some thought into that since you seem to value the humility to accept criticism.

  5. Grant says:

    People were chanting lock her up about Theresa May vowing to go to jail protesting the pipelines. You so called journalists really need to focus on the facts and not on providing spun fake news…

    • Jude Hislop says:

      Why don’t you google “Protesters chant Lock her up at Notley”? Apparently you’re the only person who thinks it was about May. I mean, why would you go to the Alberta Legislature to protest a carbon tax, and chant lock up Elizabeth May? Maybe you’re trying to “spin” the obvious facts everyone else gets except you.

    • Chineapplepunk says:

      Theresa May is the far right British PM, genius. Swiiiiing and a miss.

  6. Vladimir Poutine says:

    Ezra Levant is an IDIOT ! He also has Mental Health Issues. The Group at the Legislature chanting “Lock Her Up” are the Extreme Right Wing LOW IQ Knuckle Draggers that still exist in Alberta. All due to Inbreeding from 60 years ago.