Canadian election monitors spent four years prosecuting Rebel News Network over signage but did not put the same effort into investigating allegations of foreign interference, an inquiry into election interference was told.
Rebel News was issued two notices of violation over lawn signs promoting a book titled “Librano$: What The Media Won’t Tell You About Justin Trudeau’s Corruption,” authored by Rebel co-founder Ezra Levant and released around the time of the 2019 federal election.
The signs featured a heading that said “The Liberanos.com” and “Buy the Book,” accompanied by an image of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau surrounded by Liberal ministers, in a style similar to the TV drama “The Sopranos.” The Rebel News logo was printed in the bottom right-hand corner of the signs.
“Am I correct that from the time of receipt of initial complaints in that case in September 2019 through to investigation through to administrative action, internal review, and then judicial review and decision, we’re talking a period of well over four years, that OCCE devoted expense and resources in relation to this one particular instance of contravention of the Elections Act,” Nando de Luca, counsel for the Conservative Party asked representatives from Elections Canada.
Elections Canada Commissioner Caroline Simard told the commission that her office takes foreign interference seriously, but that they are complicated cases.
“Foreign interference cases, they’re usually complex cases, they require time. So the connection between a domestic file and a file of foreign interference in terms of time, well, I don’t think that this comparison is adequate,” she said during the questioning.
Hundreds of complaints of foreign interference were received in both the 2019 and 2021 elections, Ms. Simard acknowledged. None were prosecuted.
“Would it be fair to say while, for investigations of breaches of the Elections Act by domestic actors, the Office has allocated far greater resources and spent far more time in its enforcement activities than it has in respect of alleged breaches of the Act by foreign operators?” asked Mr. de Luca.
Ms. Simard said it would be difficult to answer the question as they would need to “reconcile the work that was done during this whole period.”
The elections commissioner deemed the Rebel News lawn signs to be election advertising and found the organization violated section 352 of the Elections Act, which says election advertisements need to have an organization name, telephone number, a civic or internet address, and an indication that it authorized the election message.
Judicial Review
Rebel News applied for a judicial review of the decision, saying the signs were advertising for a book and books are exempt from the Elections Act rules.In the application, the media organization noted a report by the elections commissioner’s compliance unit concluded the book exemption did not apply as, “it seems clear the entire project was planned and executed in order to coincide with the 43rd general election.”
The report said that Rebel News promoted the lawn signs on social media with the hashtag #elxn43.
“Finally, lawn signs are not a usual method of promoting a book. They are, however, a staple of election campaigns,” the report said.
Rebel News argued that the book was “planned well before a fixed election date and would be released whether there would be (an) election or not.”
