Words
...and then complains about the view.
Quote of the week, spotted on Skippy's Enjoy Every Sandwich blog in a web-walk this morning. Classic.
For those of you looking for more Ezra-related reading material, we provide the following as a public service. Apologies for the length, but the simple fact is there's a lot of these kinds of clippings to be found in the Internet, including one beaut from fellow martyr Mark Steyn, who opines that Ezra belongs in "show business," not politics (where we've handed him his ass several times).
Anyway, as you peruse the stories below, you may be moved to ask: does this mean that that dastardly censor Kinsella, and all those like him - those who oppose unrestricted dissemination of hate propaganda and child pornography, as well as reality television shows - are delighted that Ezra is the guy now leading this month's "free speech" parade?
Short answer: yes. Good Lord Almighty, yes, yes, yes. In that regard, would it be unseemly for us to contribute to his salary, as he continues to alienate legions?
Have a safe and warm weekend.
...
The Alliance's Defiant Levant: In Ottawa
Best source on Ezra: Ezra
Jane Taber
National Post
1335 words
28 March 2002
National Post
Toronto / Late
A12
OTTAWA - Huddled together in a dark corner of Calgary's The James Joyce Pub last Wednesday night, Ezra Levant made his intentions very clear to James Rajotte, a Canadian Alliance MP and a strong supporter of the party's new leader Stephen Harper.
Call off the dogs, he said.
Just hours before the pub meeting, Mr. Harper had become leader, easily beating Stockwell Day. While there was joy in the Harper camp, there was also concern because the unpredictable Mr. Levant had the riding of Calgary Southwest in his hot little hand, and Mr. Harper needed a seat in the House of Commons.
Preston Manning's former riding was the obvious choice, and Mr. Harper's preference.
Meanwhile, Mr. Levant had delivered the same message to Mr. Harper, his wife, Laureen, and Tom Flanagan, a senior campaign aide. Mr. Levant didn't appreciate reading comments from Alliance MPs, who were supporting Mr. Harper, that he should step aside for the new leader, abandoning all of the work, and the $150,000 to $200,000 he had spent winning the nomination.
"Until we've decided what to do here, call off the dogs," Mr. Levant told them, according to a source close to Mr. Levant. "If you want to nuke me after our meeting because you don't like the result, fine."
Well, who just nuked whom?
Yesterday, a much different and more gracious Mr. Levant called a news conference to declare his unwavering support for and continued friendship with Mr. Harper. Oh, and by the way, he would be running in Calgary Southwest.
The news conference was vintage Levant, a man famous for lengthy and juicy "off-the-record" interviews with reporters. He's good at using the press to get out his side of the story without having to take any heat. And he often appears in print as "a source close to Mr. Levant" or simply "a source."
Yesterday, Mr. Levant blamed the press for trying to drive a wedge between him and Mr. Harper over the riding issue.
In full television make-up, a rather angelic-looking Ezra Levant, having lost a few pounds and toned down his choice of spectacle frame, talked of his love of Canada, the Alliance, Stephen Harper, Preston Manning, Stockwell Day and the grassroots of the party. Looking oh-so innocent, he said he had kept a low media profile on this controversial issue. Oh, and by the way, he would be running in Calgary Southwest.
Mr. Levant is a performer. He's outraged. He's your best friend. He's concerned. He's abrasive. He's controversial. He can be divisive. He's a "Stockaholic." He can at times come across as ingratiating. He's always colourful. He operates two telephones at once and has an annoying habit of putting people on hold to take other calls.
Mr. Levant makes good television. His face is expressive: His eyebrows dart around on his forehead as he emphatically makes his pitch. Articulate and aggressive, he is also good copy. But how good is he for the Alliance?
Mr. Levant, 29, first came to the attention of the Ottawa press in 1997, as Mr. Manning's parliamentary assistant, helping him write inquiries for the daily Question Period.
The young man, who yearned even then to become an MP, was better known as a member of the so-called "Snack Pack," a group of young Reform MPs and aides who had wild parties and inhaled pizza and chips. It was a send-up of the Liberal "Rat Pack," which made the Mulroney Tories' lives hell.
At that time, the 5-foot-9 Mr. Levant weighed in at "200 pounds-ish," he admitted to the local newspaper, in a story about barbecuing with the Snack Pack.
Mr. Levant left the Hill in 1999 to join the National Post as an editorial writer. He embraced the job with the same enthusiasm as he embraced politics, proudly walking around in a Post baseball jacket. He was excited to be allowed to mix in the world of journalism and particularly enjoyed the buzz around the newsroom.
The Canadian public may have noticed Mr. Levant around this time, commenting as an informed voice on the right and a Reform party insider.
With the first leadership race of the new Canadian Alliance underway, Mr. Levant's allegiances seemed to switch, however, from Mr. Manning to the new guy on the block, Stockwell Day. Mr. Levant was a great friend of Mr. Day's son Logan and on television he spoke glowingly of Mr. Day and his accomplishments. This was the beginning of his "Stockaholic" phase.
So it was not a stretch that when Mr. Day began to experience problems communicating his message, Mr. Levant came back to help.
It was not to be a happy time. Rumoured to be making a six-figure salary, Mr. Levant was viewed with suspicion and derision by some Alliance MPs, mainly those who opposed Mr. Day. Life began to sour on the Hill for Mr. Levant last spring, and he tendered his resignation over threats he had made to sue dissident MP Chuck Strahl.
Mr. Levant is not new to lawsuits. In 1999, he and Rob Anders, a young Alliance MP from Calgary and a Snack Pack member, were forced to settle a defamation suit filed by Ron Ghitter, a former Alberta Tory senator.
They issued a public apology for "insulting and demeaning" remarks they made about Mr. Ghitter in an Alberta newsletter.
Another apology appeared, this time on the letters page of the Post, after Mr. Levant was quoted last November saying "we took out the trash last night." That comment came shortly after he had organized the defeat of Manning loyalists who had been on the riding board in Calgary Southwest.
Yesterday, Mr. Levant was making no apologies. Earlier this week, a source close to Mr. Levant spelled out exactly what must happen before Mr. Levant would step aside for Mr. Harper. "Don't come to me first, come to me last," is what he told the Harper team. Check with all 58 MPs, and if no one will step aside, he would consider it.
The source suggested that Mr. Levant was playing fair, and the Harper MPs were not, and wondered whether all this was "really about punishing the Stockaholic."
"We played fair, we offered it to Harper, he declined. We spent time and money and now they want to take it away. But it's even a bit more than that. It's take it away because they don't want to ask Rob Anders. They don't want to ask Jim Gouk, Art Hanger, Bob Mills or the other 30 people [the MPs who supported Mr. Harper]. That's what irks our guys," said the source.
"Right now there are 57 or whatever choices and they are not looking at any other options than Levant," said the source close to Mr. Levant. "Let me ask you this ... Rob Anders, other than dissing Nelson Mandela, refusing to take his phone call, and doing some weird stuff here and there, why ought he to be in Parliament rather than [Mr. Levant]?" asked the source.
(He was referring to Mr. Anders's refusing to give unanimous support to making Mr. Mandela an honorary citizen.)
"[He's] not saying force Rob out. [He's] not saying force out Jim Gouk, serial dissident. [He's] not saying force out "Asian-chap" Bailey [Roy Bailey, the 73-year-old Saskatchewan MP, who referred to Rey Pagtakhan, the Philippines- born Veterans Affairs Minister, as the "Chinese chap"] even though he is in his mid-70s and is probably not going to run again. At least ask them."
Now, thanks to Mr. Levant, Mr. Harper will be doing just that.
Last night, a source close to Mr. Levant had no further comment.
...
THE POWER GAME
The meaning of Levant's departure
HUGH WINSOR
635 words
18 May 2001
The Globe and Mail
Metro
A13
In a party that doesn't know where it is going, doesn't know who is in charge and doesn't know what will happen next, it stretches credulity that the most important issue of the day for Her Majesty's Official Opposition is the fate of a 28-year-old loudmouth lawyer and sometime journalist who readily admits his style of politics is to go for the jugular.
Ezra Levant's brief career (three months) as Alliance Leader Stockwell Day's director of communications ended yesterday morning when party House Leader John Reynolds opened his newspaper to learn that Mr. Levant had decided on his own to launch a libel suit against Alliance rebel Chuck Strahl. Worse -- he leaked his lawyer's letter to his former employer, the National Post.
Mr. Levant's "resignation," adding another chapter to his often mercurial career in neo-conservative politics, reveals much about the state of upheaval within the Alliance's parliamentary wing.
Never one to turn the other cheek, Mr. Levant was upset by a reference in Mr. Strahl's statement this week explaining why he and seven other Alliance MPs were calling for Mr. Day to quit. The reference to "dishonest communications" was listed among Mr. Day's sins. The communications director saw it as an assault on him and his staff and demanded an apology.
When no apology was forthcoming from Mr. Strahl, Mr. Levant engaged a lawyer who drafted a threatening letter, which was dispatched to Mr. Strahl and leaked to the Post. There are indications that Mr. Day was informed of the move -- although he may not have seen the actual letter -- and tacitly approved.
Given Mr. Day's recent history with lawyers and libel actions, plus his and Mr. Levant's indiscreet criticisms of a Quebec Superior Court judge, you might think alarm bells would have gone off. The fact they didn't just re-enforces one of the major complaints about the Alliance leader and his entourage -- a lacuna of political judgment.
The fact that retribution for Mr. Levant came so swiftly sends another signal about who is really in charge. After the party's initial caucus revolt two weeks ago, a deal was worked out to put Mr. Day on a short leash. The leader is to meet every morning with the caucus officers and is not to make any announcements or policy declarations without their approval. That leash extended to Mr. Levant and his communications staff.
The formal explanation for yesterday's events came from Mr. Reynolds: When it was pointed out to Mr. Levant that he had failed to follow proper channels before launching his suit, he acknowledged the error of his ways and voluntarily resigned.
Even in disgrace, however, Mr. Levant could not resist the beckoning television cameras and, in playing to them, was even more revealing. He said he liked to play aggressive politics, preferring, in his words, the closed-fist approach. He had obviously missed the party's signal that the caucus officers were now stressing an open hand toward the rebels.
As Mr. Levant put it, by coming between Mr. Day and the remaining members of caucus, he was probably doing his friend, the leader, more harm than good. At least, he got that right.
Mr. Levant's scalp will be only a minor factor in the ongoing drama. It's now apparent that Mr. Day's biggest threat comes not from MPs in Ottawa, but from the grassroots. The first explosion in the current crisis happened when MPs came back after a two-week Easter break during which they got an earful from constituents. Now they are home again. When Parliament resumes on May 28, watch out!
...
Who's in charge here: monarch or regents?
EDWARD GREENSPON
904 words
18 May 2001
The Globe and Mail
Metro
A4
Ezra Levant, private citizen, stood in front of the National Press Building at noon yesterday doing what he does best: sounding incredible rather than credible, huffing and puffing over legal action, digging into his mental thesaurus for powerful adjectives to hurl at his opponents, circling squares instead of squaring circles. In short, making a bad situation worse.
That the downfall of Stockwell Day's top communications adviser, after just 13 weeks in position, should come over a threatened lawsuit confirms that the master of the universe is a poet at heart. Mr. Levant, a lawyer by training, has proven himself to be something of an obsessive litigator in his short time in politics.
In addition to failing to get his boss to cut and run in a timely fashion in the infamous Goddard case, he actively aided and abetted Mr. Day in smearing the entire Canadian judiciary over the alleged bias of Quebec Superior Court Judge Joel Silcoff. Last year, Mr. Levant himself was forced to settle a defamation suit brought against him and Alliance MP Rob Anders for calling former Alberta Senator Ron Ghitter lazy and un-Albertan.
Mr. Levant apparently went a lawsuit too far in sending a letter Wednesday, along with three of his employees, threatening rebel MP Chuck Strahl with a defamation action unless he immediately and unconditionally apologized for remarks the group found offensive. In turning away from Mr. Day's leadership on Tuesday, Mr. Strahl had complained that "the current leadership has exercised consistently bad judgment, dishonest communications and lack of fidelity to our party's policies." Mr. Levant and his group took the words "dishonest communications" personally.
Although everyone referred to Mr. Levant's resignation yesterday as voluntary, they didn't hide that the letter had been the final straw. In disclosing that the Young Turk spokesman was out, Alliance House Leader John Reynolds stated that Mr. Levant's letter "was not cleared through the process." He also criticized Mr. Levant's leak of the letter to the media as unacceptable.
And so the self-described Stock-aholic vanished, albeit not without a trace.
The high-octane rhetorical style of the former junior aide to Preston Manning and National Post editorialist has grated on the nerves of many Alliance MPs from the moment he assumed his duties on Valentine's Day. He popped up everywhere, explaining Alliance positions and attacking its enemies, often displacing the elected members themselves. He was seemingly incapable of modulating his messages, like a stereo system with only two volume settings: zero and 10.
Yesterday, he was out there again, blasting the ears of anyone who cared to listen. As we've all seen over the past few months, Mr. Levant hasn't exactly been a shrinking violet. But you ain't seen nothing yet. He told Mike Duffy on CTV that now that he's a private citizen again, he no longer has to be delicate in standing up for his reputation. And there he was on the sidewalk in front of the National Press Building, accusing Mr. Strahl of "becoming a bit of a serial smearer."
"When one becomes a private citizen," our private citizen explained, "one can look someone in the eye like Chuck Strahl and say, 'Hey, Chuck, you're betraying the grassroots; you're betraying the constitution, and by the way defamation -- not a good idea. Why don't you apologize?' I have a freedom now to call things by their proper name. I call Chuck Strahl a defamer. And if he wants to dig in and buy himself another Goddard matter, I pity him. I'm no longer with the leader's office. I can speak freely."
He pledged to pursue the action.
All this is entertaining for political voyeurs, but Mr. Levant's 15 minutes are up. So let's move on.
The real story here is Mr. Reynolds, the second-in-command whom one of my colleagues likened yesterday to U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, the man many political observers believe is really in charge in the White House. Evidence mounts that Mr. Reynolds and his fellow caucus officers are really in charge of the Opposition Leader's Office. They appear to have formed some kind of regency.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Reynolds engineered an exit strategy from the Silcoff affair for Mr. Day. Earlier this week, his more moderate view of how to deal with the Alliance rebels prevailed. Yesterday afternoon, he was seen in the back of the Commons lobby speaking intensely to Mr. Strahl as they tried to defuse the latest imbroglio.
Listen to Mr. Reynolds yesterday morning explaining the sudden departure of Mr. Day's hand-picked communications chief, the best man at his son Logan's wedding: "The leader made a commitment that we would work together to solve some of our internal problems. Part of that working together is the caucus officer team that reviews press releases, letters from leaders' staff, things that happen in an office."
Mr. Levant and his group had shown their letter to Mr. Day's acting chief of staff, Terrence Kowalchuk. But they hadn't cleared it through Mr. Reynolds and his fellow caucus officers.
You decide: Who is really in charge here? The monarch or the regents? And who's the real threat, the external rebels or the palace guard?
Quote of the week, spotted on Skippy's Enjoy Every Sandwich blog in a web-walk this morning. Classic.
For those of you looking for more Ezra-related reading material, we provide the following as a public service. Apologies for the length, but the simple fact is there's a lot of these kinds of clippings to be found in the Internet, including one beaut from fellow martyr Mark Steyn, who opines that Ezra belongs in "show business," not politics (where we've handed him his ass several times).
Anyway, as you peruse the stories below, you may be moved to ask: does this mean that that dastardly censor Kinsella, and all those like him - those who oppose unrestricted dissemination of hate propaganda and child pornography, as well as reality television shows - are delighted that Ezra is the guy now leading this month's "free speech" parade?
Short answer: yes. Good Lord Almighty, yes, yes, yes. In that regard, would it be unseemly for us to contribute to his salary, as he continues to alienate legions?
Have a safe and warm weekend.
The Alliance's Defiant Levant: In Ottawa
Best source on Ezra: Ezra
Jane Taber
National Post
1335 words
28 March 2002
National Post
Toronto / Late
A12
OTTAWA - Huddled together in a dark corner of Calgary's The James Joyce Pub last Wednesday night, Ezra Levant made his intentions very clear to James Rajotte, a Canadian Alliance MP and a strong supporter of the party's new leader Stephen Harper.
Call off the dogs, he said.
Just hours before the pub meeting, Mr. Harper had become leader, easily beating Stockwell Day. While there was joy in the Harper camp, there was also concern because the unpredictable Mr. Levant had the riding of Calgary Southwest in his hot little hand, and Mr. Harper needed a seat in the House of Commons.
Preston Manning's former riding was the obvious choice, and Mr. Harper's preference.
Meanwhile, Mr. Levant had delivered the same message to Mr. Harper, his wife, Laureen, and Tom Flanagan, a senior campaign aide. Mr. Levant didn't appreciate reading comments from Alliance MPs, who were supporting Mr. Harper, that he should step aside for the new leader, abandoning all of the work, and the $150,000 to $200,000 he had spent winning the nomination.
"Until we've decided what to do here, call off the dogs," Mr. Levant told them, according to a source close to Mr. Levant. "If you want to nuke me after our meeting because you don't like the result, fine."
Well, who just nuked whom?
Yesterday, a much different and more gracious Mr. Levant called a news conference to declare his unwavering support for and continued friendship with Mr. Harper. Oh, and by the way, he would be running in Calgary Southwest.
The news conference was vintage Levant, a man famous for lengthy and juicy "off-the-record" interviews with reporters. He's good at using the press to get out his side of the story without having to take any heat. And he often appears in print as "a source close to Mr. Levant" or simply "a source."
Yesterday, Mr. Levant blamed the press for trying to drive a wedge between him and Mr. Harper over the riding issue.
In full television make-up, a rather angelic-looking Ezra Levant, having lost a few pounds and toned down his choice of spectacle frame, talked of his love of Canada, the Alliance, Stephen Harper, Preston Manning, Stockwell Day and the grassroots of the party. Looking oh-so innocent, he said he had kept a low media profile on this controversial issue. Oh, and by the way, he would be running in Calgary Southwest.
Mr. Levant is a performer. He's outraged. He's your best friend. He's concerned. He's abrasive. He's controversial. He can be divisive. He's a "Stockaholic." He can at times come across as ingratiating. He's always colourful. He operates two telephones at once and has an annoying habit of putting people on hold to take other calls.
Mr. Levant makes good television. His face is expressive: His eyebrows dart around on his forehead as he emphatically makes his pitch. Articulate and aggressive, he is also good copy. But how good is he for the Alliance?
Mr. Levant, 29, first came to the attention of the Ottawa press in 1997, as Mr. Manning's parliamentary assistant, helping him write inquiries for the daily Question Period.
The young man, who yearned even then to become an MP, was better known as a member of the so-called "Snack Pack," a group of young Reform MPs and aides who had wild parties and inhaled pizza and chips. It was a send-up of the Liberal "Rat Pack," which made the Mulroney Tories' lives hell.
At that time, the 5-foot-9 Mr. Levant weighed in at "200 pounds-ish," he admitted to the local newspaper, in a story about barbecuing with the Snack Pack.
Mr. Levant left the Hill in 1999 to join the National Post as an editorial writer. He embraced the job with the same enthusiasm as he embraced politics, proudly walking around in a Post baseball jacket. He was excited to be allowed to mix in the world of journalism and particularly enjoyed the buzz around the newsroom.
The Canadian public may have noticed Mr. Levant around this time, commenting as an informed voice on the right and a Reform party insider.
With the first leadership race of the new Canadian Alliance underway, Mr. Levant's allegiances seemed to switch, however, from Mr. Manning to the new guy on the block, Stockwell Day. Mr. Levant was a great friend of Mr. Day's son Logan and on television he spoke glowingly of Mr. Day and his accomplishments. This was the beginning of his "Stockaholic" phase.
So it was not a stretch that when Mr. Day began to experience problems communicating his message, Mr. Levant came back to help.
It was not to be a happy time. Rumoured to be making a six-figure salary, Mr. Levant was viewed with suspicion and derision by some Alliance MPs, mainly those who opposed Mr. Day. Life began to sour on the Hill for Mr. Levant last spring, and he tendered his resignation over threats he had made to sue dissident MP Chuck Strahl.
Mr. Levant is not new to lawsuits. In 1999, he and Rob Anders, a young Alliance MP from Calgary and a Snack Pack member, were forced to settle a defamation suit filed by Ron Ghitter, a former Alberta Tory senator.
They issued a public apology for "insulting and demeaning" remarks they made about Mr. Ghitter in an Alberta newsletter.
Another apology appeared, this time on the letters page of the Post, after Mr. Levant was quoted last November saying "we took out the trash last night." That comment came shortly after he had organized the defeat of Manning loyalists who had been on the riding board in Calgary Southwest.
Yesterday, Mr. Levant was making no apologies. Earlier this week, a source close to Mr. Levant spelled out exactly what must happen before Mr. Levant would step aside for Mr. Harper. "Don't come to me first, come to me last," is what he told the Harper team. Check with all 58 MPs, and if no one will step aside, he would consider it.
The source suggested that Mr. Levant was playing fair, and the Harper MPs were not, and wondered whether all this was "really about punishing the Stockaholic."
"We played fair, we offered it to Harper, he declined. We spent time and money and now they want to take it away. But it's even a bit more than that. It's take it away because they don't want to ask Rob Anders. They don't want to ask Jim Gouk, Art Hanger, Bob Mills or the other 30 people [the MPs who supported Mr. Harper]. That's what irks our guys," said the source.
"Right now there are 57 or whatever choices and they are not looking at any other options than Levant," said the source close to Mr. Levant. "Let me ask you this ... Rob Anders, other than dissing Nelson Mandela, refusing to take his phone call, and doing some weird stuff here and there, why ought he to be in Parliament rather than [Mr. Levant]?" asked the source.
(He was referring to Mr. Anders's refusing to give unanimous support to making Mr. Mandela an honorary citizen.)
"[He's] not saying force Rob out. [He's] not saying force out Jim Gouk, serial dissident. [He's] not saying force out "Asian-chap" Bailey [Roy Bailey, the 73-year-old Saskatchewan MP, who referred to Rey Pagtakhan, the Philippines- born Veterans Affairs Minister, as the "Chinese chap"] even though he is in his mid-70s and is probably not going to run again. At least ask them."
Now, thanks to Mr. Levant, Mr. Harper will be doing just that.
Last night, a source close to Mr. Levant had no further comment.
THE POWER GAME
The meaning of Levant's departure
HUGH WINSOR
635 words
18 May 2001
The Globe and Mail
Metro
A13
In a party that doesn't know where it is going, doesn't know who is in charge and doesn't know what will happen next, it stretches credulity that the most important issue of the day for Her Majesty's Official Opposition is the fate of a 28-year-old loudmouth lawyer and sometime journalist who readily admits his style of politics is to go for the jugular.
Ezra Levant's brief career (three months) as Alliance Leader Stockwell Day's director of communications ended yesterday morning when party House Leader John Reynolds opened his newspaper to learn that Mr. Levant had decided on his own to launch a libel suit against Alliance rebel Chuck Strahl. Worse -- he leaked his lawyer's letter to his former employer, the National Post.
Mr. Levant's "resignation," adding another chapter to his often mercurial career in neo-conservative politics, reveals much about the state of upheaval within the Alliance's parliamentary wing.
Never one to turn the other cheek, Mr. Levant was upset by a reference in Mr. Strahl's statement this week explaining why he and seven other Alliance MPs were calling for Mr. Day to quit. The reference to "dishonest communications" was listed among Mr. Day's sins. The communications director saw it as an assault on him and his staff and demanded an apology.
When no apology was forthcoming from Mr. Strahl, Mr. Levant engaged a lawyer who drafted a threatening letter, which was dispatched to Mr. Strahl and leaked to the Post. There are indications that Mr. Day was informed of the move -- although he may not have seen the actual letter -- and tacitly approved.
Given Mr. Day's recent history with lawyers and libel actions, plus his and Mr. Levant's indiscreet criticisms of a Quebec Superior Court judge, you might think alarm bells would have gone off. The fact they didn't just re-enforces one of the major complaints about the Alliance leader and his entourage -- a lacuna of political judgment.
The fact that retribution for Mr. Levant came so swiftly sends another signal about who is really in charge. After the party's initial caucus revolt two weeks ago, a deal was worked out to put Mr. Day on a short leash. The leader is to meet every morning with the caucus officers and is not to make any announcements or policy declarations without their approval. That leash extended to Mr. Levant and his communications staff.
The formal explanation for yesterday's events came from Mr. Reynolds: When it was pointed out to Mr. Levant that he had failed to follow proper channels before launching his suit, he acknowledged the error of his ways and voluntarily resigned.
Even in disgrace, however, Mr. Levant could not resist the beckoning television cameras and, in playing to them, was even more revealing. He said he liked to play aggressive politics, preferring, in his words, the closed-fist approach. He had obviously missed the party's signal that the caucus officers were now stressing an open hand toward the rebels.
As Mr. Levant put it, by coming between Mr. Day and the remaining members of caucus, he was probably doing his friend, the leader, more harm than good. At least, he got that right.
Mr. Levant's scalp will be only a minor factor in the ongoing drama. It's now apparent that Mr. Day's biggest threat comes not from MPs in Ottawa, but from the grassroots. The first explosion in the current crisis happened when MPs came back after a two-week Easter break during which they got an earful from constituents. Now they are home again. When Parliament resumes on May 28, watch out!
...
Who's in charge here: monarch or regents?
EDWARD GREENSPON
904 words
18 May 2001
The Globe and Mail
Metro
A4
Ezra Levant, private citizen, stood in front of the National Press Building at noon yesterday doing what he does best: sounding incredible rather than credible, huffing and puffing over legal action, digging into his mental thesaurus for powerful adjectives to hurl at his opponents, circling squares instead of squaring circles. In short, making a bad situation worse.
That the downfall of Stockwell Day's top communications adviser, after just 13 weeks in position, should come over a threatened lawsuit confirms that the master of the universe is a poet at heart. Mr. Levant, a lawyer by training, has proven himself to be something of an obsessive litigator in his short time in politics.
In addition to failing to get his boss to cut and run in a timely fashion in the infamous Goddard case, he actively aided and abetted Mr. Day in smearing the entire Canadian judiciary over the alleged bias of Quebec Superior Court Judge Joel Silcoff. Last year, Mr. Levant himself was forced to settle a defamation suit brought against him and Alliance MP Rob Anders for calling former Alberta Senator Ron Ghitter lazy and un-Albertan.
Mr. Levant apparently went a lawsuit too far in sending a letter Wednesday, along with three of his employees, threatening rebel MP Chuck Strahl with a defamation action unless he immediately and unconditionally apologized for remarks the group found offensive. In turning away from Mr. Day's leadership on Tuesday, Mr. Strahl had complained that "the current leadership has exercised consistently bad judgment, dishonest communications and lack of fidelity to our party's policies." Mr. Levant and his group took the words "dishonest communications" personally.
Although everyone referred to Mr. Levant's resignation yesterday as voluntary, they didn't hide that the letter had been the final straw. In disclosing that the Young Turk spokesman was out, Alliance House Leader John Reynolds stated that Mr. Levant's letter "was not cleared through the process." He also criticized Mr. Levant's leak of the letter to the media as unacceptable.
And so the self-described Stock-aholic vanished, albeit not without a trace.
The high-octane rhetorical style of the former junior aide to Preston Manning and National Post editorialist has grated on the nerves of many Alliance MPs from the moment he assumed his duties on Valentine's Day. He popped up everywhere, explaining Alliance positions and attacking its enemies, often displacing the elected members themselves. He was seemingly incapable of modulating his messages, like a stereo system with only two volume settings: zero and 10.
Yesterday, he was out there again, blasting the ears of anyone who cared to listen. As we've all seen over the past few months, Mr. Levant hasn't exactly been a shrinking violet. But you ain't seen nothing yet. He told Mike Duffy on CTV that now that he's a private citizen again, he no longer has to be delicate in standing up for his reputation. And there he was on the sidewalk in front of the National Press Building, accusing Mr. Strahl of "becoming a bit of a serial smearer."
"When one becomes a private citizen," our private citizen explained, "one can look someone in the eye like Chuck Strahl and say, 'Hey, Chuck, you're betraying the grassroots; you're betraying the constitution, and by the way defamation -- not a good idea. Why don't you apologize?' I have a freedom now to call things by their proper name. I call Chuck Strahl a defamer. And if he wants to dig in and buy himself another Goddard matter, I pity him. I'm no longer with the leader's office. I can speak freely."
He pledged to pursue the action.
All this is entertaining for political voyeurs, but Mr. Levant's 15 minutes are up. So let's move on.
The real story here is Mr. Reynolds, the second-in-command whom one of my colleagues likened yesterday to U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, the man many political observers believe is really in charge in the White House. Evidence mounts that Mr. Reynolds and his fellow caucus officers are really in charge of the Opposition Leader's Office. They appear to have formed some kind of regency.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Reynolds engineered an exit strategy from the Silcoff affair for Mr. Day. Earlier this week, his more moderate view of how to deal with the Alliance rebels prevailed. Yesterday afternoon, he was seen in the back of the Commons lobby speaking intensely to Mr. Strahl as they tried to defuse the latest imbroglio.
Listen to Mr. Reynolds yesterday morning explaining the sudden departure of Mr. Day's hand-picked communications chief, the best man at his son Logan's wedding: "The leader made a commitment that we would work together to solve some of our internal problems. Part of that working together is the caucus officer team that reviews press releases, letters from leaders' staff, things that happen in an office."
Mr. Levant and his group had shown their letter to Mr. Day's acting chief of staff, Terrence Kowalchuk. But they hadn't cleared it through Mr. Reynolds and his fellow caucus officers.
You decide: Who is really in charge here? The monarch or the regents? And who's the real threat, the external rebels or the palace guard?