by Ezra Levant
September 21, 2023
I’m here this morning at the Federal Court of Canada.
For the next eight hours, I will be on trial for writing a book called The Libranos.
There is an army of lawyers here from the Trudeau government. If they win, they will set a terrible precedent, making it illegal to publish books critical of politicians without first “registering” those books with the government.
Here’s a quick recap: In the 2019 Canadian election, there were 24 books published about Justin Trudeau.
23 of those books were pro-Trudeau or neutral. And then there was my book, “The Libranos: What the Media Won’t Tell You About Justin Trudeau’s Corruption”.
That enraged Trudeau — especially when it became a best seller. So Elections Canada assigned more than a dozen staff to investigate me and prosecute me. They’ve been hounding me for four years. They have already fined me thousands of dollars. And I’ve had to spend $100,000 in legal fees.
But I’ve appealed to the Federal Court. And today is the day that political freedom — and the right to criticize the government — lives or dies.
You might be thinking, “There’s no way books can be banned in Canada just for criticizing Trudeau. It sounds too crazy.”
Well, see for yourself. Further down on this page, I’ve posted all of the court documents surrounding today’s hearing, including my lawyer’s submissions, and Trudeau’s accusations.
Let me quote from an official notice I received from the “Manager of the Compliance Unit” of Elections Canada’s censorship branch:
the book title’s reference to “Librano$“, which was clearly designed to create an association between the name of a registered party and The Sopranos, a mafia-themed television show, and to link the party to corruption… drawings of the show’s characters were replaced with drawings of the leader and other public figures of the party.
Seriously. Trudeau’s staff are now deciding what words and even what pictures we can use to criticize Trudeau. He really meant it when he said China’s dictatorship is the country he most admires.
Speaking of which, Elections Canada hasn’t lifted a finger to stop Communist China from interfering in our elections. They’re too busy prosecuting my book.
You might recall that they specially hired two 30-year veterans of the RCMP to go after me — one of whom specialized in counter-terrorism.
Those senior cops interrogated me for an hour. I’ll never forget it: one of their most bizarre questions was to ask me why I didn’t register my book with the government before I published it. I secretly recorded that interrogation — you can watch it here if you haven’t seen it before.
Here’s their theory: they claim that because my book criticized Trudeau, it was campaign propaganda and had to be registered with the government. Even though Canada’s election laws specifically exempt books and the promotion of books. But Trudeau doesn’t care — he is trying to censor the Internet, so obviously he wouldn’t hesitate to censor an old-fashioned book.
I note that not a single journalism organization or civil liberties group has said a word to support me. Amnesty International, PEN Canada, the Canadian Association of Journalists, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association — not one of them has even issued a statement, let alone intervened in court. They don’t believe in freedom anymore — but I do.
I’ll be live-tweeting the hearing today, and I’ll also give you a video update during the lunch break, and after the hearing is over.
I’ve got a great legal team: the same two lawyers who helped us beat Trudeau in 2019 when he tried to ban Rebel News reporters from attending the election debates. Hopefully, we’ll beat Trudeau again, today.
If not, a terrible precedent will be set.
If you can help me cover the costs of this lawsuit, please do.
I suppose I could just pay the fine and move on. Maybe that’s the smart move? Challenging this censorship is 50 times more expensive. But how could I just accept Trudeau crushing one of our ancient civil liberties?
That would set an atrocious precedent. We have to fight back and set a precedent for freedom. I must fight — not just for my own book, but for everyone’s. If you give me the tools, I’ll finish the job. Please chip in using the donation form on this page to help me pay for today’s freedom lawsuit.
THE COMMISSIONER’S DECISION
