“Normally, in healthy democracies at least, the media typically critiques power, the government. In Canada, the media critiques the opposition, especially when that opposition is effective.”

That’s the framing that Rebel News commander Ezra Levant for his response to how the “regime media” — which, he notes, includes the Toronto Star, CBC and The Globe and Mail, among others — has been covering Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre — and, more specifically, the “drumbeat to get rid of … the leader of the opposition,” the “endless panels” and stories that “typically quote Liberals and ‘unnamed party insiders.’”

In the written recap of his nightly broadcast, Levant invites his audience to “ask yourself a simple question,” namely: “If Poilievre were truly weak, if he were a bad leader, would the Liberals want to replace him? Or would they prefer to keep a toothless opponent, much like Jagmeet Singh, whose NDP propped up the government while pretending to oppose it? History suggests the latter.”

What’s more, “the numbers don’t support the panic narrative,” the recap notes.

“In Ontario, Poilievre’s Conservatives actually secured a slightly higher vote share than Doug Ford did provincially. The difference wasn’t leadership failure; it was vote-splitting on the left. Yet the media treats electoral math as gossip, not analysis.”

As for the “defection” of very recently former Conservative turned newly minted Liberal MP Michael Ma — who, it’s worth noting, the online copy incorrectly refers to as ‘Michael Chong’ — Levant notes that, when asked if Ma’s move hints at turmoil within his caucus, Poilievre “countered, correctly, that secret backroom deals say more about Mark Carney’s leadership style than his own,” Levant pnserves.

“An MP attending Conservative events hours before defecting, after meetings with foreign diplomats, raises serious questions. The press brushed past those and stuck to the preferred storyline.”

The “real lesson” for Conservatives, in his view, is that they “shouldn’t dump Poilievre because the Liberal commentariat dislikes him,” and for his part, “Poilievre shouldn’t retreat,” Levant concludes.

“He should lean in, especially on immigration, linking it plainly to housing shortages, strained hospitals, wages and social cohesion. That’s a fight the Liberals can’t co-opt. And it’s one the media will rage against which, ironically, would only amplify his message.”

Not surprisingly, several Rebel reporters fanned out across Ma’s Toronto-area riding to chronicle the fallout from what new Rebel addition Scarlett Grace described as his “stunning decision” to join the Liberals — which, as the site notes, has put Carney’s government “just one seat shy of a majority” — with reaction from constituents punctuated by clips of Ma attending various events, as well as “berating” the Liberal government in the House of Commons.

As for the reaction from the locals, one woman called it “totally disgusting,” while another said it was “great,” but told Grace that she would “prefer that (she) didn’t upload this,” as she didn’t want appear on the Rebel platform, to which Grace assured her that they could blur her out, which they did.

The Rebel content curation team also reposted photos and videos from a weekend protest outside Ma’s riding office by “fed up residents,” which was organized by an Instagram account using the handle Canada.vs.Everybody.

“Some of the personal signs held by those attending called the MP ‘shameless’ and said he ‘deceived’ and ‘betrayed’ voters in the Greater Toronto Area riding,” the site noted.

“Another called Ma a ‘puppet’ of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Toronto-based Rebel ‘mission specialist’ David Menzies also made his way to Markham-Unionville to chat with some of the “dozens of protesters” who staked out Ma’s office during a blustery Monday, where they were also treated to a drive-by visit by the the Rebel’s very own billboard truck to promote the newly launched FireMa petition drive.

“We’re not talking about a single seat changing here,” Menzies pointed out.

“This is all about Carney transforming a minority government into a majority government. Alas, just one not-so-insignificant hitch: Canadians did NOT vote for a majority Liberal government back in April. Yet, it appears that when you’re Mark Carney, who cares what the ‘little people’ have to say? Indeed, what is happening now with these Tory turncoats is nothing short of a fundamental abuse of our democratic process.”

Menzies also found time to make a return visit to the Markham, Ont. home of Martin Ross, who “used to have a fantastic backyard hockey rink on his property” which is now “long gone” after a neighbouring family allegedly complained to a local councillor last year.

“The city went on to play hardball with Ross, telling him to either teardown the rink or the city would do it for him — and send Ross an invoice for $500,000! After a failed effort in court to save the rink, Ross had no choice but to demolish the edifice.”

And yet, Menzies points out, “Governor General Mary Simon has budgeted millions of taxpayer dollars to install an open-air skating pavilion at Rideau Hall,” the official vice-regal residence in Ottawa.

“First, why does the Governor General need an ice rink that might cost as much as $8 million, especially when Ottawa is supposed to be cutting federal spending these days,” Menzies wonders.

“Secondly, when it comes to the politics of ice rinks in Canada, we must ask: who gets to install a rink? And who is forbidden from doing so? (It’s) downright galling: if one pays for a rink with their own hard-earned money in order to give kids enjoyment the city goes to war motivated by a political vendetta. Meanwhile in Ottawa, our tax dollars are being squandered into vanity rink projects.”

Meanwhile, the Rebel billboard truck also made the trek to Sault Ste. Marie — this time, decked out to support yet another Rebel-initiated campaign: BuildSteelPipelines.com, which, as the name suggests, wants Canada to “build pipelines and buy the steel right here in Canada.”

Co-piloting the truck: Levant himself, accompanied by Rebel videographer Lincoln Jay.

“We took the Rebel News billboard truck to Algoma Steel and ‘The Soo’, where we parked it right at the gates during a shift change and asked the workers what they thought of the idea,” he explains.

“They delivered the verdict: ‘That’s a perfect idea,’ ‘pipelines are made of steel. Algoma makes steel. It’s a natural fit,’ were some of the responses we got. ‘Go for it 100%. It’ll help Alberta and the rest of the country’ was another.”

Elsewhere on the Rebel newsfeed: West Coast correspondent Drea Humphrey chronicles how, “in a span of just 36 hours, OneBC, the breakaway party formed by former B.C. Conservative MLAs Dallas Brodie and Tara Armstrong, imploded in full public view, ending with a constitutional rewrite, Brodie’s abrupt ouster as leader, and Armstrong taking control of the party,” which includes a full timeline of events.

She also flags new documents that expose the cost of the “federally ordered slaughter of a healthy flock (of ostriches) in Edgewood, B.C.,” which she contends is “far higher” than the “over $900,000” that the government admits was spent on the operation.

“The numbers were revealed through an order paper question filed by Conservative MP Scott Anderson after months of stonewalling from Ottawa,” she notes.

“Despite Anderson pointedly requesting a complete accounting of all federal dollars spent, the amount the CFIA and RCMP did disclose is merely a glimpse into what was likely millions of tax dollars spent on lengthy court battles to avoid testing the birds to prove their health, and a nearly 50-day occupation of the farm with RCMP deployed at full force.”

Humphrey is also part of the production team for an “investigative documentary” on the “ostrich farm massacre,” which “will reveal the bigger story, which is how the (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) has evolved into one of the most powerful bureaucratic arms in the country and why the culling industry could lead to a national food security crisis.”

Over at Juno News, True North writer Alex Zoltan gives a signal boost to the results of an online survey conducted by Juno that suggests rookie Conservative MP Aaron Gunn “has captured the majority of backers to be the next leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia,” coming in ahead of “fellow Conservative MP Ellis Ross, Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West, former Surrey mayor and MP Dianne Watts, and several others as options.”

He also highlights the decision by now former OneBC hopeful, Mike Harris, who “ran as a BC Conservative candidate in the 2024 election,” to abandon his plan to run for breakaway party in the next election, as announced in a statement that described the current turmoil facing the party as a “’soap opera.’”

Rounding out the right-of-centre media circuit, Juno correspondent Cosmin Dzsurdzsa crunches the numbers from “multiple election projection models released this week,” and concludes that “floor-crossing Liberal MP Michael Ma (is) at serious risk of losing his seat.”

Trending on the progressive-left side of the Canadian activist mediaverse:

• Ricochet contributor Xavier Richer Vis goes through the fine print of a new report from the House of Commons ethics committee that “has intensified scrutiny of the prime minister’s 500-plus holdings — including millions in Brookfield stock — with questions of whether existing rules can contain unprecedented risks of conflict.”
• Press Progress associate editor Rumneek Johal offers her own take on the “implosion” of British Columbia’s “newest far-right party, OneBC,” which “appears to have stemmed from the firing of a staffer accused of posting neo-Nazi propaganda.”
• Canadian Dimension regular Christo Aivalis talks to New Democrat leadership hopeful Rob Ashton, who “represents something increasingly rare in federal politics: a leader who comes directly from the rank and file,” and “wants to rebuild the NDP from the working class up.”
• Finally, as the end of what has, “by all accounts,” been a “grim” year, The Breach turns its spotlight on “15 movement victories you may not have heard about, from (the) recognition of a Palestinian state, to tenant strikes, to a Youth Climate Corps.”