Court Rules Against Rebel News Over Election-Time Signs Promoting Book Critical of Liberals

Rebel News publisher Ezra Levant arrives at the Law Society of Alberta in Calgary, Alta., on March 2, 2016. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

A Federal Court judge has ruled against Rebel News, backing the elections commissioner’s finding that the lawn signs used to promote a book critical of the Liberals written by the outlet’s publisher, Ezra Levant, during the 2019 federal election amounted to illegal election campaigning.

Rebel News asked Justice Cecily Strickland in September to overturn a decision by the commissioner of Canada Elections that the lawn signs used as part of a “guerrilla marketing campaign” to promote the book, “The Librano$,” constituted illegal election advertising. The signs featured the cover art of the book, The Rebel News logo, and the site “TheLibrano$.com” along with the words “buy the book.”

Rebel News has alleged that the main issue was the content of Mr. Levant’s book, which takes aim at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, rather than the use of promotional signs.

In a ruling earlier this month, Justice Strickland disagreed, saying the concern was not with the book’s content but, rather, with its “release and promotion by way of the lawn signs during the election period.”

Rebel News also maintained that the Elections Act exempts books and the promotion of books from prosecution. The news outlet asked the judge to declare a section of the act unconstitutional because it violates free expression.

The note of clarification within the act excludes publishing editorials, news, and commentary as well as “the distribution of a book, or the promotion of the sale of a book, for no less than its commercial value, if the book was planned to be made available to the public regardless of whether there was to be an election.”

The judge, in her ruling, disagreed with Rebel News, saying there was no violation of expression. Book promotions falling within the definition of “election advertising” require that authors or publishers “comply with the spending, registration and disclosure requirements of the Act that apply to all third party election advertisers”—something Rebel News neglected to do, she added.

The Canada Elections Act requires all third parties register and attribute election advertising once they spend more than $500.

Rebel News Hit With $13,000 in Fines

The judge ordered Rebel News to pay $5,000 in costs to both the commissioner of Canada Elections and the attorney general of Canada, who were both involved in the case, for a grand total of $10,000. That is on top of the $3,000 fine levied by the commissioner after ruling that the media outlet had violated the Elections Act.

The commissioner launched a year-long investigation into the Liberno$ signs after receiving six complaints from the public in 2019.

Mr. Levant, who released “The Librano$” while Mr. Trudeau was running for reelection, maintains that Rebel News is being “unfairly targeted” because it is “highly critical of the prime minister and the Liberal Party of Canada.”

He said the elections commissioner “ignored” evidence during the investigation. He noted that there were 23 other election-related books published right before the election, although he says they were all “pro-Trudeau.”

“Mine was the only book Elections Canada investigated and prosecuted,” he said in a Dec. 28 blog post.

The book, which is listed as a bestseller on Amazon, “has been censored because it criticized Trudeau,” Mr. Levant wrote.

“And I’ve been put on notice that if I write another book about Trudeau, and if I publish and promote it during the next election, I could actually be prosecuted criminally, and even jailed.”

Mr. Levant said he is currently writing another book about the prime minister and intends to publish it before the next election. His claims of facing prosecution and jail time for writing another book were not substantiated by the judge’s ruling.

He said he plans to appeal the judge’s decision and has hired a “top lawyer” who is used to “David vs. Goliath battles.”