Rebel Trial
A few years ago, Rachel Notley prosecuted Rebel News for the make-believe crime of putting up a billboard that criticized her education minister, Dave Eggen.
You won't believe this, but the censors at Elections Alberta are still fighting Rebel News in court!
Billboards are perfectly legal, and always have been. When we received the threat letter from Notley’s Election Commissioner, we knew it was an unconstitutional attempt to intimidate us, so we hired Edmonton’s top freedom-of-speech lawyers to fight back.
Our lawyers wrote to the Election Commissioner telling them we were going to mount a serious defence to the charges. The Election Commissioner acknowledged receipt of our lawyers' letter. But then they immediately declared us guilty and gave us a $5,500 fine — even before our lawyers had the chance to make our case! (We didn’t even know we were convicted until we read about it!)
It was conviction first, trial later. In fact, there never was a trial. You can view our correspondence for yourself below.
When we told Notley’s staff that we were going to appeal their outrageous, unfair process to a real court, they panicked. Even though they had issued a written ruling — a conviction, and a $5,500 fine — when we told them that “grown-ups” in a real court would review their dirty business, they told us we didn’t actually have to pay the fine, if we dropped the appeal. They’re terrified of having someone look into their activities. So they said they were only going to give us a “reprimand”.
Talk about banana republic-style corruption — see what they can get away with, and try to hide from any oversight.
We later learned that Notley had done this to countless Albertans — almost all of whom were conservative.
We’re going to make Elections Alberta justify their bizarre, unethical conduct in front of a real court.
Obviously, we’ve spent a lot more than $5,500 fighting this. But this isn’t about the money. It’s about fighting back against government censorship wherever we see it.
If you can help us pay for our lawyers, please do. So far, we’ve spent nearly $50,000 fighting this illegal billboard censorship in Alberta. If that sounds like a lot, it is — but I can promise you Elections Alberta have spent at least $250,000 fighting us.
If you can donate a few dollars to help fund our legal fees and stand up to government censorship and unjust fines please do so on this page.
Canadians can donate through e-transfer by emailing [email protected] please use the password RebelNews if necessary.
Quick PayPal donations can be made here: https://www.paypal.me/RebelNews
And you can donate by cheque by making it out to Rebel News and mailing the cheque to:
Rebel News Network Ltd.
PO Box 61056 Eglinton/Dufferin RO
Toronto, ON M6E 5B2
Sheila will be live Tweeting the appeal. Click here to follow along.
The Lawsuit
The Letters
The Legal Brief
Canadians can donate through e-transfer by emailing [email protected] please use the password RebelNews if necessary.
And you can donate by cheque by making it out to Rebel News and mailing the cheque to:
Rebel News Network Ltd.
PO Box 61056 Eglinton/Dufferin RO
Toronto, ON M6E 5B2