Rebel News owner Ezra Levant was 'mentor' to Poilievre, says author

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has documented historic ties to Rebel News owner Ezra Levant, the media personality at the epicentre of a controversy that has engulfed Canada's Leaders' Debates Commission.

After facing criticism for allowing right-wing media activists to dominate the post-French debate press conference, the commission cancelled Thursday's post-debate question-and-answer session citing undefined security concerns.

The commission's decision Thursday came amid tensions between Levant — a political activist behind two entities registered with Elections Canada as third-party advocacy groups — and some journalists covering the English debate on-site.

The controversy that flowed around Levant and his right-wing Rebel News online media employees partly overshadowed the central event of the evening.

The federal leaders English-debate was a pivotal moment for Poilievre who was seeking to grab the momentum and polling lead away from Liberal Leader Mark Carney as the campaign headed into its final week.

"On the most important night of the most important campaign of Poilievre's life, Ezra Levant showed up," said Mark Bourrie, author of a recently published book on Poilievre, Ripper, in an interview with CBC News.

"If things hadn't derailed, [Ezra] would have probably been dominating the questions himself that night and that would have been really something, to have this come full circle after 25 years."

Levant declined a request for comment from CBC News.

CBC News asked the Conservative Party if Poilievre still considered Levant a friend and if there had been any discussions or coordination between the two around election communications.

"No. Your insinuations are false. Conservatives are focused on our own campaign to bring home Canada's promise, lower the cost of living, axe taxes, build homes and make Canadians safe, for a change," said the statement.

In his book, Bourrie writes that Poilievre became part of a "historically important clique" at the University of Calgary that "became a large part of the core of the modern Conservative movement." This group included people like former Alberta premier Alberta Jason Kenney, law professor Benjamin Perrin and journalist Ezra Levant.

Poilievre and Levant would end up working closely together, including by co-authoring a Calgary Herald op-ed in 2002.

Bourrie said that Poilievre was in his early 20s when he joined a team that included Levant behind a push to have Stockwell Day lead the newly minted Canadian Alliance — a party with Western populist roots that eventually merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to become today's Conservative Party.

Day won the leadership of the new party in 2000, defeating Preston Manning, who founded the Reform Party. Day soon lost the 2000 federal election to Jean Chretien's Liberals and resigned his post in 2001.

But Poilievre and Levant had their sights on another goal. Poilievre began campaigning to help Levant — then a young lawyer in his late 20s — become the Canadian Alliance candidate in the riding of Calgary Southwest, which Manning held but would soon vacate on his retirement in January 2002.

Poilievre helped purge the Calgary Southwest riding association of Manning supporters to pave the way for Levant to win the riding's nomination and become the next likely MP, wrote Bourrie.

But they wouldn't leave anything to chance.

"Poilievre was working for Ezra.... Poilievre was his media manager. Poilievre was the one putting together TV commercials, billboard ads. They spent a lot of money," said Bourrie.

One TV commercial featured Poilievre and his current campaign manager Jenni Byrne, with Stockwell Day's grandchild, posing as an Alberta family.

This ad, along with details of Poilievre's work for Levant in the riding nomination campaign, is also recounted by a second book, Pierre Poilievre: A political life, written by current Conservative candidate Andrew Lawton.

Despite running about 80 radio and television ads, renting billboards and spending reportedly over $100,000, Levant would never get a chance to represent the riding, even after securing the nomination in February 2002.

Stephen Harper would become Canadian Alliance leader that year, force Levant aside, and take the riding for himself in a May 2002 byelection.

WATCH | Rebel News accreditation at federal election debates questioned:

Michel Cormier, executive director of the Leaders' Debates Commission, speaks to Power & Politics about criticism over allowing the post-debate question period to be dominated by small right-wing media outlets on Wednesday, and why he says he was 'afraid' of what would happen if a particular organization was denied accreditation.

Bourrie said Levant and Poilievre's paths diverged at this point — Poilievre would stay in the electoral political game while Levant would become an influential player in the right-wing media sphere.

But during this era, as a Western-based conservative movement turned into a national political force, Levant became a "mentor and somebody who opened opportunities" for Poilievre, said Bourrie.

"Poilievre got to go from basically a college politician to running a real campaign, making big decisions, spending money," he said.

"That must have helped him to really move ahead of people his age and his generation of political people. He's a staffer ... and soon after, runs and he wins. He obviously earned his spurs on that."

A quarter of a century later, Levant and Poilievre's paths again crossed in Montreal. But this time, Bourrie said it was Levant campaigning through his registered third-party advocacy entity, ForCanada, paying for a truck to flash messages attacking Carney while rolling around the debate venue.