The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is being sued by Rebel News Network, Ltd. over their Question Period favouritism to Trudeau-friendly news outlets such as the CBC, and shutting out those who actually put the prime minister under scrutiny.
A Federal Court application submitted by Rebel News says that they have attempted to submit questions to Trudeau twenty times over the phone, with all questions having been denied.
FYI I called again to the Prime Minister's press conference today. I know I'm not going to get selected again, so I'll let you know what question beat me out - from Bloomberg: "why did you promote an english speaking man as the Governor of the Bank of Canada instead of a woman?"
— Keean Bexte (@TheRealKeean) May 4, 2020
“Rebel News is not seeking to compel Prime Minister Trudeau to answer is questions,” lawyers wrote the Court. “Rather, it is seeking judicial review of the Privy Council’s decision to deny Rebel News the opportunity to make inquiries of Prime Minister Trudeau during his daily briefings.”
Rebel News has also launched a fundraiser for supporters to donate to their legal cause.
On the matter, Rebel News co-founder Ezra Levant says they've put together a "legal 'dream team.'"
"We're not asking a court to order Trudeau to talk to us. We're asking the public service, the so-called non-partisan bureaucrats who work for the Government of Canada, to stop blocking us," said Levant in a statement released yesterday.
It all goes against Trudeau's supposed stance on press freedom. Just a few days ago, on World Press Freedom Day, Trudeau propped himself up as a champion of freedom of speech, saying: “Freedom of expression and access to information are vitally important, even more so during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic…Free-thinking, independent and respected media are the cornerstone of any democracy.”
Records obtained by Blacklock's Reporter for March 13 to May 5 show a breakdown of the 708 questions asked to Trudeau. The breakdown finds that CTV and CBC French-language Radio-Canada were given high priority over others.
The breakdown shows that:
- 90 questions were given by CTV National News;
- 75 each by Global News and The Canadian Press;
- 55 by TVA, the private French-language television network;
- 36 by the Québec daily Le Devoir;
- 32 by the Québec daily La Presse;
- 29 by the Toronto Star and its iPolitics subsidiary;
- 19 by Reuters;
- 14 each by the National Post and Québecor Media Inc.;
- ten questions by Bloomberg News;
- six by U.S.-based Politico;
- five by Maclean’s magazine;
- four by Sun Media.
Rebel News' nine-page lawsuit calls the question selection a part of a "shadow and arbitrary process" that "limits access to vital information during this rapidly evolving health crisis."
This is not the first time that Rebel News and other Canadian media outlets have gone toe to toe with government bureaucracy. In 2019, Rebel News and the True North Centre for Public Policy overturned a press gag by the Leaders' Debate Commission which blocked certain reporters from being present at the federal leaders debates in October of 2019.
According to Levant, the Trudeau team spent over $131,000 in tax dollars to fight the pair in court, hiring five lawyers.
"I don’t know how they managed to bill that much money — maybe they were from SNC Lavalin or Bombardier or something. Our lawyers cost us $18,000, which is a fair amount," Levant said of the matter. "Trudeau’s lawyers cost seven times more to run the same half-day trial. And they got thumped."
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