Ezra Levant
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Ezra Levant (born 1972) is a Canadian publisher, columnist, lawyer and political activist, is on the right-wing of Canada's conservative movement. He has been critical of Canadian foreign policy, anti-American sentiment in Canadian politicians, is known for his staunch defence of Israel, and is a self-styled advocate for more provincial rights, especially for Western Canada.
Born in Calgary, Levant holds a commerce degree from the University of Calgary and an LL.B. from the University of Alberta.
Supporting the Reform Party of Canada even as a teenager, Levant joined it as a university student. He spent the summer of 1994 in Washington, D.C., in an internship arranged by the libertarian Charles G. Koch Foundation Summer Fellow Program. He worked for the Fraser Institute in 1995, writing Youthquake, which argued for smaller government, including privatization of the Canada Pension Plan.
In 1997, he came to Ottawa to work for the Reform Party, becoming parliamentary assistant to party leader Preston Manning and being put in charge of Question Period strategy. In early 1999, Levant left Ottawa to join the editorial board of the fledgling National Post newspaper in Toronto. In February, 2001, Levant returned to Ottawa as communications director to Stockwell Day. In May of that year, he resigned over a letter he sent to dissident MP Chuck Strahl, in which he threatened to sue over Strahl's criticisms of his office.
Later in 2001, Levant returned to Calgary to practice law. By February, 2002 he won the Canadian Alliance party nomination for the riding of Calgary Southwest, but stepped aside after public pressure so that new party leader Stephen Harper could run there in a 2002 by-election. When the by-election was called, Levant, who is reported to have spent more than $150,000 in gaining the nomination, announced that he would not step aside. Within a few days, however, he did so after widespread negative reaction from both the public and the party.
In 2004 Levant co-founded the Western Standard, a national magazine with an emphasis on Western Canada, political conservatism, and libertarianism. On February 14, 2006 the Western Standard drew the attention of the Muslim community by reprinting the controversial editorial cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.
Levant has written three non-fiction books: Youthquake (1996), Fight Kyoto (2002), and The War On Fun (2005).
