Trudeau's elections commissioner convicted me for writing an illegal book — AGAIN
I don’t think you’re going to believe what I’m about to tell you.
I just received another conviction letter from Justin Trudeau’s elections commissioner.
He has personally found me guilty, for a second time, of writing an illegal book about Trudeau back 2019, called The Libranos: What the media won’t tell you about Justin Trudeau’s corruption.
The book, its front cover, my tweets about it, our promotion of the book across the country — then Trudeau’s elections commission had senior officers investigating me, tracking me, tracking our staff, creeping through our social media. They say it’s illegal. And they demand that I pay thousands of dollars in fines.
You probably think I’m exaggerating or even just making it up.
So I’ve put this police state-style letter online at TheLibranos.com for you to see for yourself. This 14-page letter convicting me is there, including the thousands of dollars in fines. I’ve also put their past convictions of me online at the same website, and my lawyers submissions too.
I think the craziest thing, though that you’ll fine at TheLibranos.com, is a hidden camera video I recorded of my one-hour interrogation at the hands of two senior ex-RCMP officers who are now on censorship patrol.
I mean, it’s like that book, Fahrenheit 451, about the government’s official book-burners. By the way, if you don’t realize this is all a test drive of their plan to censor the internet, you’re missing the point. I’m the test case. You’re next.
If you are new to this story, you probably don’t know how nuts it is to have two 30-year ex-RCMP veterans, who used to be on the counter-terrorism beat, ask you why you didn’t register your book with the government, before criticizing the prime minister.
How crazy is it to be told that you can’t even see the complaint against you, let alone know who complained? And — talk about creepy — those cops wanted to know who we hire at Rebel News, and why.
Why? Well, not to brag, but The Libranos was a number one best-seller.
More than 1,000 5-star ratings from readers. Meticulously researched, 289 footnotes proving my assertions. I think that’s why Trudeau hates it so much — it’s embarrassing, and he hates to be embarrassed.
He’s not used to anyone criticizing him. He fires any cabinet ministers who dare to speak back to him — even the former justice minister. Ninety-nine per cent of the media is obedient to him, but he just obsesses about the last one per cent that’s still independent.
That’s why he’s had a dozen police and bureaucrats and lawyers investigating me for nearly two years now. He’s obsessed.
I was convicted already once this year. But my lawyers immediately appealed. We gave notice of our appeal in February. And Trudeau’s elections commissioner waited until now, weeks before this year's election is called, to convict me again. I think he’s trying to send me a message, not to criticize Trudeau during this next election.
Hey — do you think I’m going to obey him?
He says my book is illegal. He says I’m not allowed to write a book that criticizes Trudeau, during an election campaign. He says that makes it the same as a political party ad, and so I have to register my book with the government, and I can’t promote my book, because that’s campaign ads.
He’s making that all up, you know. There were 24 books published about Trudeau in the last election campaign.
The other 23 were pro-Trudeau books — like the one by Aaron Wherry, the government journalist who works at Trudeau’s CBC. And a book by John Ivison, who works for Postmedia, the largest recipient of Trudeau’s newspaper bail-out.
None of those 23 pro-Trudeau books, published at exactly the same time as my book was published, were investigated or convicted, or fined. Just mine.
My lawyers mentioned that in my appeal. And here’s what Trudeau’s commissioner said:
18. In its submissions, Rebel News argued that it has been treated unfairly and in a selective manner in this matter, because two other books identified by Rebel News as allegedly promoting the Prime Minister, and that were published during the election period, were not investigated by my Office. This argument cannot be given effect to.
19. As Commissioner, under section 510 of the Act, I cannot be prevented from investigating a case for the reason that there are other cases that could or should also be investigated. Relevant case-law supports this position.”
Well, it’s 23 other pro-Trudeau books, not two. But he’s not denying that I’m the only author who was prosecuted. In fact, he’s sort of bragging about that. He’s saying he knows about the other Trudeau books, he’s aware of them, but he’s chosen to just prosecute me, and he should be allowed to do that, because. I mean, seriously — he gives no reason, go read the letter for yourself. He just says he can pick and choose who he’s going after.
And he’s just chosen to do that, and what are you going to do about it, peasant?
Now you’re probably wondering, since when do we prosecute books?
I mean, forget this weird Trudeau commissioner who says he gets to pick and choose which books he prosecutes. Why does he get to prosecute any books at all? I mean, I don’t want him to prosecute any authors — not me, not the pro-Trudeau authors. We’re not China or Iran, we don’t prosecute books in Canada. And in fact, the law specifically has a books exemption. And the promotion of books — ads, website, lawn signs, billboards, whatever, anything that sells a book — is exempt from elections laws. Which my lawyers pointed out. But look at this:
The “Book Exemption” argument
23. Rebel News relies on what it calls the “Book/Promotion Exemption” 14 found in the definition of election advertising at subsection 2(1) of the Act. The relevant portion of the provision at paragraph 2(b) under “election advertising” clarifies that for greater certainty, election advertising does not include “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.” It is clear from the underlined passage that the so-called “book exemption” applies only in relation to a book that would have been published whether or not the election was called.
OK, just stop for a moment. The book is $15 dollars, which is priced fairly. So it meets that test. And of course I’d publish it whether or not there was an election. That’s a weird way of putting it — if there was no election, we’d have had a constitutional crisis — section 4 of the Charter of Rights requires that there be an election every five years. If in some insane situation there was no election, of course I’d have published the book — and probably given it a much stronger title than The Libranos.
But look at this sneaky little Trudeau weasel:
The “Book Exemption” does not apply
24. I am of the view that the clarification at paragraph 2(1) (b) of the Act does not apply in this case because Rebel News had planned the launch of the book to coincide with the election.
OK hang on. The law doesn’t say I can’t time the book to coincide with an election. Every election book is timed for the election. It wouldn't make sense to publish a book about the election a week after the election. There were a lot more books about Trump being published in 2020 than 2021.
These guys are making it up. They’re saying the fact that I wanted people to read my book before the election makes it illegal. But that is not what the law says.
But it gets weirder.
The next few pages — pages 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 — is just a list of all the ways that Trudeau’s police spied on us.
They creeped our social media pages; they looked at photos published by our staff; they watched my shows, they tracked me. These are just the things they admit to — I don’t know if they tapped my phone or hacked our computers or even sent someone into our office to spy on us — they certainly put a lot of manpower on this, and like I say, the two cops who grilled me were former counter-terrorism Mounties.
They had a whole police squad. They gave it a name — the Compliance Unit. And the crime these cops were looking for was anything that was mean to Trudeau and his friends. I’m not kidding, see for yourself from page 8 of the letter:
26. Other evidentiary elements identified in the Compliance Unit Recommendation Report establish that the lawn signs were intended to oppose the Liberal Party and the election of its
leader and certain members of the Cabinet whose pictures were also included on the lawn signs. By using the word “The Librano$” and by showing edited pictures of Prime Minister
Trudeau and of some members of the Cabinet, Rebel News intended most likely to oppose the Liberal Party of Canada and its leader. Therefore, in my view, Rebel News’ lawn signs
campaign was designed to oppose the Liberal Party of Canada and the election of some of its candidates.
They’re mad. They’re mad that we use a dollar sign in The Libranos. They seriously put that in their reasons for convicting me. They're mad that we made an artistic interpretation of Trudeau and his henchmen. By the way, I think they all look great. I think they have a bit of a guilty mind if they think they look like crooks. But is this really what Canada’s elections police and RCMP are spending almost two years on, already?
But let’s say I concede the point.
Of course I want Canadians to oppose Trudeau. And I’m not shy about it — I’m pretty sure I told that to the counter-terrorism cops who grilled me for an hour. I’m not denying that I oppose Trudeau. I’m saying it’s my right. And that Trudeau and his cops are the creepy ones. And anyone who puts cops on a two-year hunt of an author is the one who is probably breaking the law.
There is specifically a book exemption in the law; and it specifically covers promotion of books. And it says nothing about timing a book to coincide with a campaign — because that would be really dumb. I mean, I’m talking Trudeaeu-level dumb, maybe even Seamus O’Regan level dumb, to think books aren’t timed for elections.
It’s natural to criticize politician. It’s actually our right to do so. And you know what, I think I’m going to do it again this year. I shouldn’t have to answer for that. But look at this creepiness from Trudeau’s henchmen. Paragraph 35 on page 10:
35. Investigators gathered many screen captures from Rebel News’ Twitter account showing that Rebel News distributed its lawn signs during the election period in various places across the country.
Can you imagine if Stephen Harper had directed police to track the social media photos of journalists who criticized him? Could you imagine the uproar?
I’ve instructed my lawyers to appeal this new conviction. To take it to a real court, and out of the hands of Trudeau’s henchmen. Take it to the Federal Court of Canada.
I know that the fines here are only a few thousand dollars. And that appealing to the Federal Court, and if need be, to the Federal Court of Appeal, and if need be, to the Supreme Court of Canada, I know that will cost at least $100,000 for each step. This isn’t about the money. If it were about the money, I’d just pay the fine and move on.
But do you think that’s the right thing? To have police investigate authors because the book cover is mean to Trudeau and his cronies? Because the publication date of the book is inconvenient for Trudeau?
An election boss who spends more time and money investigating a Canadian author, than foreign interference from China or actual vote fraud? An election boss who thinks he has the power to censor an author? And put cops on a two-year hunt of Trudeau’s enemies?
And do you not see, this is all a trial run of things to come, if Trudeau wins this election, which he probably will, that he’ll apply this same censorship to his critics online, too, through his new Internet regulation bills.
Don’t you see? This isn’t about the fines. It’s not even really about The Libranos book, even though he hates it. It’s about anyone who dares to criticize the thin-skinned little authoritarian who wants total control of all political discourse in Canada. He couldn’t buy us off, so he wants to shut us down.
No. See you in court. And folks, if you can help me cover the cost of this appeal, please do.
It’s not about the money — it’s about stopping a political bully who thinks he can tell authors when they’re allowed to write books and when they’re not, and what they’re allowed to put on their covers and what they’re not.
I know Trudeau admires China, and this is what they do. But it’s not what we do. Go to TheLibranos.com to read this 14-page letter for yourself. And while your’e there, please chip in to help me appeal this to the Federal Court of Canada. Thanks.
GUEST: Jenin Younes (@LeftyLockdowns1 on Twitter) joins me to talk about the seemingly never-ending lockdowns happening around the world, as well as the rise of vaccine passports.
FINALLY: Your messages to me!
- By Ezra Levant
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