Ezra Levent examines Toronto Police’s 2024 attempt to disrupt Rebel News Live—a sold-out event with 400 attendees featuring Donald Trump Jr., Viva Frey, and Glenn Greenwald—by demanding a $50K security fee, despite no credible threats. FOI documents reveal officers like Melody Carroll labeled Rebel as "far-right extremist," while David Menzies faced disproportionate scrutiny despite five arrests for asking questions. Meanwhile, Grace St. John’s Anglican Lutheran Church burned in Manitoba, raising concerns about "anti-Christian terrorism." Levent also exposes CBC’s $2.5B taxpayer-funded expansion and Chantal Hébert’s false claims linking Rebel to U.S. annexation, highlighting systemic media bias and defamation. The episode underscores Canada’s growing censorship and misinformation crises under Liberal oversight. [Automatically generated summary]
Why Did Police Try to Shutdown Rebel News?00:06:38
Tonight, why did the Toronto Police Service try to kill our Rebel News live event?
Well, folks, we're in possession of documents from a Freedom of Information request.
You are not going to believe your ears.
It's scandalous.
It's Tuesday, March 18th, 2025.
I'm David Menzies, and this is the Ezra Levent Show.
Shame on you, you censorious boobug.
You may recall our Rebel News Live event that took place last May.
In fact, perhaps some of you viewing this video were in attendance that day.
The event featured an all-star cast of speakers, including Donald Trump Jr., Viva Frey, Billboard Chris, Glenn Greenwald, Chris Pavloski, April Hutchinson, and many more.
Indeed, talk about Avengers Assemble.
And it was all in an effort to deliver a message to the Justin Trudeau liberals that Canadian censorship has gone too far.
And yes, the world is watching.
Our gala quickly sold out.
And as far as I could tell, all 400 attendees had a jolly good time.
But you know, the story behind the story of putting on the Rebel News Live event is perhaps even more noteworthy than what actually took place on stage that day.
The crux of the matter is this.
Law enforcement and government agencies were doing everything they could to censor our event by shutting it down.
You heard correctly.
The forces at B wanted to censor a free speech event.
In fact, they wanted to cancel it outright.
Here's the skinny.
The venue hosting our Rebel News Live event was situated in Downsview Park in northwest Toronto.
Downsview Park is a former military base.
It's now a multi-use facility operated by Canada Lens, which is a federal crown corporation.
Now, this was problematic for the Justin Trudeau liberals, whose hatred for rebel news is nothing short of visceral.
We can't get into their press conferences.
We're banned from the House of Commons.
Heck, even asking a cabinet minister an impolite question on a public sidewalk can lead to the false arrest of a rebel news reporter with a little assault thrown in on the side, of course.
The point is, the Justin Trudeau Liberals loathe rebel news almost as much as they hate democracy because unlike the trained seals in the mainstream media, we are not bought and paid for.
So it was downright galling to the liberals that we would host a free speech event on a plot of land they considered to be their home turf.
They really are that petty.
They sure got creative in their censorious ways.
Canada Lens informed us we had to pony up $50,000 so that several armed police officers could be hired for security reasons.
Security reasons?
What's that about?
We were hosting a forum regarding free speech and censorship.
How was this a public safety issue?
That $50,000 extortion fee was a potential economic death penalty.
Our event was not going to generate that kind of coin.
And for us to squander it on unneeded security, it would kill the Rebel News Live event.
And Canada Lands was likely fully aware of this.
They really didn't care about the moolah.
They just wanted us to go away.
Oh, and by the way, if there were truly any credible threats of violence that might have occurred that day, and trust me, nothing materialized, not even an illegally parked car.
Since when does a venue have to pay the police to enforce the law?
Don't the police already get paid nicely for that?
For example, last time I checked, there's always a big police presence at Bathers and Shepherd in Toronto every Sunday morning.
That's where the pro-Hamas hooligans chant for genocide, display swastikas, and honor Sinwar, the October 7th massacre mastermind.
They desperately want a confrontation by goading the pro-Israel people across the street in this heavily Jewish area.
But are the assorted Hamasholes ever invoiced by the police?
Are you kidding me?
On cold days, the boys in blue reimagine themselves as Uber Eats drivers to deliver the Islamist coffee and tin bits.
Then again, Hamas runs the Hogtown cob shop these days.
Not that our pathetic police chief, Myron Semkew, gives a rodent's rectum.
Anyway, thank goodness that our friends at Rumble decided to foot that outrageous policing bill so that the show would indeed go on.
That's how committed Rumble is to free speech, by the way.
And much to the shock and surprise of the goons at Canada Lands, we called their bluff, paid their extortion, and the show was back on the rails.
But you know what?
In the aftermath of our conference, it turns out that the attempt to torpedo our event was far worse than we could ever have imagined.
Here's the deal, folks.
We filed a freedom of information request seeking documents from the Toronto Police Service to find out why a little freedom of speech conference was deemed to be such a clear and present danger in the first place.
It took months to get the relevant documents, but we got them, some 100 pages.
Par for the course, much of the information is redacted.
But what is readable is equal parts weird and disturbing.
Freedom of Information Fallout00:11:34
And talk about a climate of fear, loathing, and paranoia, like a chapter lifted from Orwell's 1984.
For starters, the ringleader behind the campaign to cripple our event is Melody Carroll.
She's the so-called community relations officer at 31 Division.
She comes across as officer-friendly in her correspondence, often using nicknames when addressing colleagues.
But behind the smiles and pleasantries, she's really a censorious thug.
Oh, and what a busy bee she was in the days leading up to our event.
In addition to several police officers, Melody also reached out to the Toronto Fire Department and paramedics.
She even reached out to another police force.
What did Melody think was going to happen that day?
A full-on riot?
If so, who would the writers be rioting against?
Themselves?
It's baffling.
Melody certainly has a warped opinion of our company.
She describes Rebel News as, quote, a Canadian far-right political and social commentary web-based media organization, end quote.
She also describes us as a quote far-right extremist group, end quote.
Extremist group?
Really?
Isn't that a synonym for a terrorist organization these days?
Unbelievable.
By the way, just what constitutes being far-right in the first place?
Someone who espouses an opinion that is slightly to the right, a mousy dung.
Here's another weird thing about Melody, and weird is the only descriptor I have.
You see, she made sure to identify who's who in the zoo, sending out a very detailed list of all the speakers as well as the names of Rebel News staffers.
But here's the thing, and folks, I don't know whether I should feel honored or whether I should feel really afraid, but whenever Melody references me, my name is presented in bold-faced type.
Why would that be?
It's kind of like she's intimating that all the free thinkers at Rebel News Live are dangerous, but oh, this Menzies character, watch out.
He's the most toxic of all.
You know, it seems so chummy down at the cop shop these days, doesn't it?
I mean, when Melody refers to another female officer, she has the salutation of, hey, girl.
And then there's Eleftheria Demetra Kupoulis.
She is of the York Regional Police Service.
And when she refers to Detective Mark Furzicott of 31 Division, she calls him Furzie.
That's right, Furzy.
I suppose Furze is his nickname, much like Fonzi was the nickname for Arthur Fonzarelli.
Gee, do you think Furzi wears a black leather jacket too?
Anyway, here's what Fonzie, or I mean, Furze stated about yours truly, quote, we are going to do our best to stay away from the antics of David Menzies, end quote.
Oh my God, if only the police would do their best to stay away from me.
The Toronto Police, the RCMP, the OPP, they arrested me five times last year alone for, oh, I don't know, asking impolite queries.
By the way, that's a very interesting word Furzy uses.
Wouldn't you say antics?
The definition of antics is quote, foolish, outrageous, or amusing behavior.
Funny how?
I mean, funny, like I'm a clown, I amuse you.
In any event, Melody goes on to state the following: quote, also let the tenants at 35 Carl Hall Road know this is the venue building.
One, a pre-nursery school have been notified of these events.
Two, drivetest have been notified of this event.
Three, Al Hoo have been notified of these events.
Let York Regional Police know, end quote.
Okay, grammatically incorrect, but you get the gist of what she's saying.
Namely, other businesses have been notified about what exactly?
Again, what did law enforcement think was going to happen that day?
That attendees of our event would descend upon a nursery school and a drive test facility and do what exactly?
Furthermore, why did Melody think it was a good idea to get the York Regional Police Service involved?
After all, Downsview Park is situated in Toronto, not York Region.
What gives?
Alas, as I further delved into the documents, I came across the ostensible policy reason for requesting assistance from York Regional Police.
And at this point, folks, our story goes from weird and creepy to downright disturbing.
You see, being the great detective that he is, Furze somehow discovered that guests of the Rebel News Live event were staying at the Novatel Hotel in Vaughan, which is indeed situated in York Region.
And when York Regional Police Officer Detective Constable Eltheria Dimitra Kupoulis received this information from Furzee, she could barely contain her excitement as she sent a mass email out to several of her York Region police colleagues, quote, hey all, four exclamation marks, got this from TPS, just one exclamation mark.
See below, again, just one exclamation mark.
By the way, this officer is with the Technical Investigations Unit slash cybercrime section.
What the hell is going on?
Did the cops think our guests were going to commit cyber crimes?
Or then again, maybe it's the other way around, which is to say, did the York Regional Police put our guests under surveillance?
If so, for what reason?
Is that where we are now in Canada?
If it is deemed that you are guilty of wrong thought, gun-toting Big Brother is watching you?
Back to Melody.
In the Department of All the King's Horses and All the King's Men, she also reached out to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
Methinks she was searching for some legislative loophole in the Liquor License Act.
Maybe were we serving booze without having the necessary special occasion permit, perhaps?
Well then, that would give the cops an excuse to rush into the venue and shut it down, you know, like they used to do during the speakeasy days when probation was a thing a century ago.
In any event, Harley Thiekston of the AGCO informed Melody that the only alcohol to be served that day was beer and wine for the VIP dinner on Saturday night for approximately 75 guests.
In other words, everything was on the up and up.
I'm sure that information was met with poor Melody exclaiming, curses, foiled again.
And check out this rant from Kimberly Moser, she-her.
She's the manager of external communications for Toronto Community Housing.
And she chimes in with this, quote, background information, end quote, regarding the event.
Essentially, she tries to cast Rebel News and Donald Trump Jr. in a very negative light.
But what's the deal with that?
Toronto Community Housing is the largest social housing provider in Canada and the second largest in North America.
It is wholly owned by the City of Toronto and operates in a non-profit manner.
It represents some $9 billion in public assets.
So riddle me this.
Why in blue hell is Kimberly Moser, she-her, getting involved in trying to torpedo a free speech event?
Well, I reached out to Ms. Moser, she-her, and she actually did get back to me saying her concern was the following, quote, because this event was located in close proximity to a TCHC office, this information was provided as background to staff who could be affected by higher than normal traffic or crowds in the area, end quote.
Oh, I see.
She was concerned about traffic and crowds.
Folks, do you know Downsview Park sits on a plot of land that is 291 acres and that our event featured only 400 attendees?
In the past, Downsview Park has hosted rock concerts and the Pope with crowds ranging from 500,000 to more than 800,000 people.
But Moser, she-her was allegedly fretting about a 400-person gathering.
Seriously?
Oh, it gets worse.
Check out this email correspondence, quote, we need to have a game plan.
Re our employees accessing and leaving 35 Carl Hall if protest is not as peaceful as forecasted, end quote.
Oh, well, wait a second.
What's this about a protest?
Is that Ulrich's way of describing a Rebel News live event?
That a free speech anti-censorship gala is a protest?
Or did he think that the likes of Antifa would show up to protest our event?
It's not clear.
What is clear is that Ms. Moser, she-her, is not being genuine when she states that Toronto Community Housing was simply concerned about traffic and crowd issues.
News flash for Miss Moser, she-her.
Your organization's bailiwick is trying to find subsidized housing for those in need.
There are more than 100,000 people on a waiting list for subsidized housing in Toronto.
I'm sure you've heard about this little thingy called the housing crisis.
Shouldn't that be your priority?
Kindly show me where in your six-figure taxpayer-funded job description that your agenda involves sabotaging a free speech event.
Sorry, Sir, Your Name Is Smith00:02:54
I guess what I'm trying to say here, Miss Moser, she-her, or perhaps you're a them there these days, who knows?
What I'm trying to say is please adhere to the following words of advice, courtesy of The Rock.
Know your damn roll and shut your damn mouth!
Of course, maybe I have things wrong.
So I reached out to some of the law enforcement officers involved in Operation Rebel News or whatever it was called.
Check out my very brief phone interview with Melody Carroll.
Hi, this is PC Carol.
Yes.
Hi, PC Carol.
How are you doing there?
It's David Menzies.
He's calling from Rebel News.
David, I can't talk to you right now.
I received your email.
You have to contact our corporate communications, okay?
Yeah, they don't, they will not communicate with us and one of the questions I had was...
I'm sorry, I'm just a police constable, so you'll have to contact them, okay?
I'm so sorry.
But you were very wishy the best of luck.
You were very, very active in, you know, trying to cancel our Rebel News life.
Hello?
Wow, she almost sounds fearful.
I'm just a police constable.
No, you're not.
You're a censorious thug and you're a coward.
And now that you've been outed, Melody, you are undoubtedly ashamed of yourself.
Now, check out this reaction with Ferzi.
Well, I'm not sure if it is Ferzi.
The fellow on the other end said his name was Smith, but I wasn't calling Furze's office line.
I was calling Firzi's cell phone number.
Anyway, check it out.
Yes, hello.
I'm looking for Detective Furzicott, please.
Yes, it's David Menzies of Rebel News.
How you doing there?
I will put you on hold and look for him.
Thank you.
Can I take a message for him?
Oh, absolutely.
And sorry, sir, your name is Smith.
Oh, okay.
Yes, Mr. Smith.
This is odd.
I don't know if I have the wrong number.
I had this as Detective Ferzicott's cell number.
Oh.
So, Menzies, M-E-N Z-I-E-S.
And a number that you can be reached at.
Yes, 416.
Roger.
807.
Yep.
8318.
I'm just curious, sir, why you would be in possession of the detective cell phone.
Numbers get moved around.
Oh, okay, then.
Should do you have a new cell phone number?
I don't want to bother you.
What best if you reach him at an email address would be the best way to get away?
Indeed, I did send him an email earlier today, and I just wanted to confirm that he received it.
But you're able to pass a message along to him?
Incident 2013: Suspicious Fire00:05:45
I will do my best.
And being March Break, it could be that he's not reading his emails right now.
Oh, okay, then he could be off.
I see.
Well, if you're able to send him a text or what have you, that would be most appreciated.
Is anyone buying that?
I also reached out to Sergeant Ernst Carmichael of the York Regional Police Service.
Folks, he's a real piece of work.
So I wanted to speak to Sergeant Carmichael and get clarity.
I've left him a voicemail.
I've sent him an email.
The police officers on duty said he's on days off.
He won't be back for another four days.
And in the meantime, we'll just have to await on a response.
I'm not hopeful of it.
Also wanted to ask him about a little incident he was involved in back in 2013.
You see, Sergeant Carmichael, when he wasn't a sergeant, he was charged and convicted of beating a 63-year-old Richmond Hill resident.
He actually kicked this man in the head three times.
And what was the penalty for that?
Well, it was 12 months probation and 100 hours of community service.
And here we are in 2025.
Officer Carmichael is now Sergeant Carmichael.
You know, it's kind of like Officer Bubbles in Toronto.
He's a sergeant now, too, despite his abhorrent policing.
Greg Dumaschel of the RCMP, he hasn't been penalized.
He hasn't been confined to death duty after his assault and false arrests of me going back a year ago.
Naturally, this bully/slash coward did not return my request for comment either.
But folks, back to the attempted derailing of our Rebel News live event, which is to say, talk about much ado about nothing.
How many thousands of dollars worth of policing went into this operation?
How many hours were needlessly squandered?
Still, the question arises, if the police were the puppets in this dark drama, who were the puppet masters?
Was it Mayor Olivia Chow or Liberal MP Yara Sachs, this self-hating Jew, by the way, denounced our event on social media?
Or was it Premier Doug Ford or was it the big kahuna himself, Justin Trudeau?
Or maybe it was all of the above.
It's likely we will never find out the answer to that query.
After all, our FOI to get information about the meeting Trudeau had with Chief DemQ last year was denied.
Don't you find that odd, especially since the chief does not answer to the prime minister?
Really, why the lack of transparency?
Why the secrecy?
And the insult to injury is this.
The greater Toronto area is experiencing the greatest crime wave in its history.
And yet the powers that be thought that a little free speech conference was a threat to security and public safety.
What were they thinking?
Hi, David.
Ezra here in Carmen, Manitoba.
Thanks very much for taking the chair for the Ezra Levant show today so I could come out here with Lincoln Jay.
I'm standing in front of a church, Grace St. John's Anglican Lutheran Church.
And if you didn't look closely, you'd say, okay, well, the church looks fine, but it's actually completely torched.
Glass has been replaced by plywood, but it is a hollow shell.
The floor is burnt away.
The roof is in danger of collapse.
This thing was a serious fire with 18 different firefighters brought in to fight it and five pumpers.
It burnt for hours.
The arson happened at around 4 in the a.m. a couple of days ago.
Today, we observed as some cleanup crews worked on the outside, but really they confirmed to us that the whole thing has to be demolished all the way down.
We did some streeters, that is, man on the street interviews around town, and everyone is familiar with this, of course, but people don't want to leap to conclusions.
The RCMP has publicly said that they are treating this as a suspicious fire.
And I think that's a good sign that the police are taking it seriously as far as that goes.
But there are, I think, two kinds of arson.
There's sort of random arson, an abandoned building, an old school, like just an arson of opportunity.
And then there's a politicized arson, a kind of anti-Christian terrorism.
Why was this church targeted?
Was it a random thing or was it part of the national anti-Christian crime wave that Canada has been suffering for years?
That's what we're out here in Carmen, Manitoba to find.
We'll have a report at saveourchurches.ca.
I'll be back in the chair in Toronto.
In fact, we're coming home tonight.
If anyone wants to help our little journey out here, go to saveourchurches.ca.
I'll see you in Toronto tomorrow.
CBC's Misinformation Scandal00:10:17
Who still blindly trusts the mainstream media?
Probably not you.
After all, you're watching us and you already know that mainstream media can no longer be trust.
They may call themselves trustworthy news sources, but that too is a lie.
While Pierre Pollier recognized that mainstream media simply parrots the liberal narrative and has pledged to defund the CBC.
Are you saying that you would step aside and not compete for the head of the country to allow us to get through this crisis?
Or I'm unclear about your answer to the last question.
Well, I find it a strange question.
CBC is asking me to step aside in the next election.
It's a very strange request.
There's a suggestion.
We could save a billion dollars by defunding the CBC.
The Liberals are clinging to their propaganda machine.
Heritage Minister Pascal Saint-Ange has even proposed enshrining CBC Radio Canada's role as an official information source in law while nearly doubling its funding on a per capita basis.
Enshrine in law the role that CBC Radio Canada plays in the fight in the fight against disinformation to support the public, especially in the current context.
And this refers directly to some of the recommendations that were made by the Foreign Interference Commission, which repeated how important it is that Canadians can rely on Canadian sources of information to be more resilient and to understand the patterns that other countries use to disseminate propaganda or disinformation to influence how we live together and our political context.
And this is why I propose to anchor in CBC Radio Canada's mandate its role in helping the Canadian population fight against disinformation and understand fact-based information.
Last year, CBC Radio Canada received approximately 1.4 billion dollars in taxpayer funding, according to its own annual report.
Under the Liberals' proposal, that number could jump to 2.5 billion dollars per year, money taken directly from your pocket, whether you watch it or not.
One of CBC Radio Canada's contributors, political commentator, Chantal Hébert, is regularly invited to speak on politics.
She is also a speaker that talks about politics and democracy in the so-called fake news, as she stated in her website.
But here is the irony.
Hébert herself has been caught spreading misinformation.
And when confronted about it, she simply ignored the issue.
Let me explain.
When a journalist or commentator gets something wrong, the responsible thing to do is correct the record and acknowledge the mistake.
One recent example is when Heber claimed, by maintaining our tariff, it's not us who pay, it's them.
This is categorically false.
Tariffs are taxes imposed on citizens of the country that applies them.
A basic economic fact.
However, let's assume she simply misspoke.
But then, on February 21st, during an episode of CBC Radio Canada Audio Media Info, Hébert falsely claimed that Rebel News is campaigning for Canada to become the 51st state of America.
You can talk about this interview that has been published in Toronto Star.
There is another big difference between Stephen Harper and Pierre Poilier.
Mr. Harper speaks to Toronto Star.
Mr. Poilier, this week in a point of press, has excluded, via his personnel, all the traditional media to accept four who are identified to the right or to the extreme-right, don't rebel news.
which is campaign for the Union, and Canada because we can represent media as French.
This was not a slip of a tongue.
This was deliberate, a blatant attempt to discredit and demonize us.
And it is completely false.
The event she referenced was a press conference held by Pierre Poliev on February 20.
Out of 10 media outlets present, only five were allowed to ask questions.
On the floor, starting with True North.
Why is this company like you to small media?
Hello, Mr. Polyev, Noah Jarvis, True North.
My media?
Why is this the small media here today?
Hey, this is Shubi from My Media.
Thank you.
Next question.
Question.
Go ahead, sir.
You have it here.
You're up there.
Jérémy Bergeron, journalist at Radio Canada.
Thank you.
This will be the final question from Oxygen TV.
Those.
Those included Y Media, Oxygen TV, TrueNorth, Ribbon News, and Radio Canada.
Ebert described every outlet other than Radio Canada as being right to far-right.
But let's break that down because it's completely untrue.
True North, center-right, mainly editorial.
Why Media, an online platform led by Yudvir Jaswal, a journalist honored with King Charles Coronation Medal.
He has interviewed Trudeau, Harper, Doug Ford, and multiple other liberal MPs.
Hardly the profile of a far-right outlet.
In fact, Jazzwall was featured on CBC before according to his website.
Oxygen TV, a media outlet focused on family and social political issues.
Their editorial stance leans slightly to the right due to family values.
But calling them far-right is ridiculous.
Ribbon News, categorized by some as editorially conservative, but certainly not far-right.
What's more, YMedia and Oxygen TV serve diverse immigrant communities.
These are voices representing diaspora groups.
Hardly a monolithic far-right presence.
Meanwhile, mainstream outlets like Global, CBC, CTV, and Canadian Press were present at the event, but were not among those called upon for questions and Prime Asia as well.
So let's be clear.
Hébert's claims that the press conference was dominated by right to far-right media is completely false.
And her assertion that Ribbon News is campaigning for Canada to become the 51st state of America is also completely false.
I attempted to ask Hébert why she made these false claims about us.
Watch how she reacted.
No apology, no correction, just a weird reaction.
Madame Barre, Madique, Madame Chantain Lebert.
I don't know if you know her, but she's a political columnist in CBC in Radio Canada.
Recently, she spoke about us.
She spoke about Ribbon News, saying that we are advocating for the 51st state.
What is actually totally wrong?
This is defamation.
And so it's why I ask her the question why she actually says that about us.
And she seems not being interested.
Let me give you another example of intellectual dishonesty.
This time from Radu Canada.
In the report reviewing the pandemic, which was published last week on RCAT, the equivalent of the fifth estate, they spoke about conspiracy movements, lumping them together with support of becoming the 51st state.
On screen, they showed Ribbon News Exposed what looked like to create a cognitive link between our media outlet and what they called the obscure network.
These movements have never really stopped.
It's not like the day to the day.
Because the health measures have been raised, people have stopped to adhere to these ideas that the government tried to control it, that it should be opposed to the authority, the media and all that.
These are people who continue to operate, maybe first on the more obscure networks, which were less followed by the great media or the great public.
But what I was reminded of Twitter in the public in the web pour.
This is the reality of mainstream media in Canada.
Taxpayers funded, unaccountable, and willing to spread misinformation to push their narrative.
And they wonder why more and more Canadians are turning them out.com.
So it's a petition to request CBC to stop lying, to stop spreading disinformation and misinformation as they are doing often.
So you can sign the petition and make your voice heard that if we are going to pay the CBC with our own tax, we want them to stop lying.