Canadian news outlet founder speaks out after Trudeau denies them journalism 'license'
The review board declared about 1% of Rebel News content is news, founder says
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rebel News founder Ezra Levant sounded off Tuesday after the Trudeau administration denied his outlet what he described as a newly-conceived "license" to fully practice journalism.
Levant told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that, if the Liberal Party leader's behavior during the Ottawa trucker protests is any indicator, he is working hard to punish critics and upturn their lives.
He noted how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau previously slammed his agency when a reporter from it asked a question during a press availability while the politician was running for reelection in 2021.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}LEVIN: ‘NO ACCIDENT’ TRUDEAU INSTITUTED TOTALITARIANISM AFTER SPEAKING WITH JOE BIDEN
(Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP) (AP)
At the time, Trudeau claimed Rebel News was engaging in "disinformation on the science around vaccines" and made a point to declare he could not bring himself to describe them as a "media organization."
"It's not yet illegal to do journalism without that license, it's a government license called the Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization License. A government panel reviews you. They spent one year reviewing Rebel News, looking through more than 100 of our stories," Levant told host Tucker Carlson.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"A panel of five people in secret: We don't even know what they said or did or what they looked at. And they claim that only one percent of our stories are news, so we don't get the license."
INGRAHAM ON THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN BIDEN, TRUDEAU
Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
Levant went on to describe what that means for his organization, versus mainstream outlets like CBC.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trudeau plans to "compel" Big Tech to down-rank non-licensed journalists and change the Income Tax Act to punish them, Levant said.
"We're not banned yet, although we are banned from government events, as you said earlier. But I'm worried that he's done all this in two years. The worst is yet to come. He may well ban us yet," he concluded.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Carlson further remarked that Trudeau's behavior could be defined as "fascist" for trying to control public speech.
Later, Levant noted that his organization is suing the Trudeau government in federal court over the matter.