© Provided by Edmonton Journal Ezra Levant took the stand in an Edmonton courtroom on March 9, 2021, to defend himself against defamation allegations brought by former Edmonton resident Farhan Chak.
We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Ezra Levant, the proprietor of upstart news and commentary site Rebel Media, is suing an online antagonist for defamation over a series of tweets that suggested a Rebel-sponsored crowdfunding. — Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) April 10, 2021 Police threaten protesters with JAIL at Quebec City anti-lockdown protest On Easter Monday at the Quebec City lockdown rally, police periodically ambushed protesters to ensure mask compliance.
Ezra Levant sparred with a lawyer cross-examining him Tuesday as he took the stand to defend himself against defamation allegations .
Levant, head of Rebel Media, is facing a $200,000 lawsuit from his days with the now-defunct Sun News Network.
The plaintiff in the case is Farhan Chak, a professor of political science at Qatar University who hails from Edmonton and was briefly a federal Liberal candidate in Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont.
A trial on the allegations began before Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Shaina Leonard Monday.
On Feb. 25, 2014, Levant spoke about Chak on his Sun News show, alleging Chak had been involved in a shooting at Barry T’s nightclub in 1993.
Chak, who was 19 at the time, was found not guilty after a trial. On Monday , he called the charges a case of mistaken identity and vehemently denied any involvement.
Levant mentioned Chak in a monologue about human rights commissions. At the time, Chak’s brother was a staff lawyer at the Alberta Human Rights Commission.
“He was a vignette,” Levant said of his remarks about Farhan Chak. “It was a small example or anecdote.”
“It was an example, a 10-second example, in a 44-minute show.”
On the stand, Levant spoke mostly in a low, measured tone. Things became heated, however, when Chak’s lawyer, Robert O’Neill, sought to question him on four other cases in which Levant attracted censure, including his 2012 comments on Roma people.
Levant accused O’Neill of adopting an “ambush approach,” accusing O’Neill of misrepresenting the complaints against him.
“You’ve just dumped four allegations on me that have nothing to do with … this defamation (case),” he said, adding, “I don’t even think you’ve done your research.”
At the time of the remarks, Levant hosted an hour-long nightly news show called The Source.
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He said he was aware of the controversy around Chak during Chak’s 2007 run for the Liberal nomination, and included details about Chak and his brother in his book “Shakedown.”
In statements to the media in 2007, Chak said he was “fully exonerated” of the charges. For reasons that remain unclear, complete transcripts of the 1994 trial no longer exist.
Farhan Chak, a political science professor and one-time Liberal Party of Canada candidate in Edmonton, is suing Ezra Levant over remarks Levant made on his show in 2014. SuppliedO’Neill asked if Levant was aware at the time of his 2014 statements that Farhan Chak had been found not guilty.
“At the time it wasn’t in my mind, so I may have known it once but forgotten it,” Levant said. “Had I had that information I would have put it in because it’s relevant.”
(Levant noted his executive producer at the time was Matt Wolf — who is now executive director of issues management for Premier Jason Kenney.)
Levant said overall viewership for the show in question was low.
“In any other forum, I would be embarrassed to say this, because the numbers were so small,” he told Leonard, saying the broadcast came after Sun News had been banished to “cable Siberia” in most TV packages.
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Chak argues Levant’s 2014 comment damaged his reputation, impacted his health and may have limited his career prospects.
Levant’s defence team, Barry Zalmanowitz and Sara Hart, argued the remarks were “substantially true,” and claim the defences of fair comment, responsible communication and qualified privilege.
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Testifying prior to Levant was Patrick Graham, a former boxer bouncer at Barry T’s who is now in prison on an unrelated matter. Graham, a defence witness, claims to have witnessed the 1993 incident.
Sun News, Sun Media Corp. and Quebecor Media Inc. are also named is defendants in the case.
This newspaper’s parent company, Postmedia, bought Sun Media’s English language newspapers in 2015.
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The trial continues Wednesday.