Ezra Levant’s Rebel News is familiar to Canadians. Some never watch it, and consider Rebel reporters to be provocateurs and not real journalists. Others watch it every day, and consider Rebel News to be a legitimate alternative to CBC, and other mainstream media. But whatever your view, what is now happening to Rebel News reporters is just wrong. Because on Monday, January 8, 2024, Rebel News reporter David Menzies was thuggishly assaulted, handcuffed and shoved into a police cruiser by police officers, in a scene that is usually reserved for the worst autocracies on this planet.Watch the video yourselfMenzies was questioning Minister Chrystia Freeland as she walked down the street. He is entitled to do that. It is called “scrumming”. A cabinet minister is expected to respond to questions from Canadian reporters — even ones she doesn’t like. It is part of the job. A burly officer approaches, and very deliberately bumps into Menzies. The police then accuse Menzies of assaulting Freeland, or unspecified others — something Menzies clearly didn’t do. From that point on they treat Menzies as they would a dangerous criminal, or terrorist. He is handcuffed and stuffed into a police cruiser.What we see on this video clip is something that would have been inconceivable in Stephen Harper’s Canada. But it would have been equally inconceivable in Jean Chretien’s Canada. Or Paul Martin’s, Brian Mulroney’s, and on down the line. This has nothing to do with Liberals or Conservatives. What we are seeing in real time is what life in an autocracy or theocracy looks like. A scene like this in downtown Moscow or Tehran would probably not be uncommon.But to see it playing out in plain sight in Canada is truly frightening.And deeply wrong.Brian Giesbrecht is a retired Manitoba Provincial Court Judge
Ezra Levant’s Rebel News is familiar to Canadians. Some never watch it, and consider Rebel reporters to be provocateurs and not real journalists. Others watch it every day, and consider Rebel News to be a legitimate alternative to CBC, and other mainstream media. But whatever your view, what is now happening to Rebel News reporters is just wrong. Because on Monday, January 8, 2024, Rebel News reporter David Menzies was thuggishly assaulted, handcuffed and shoved into a police cruiser by police officers, in a scene that is usually reserved for the worst autocracies on this planet.Watch the video yourselfMenzies was questioning Minister Chrystia Freeland as she walked down the street. He is entitled to do that. It is called “scrumming”. A cabinet minister is expected to respond to questions from Canadian reporters — even ones she doesn’t like. It is part of the job. A burly officer approaches, and very deliberately bumps into Menzies. The police then accuse Menzies of assaulting Freeland, or unspecified others — something Menzies clearly didn’t do. From that point on they treat Menzies as they would a dangerous criminal, or terrorist. He is handcuffed and stuffed into a police cruiser.What we see on this video clip is something that would have been inconceivable in Stephen Harper’s Canada. But it would have been equally inconceivable in Jean Chretien’s Canada. Or Paul Martin’s, Brian Mulroney’s, and on down the line. This has nothing to do with Liberals or Conservatives. What we are seeing in real time is what life in an autocracy or theocracy looks like. A scene like this in downtown Moscow or Tehran would probably not be uncommon.But to see it playing out in plain sight in Canada is truly frightening.And deeply wrong.Brian Giesbrecht is a retired Manitoba Provincial Court Judge
