Update On Levant's Roma Rant

It has now drawn a complaint to the Law Society of Alberta:

Roma Community Centre (RCC) of Toronto, Ontario, wishes to file a complaint with Alberta Law Society (ALS) against Ezra Levant. According to the ALS Code of Conduct, “Alberta’s lawyers are expected to conduct themselves and their law practices in ways which are highly ethical and above reproach.” We believe that Mr. Levant demonstrated highly unethical attitudes and behaviour in a recent broadcast of “The Source with Ezra Levant” (Sept. 5th, 2012, at 5 p.m. EDT, Sun News Network). We also feel that for a member of the bar to promote hatred against an identifiable ethnic group is conduct unbecoming a lawyer, and wonder if Mr. Levant’s broadcast violates Section 319 of the Canadian Criminal Code, ‘Wilful Promotion of Hatred’.

Here the RCC "wonders" whether Levant's broadcast, which I have written about here, might have violated section 319, so I am not sure what concrete steps, if any, they have taken towards filing a criminal complaint.   The body of the RCC letter does confirm, though, that they have gone to the CRTC and Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.  From the tone of the Sun TV's eventual apology to the ROMA which, I am told, was followed in the same broadcast by second apology for Ezra's on-air cursing, it sounds like any lawyer's fees to defend against all these complaints will be borne by Ezra alone.

Ethical Oil?

There have been a number a number of media pieces on the Ethical Oil Institute.  They all ref this detailed post at Deep Climate, so that's probably the best place to start.  DC's unsurprising bottom line is that the EOI is almost certainly an industry astroturf group, sharing an office with McLennan Ross, an Edmonton law firm that works with players in the Alberta tar Sands.  I find the most interesting revelation to be that:

...the registration date of March 9, 2011 shows plans for the Ethicaloil.org were well underway long before Velshi’s initial blog posts in June, and indeed before the Canadian election campaign (which was called in late March).

...because Mr. Velshi originally treated the whole project as something he had started up on a personal whim.

Also worth noting is that the McLennan Ross contact at Ethical Oil is Thomas Ross, who served as Ezra Levant's lawyer during his run ins with the CHRC.  Ezra also serves on the board of Ethical Oil, and in fact is the fellow who coined the phrase.

Ezra Levant: In Court And Loving It

This defamation suit is expected to wrap up Friday, but [Giacomo] Vigna — who has filed 15 complaints with the Alberta law society against Levant — served him another libel notice this week for a different blog post.

If I'm counting right, that means Ezra is now facing six (6) defamation suits.

To Know Him Is To Sue Him, Part Bazillion

Yesterday, CC pointed out that Khurrum Awan's defamation suit against Ezra Levant appears to be proceeding. In addition, I have been told that Vigna v. Levant (Giacomo Vigna is or was a lawyer for the CHRC) should get underway in February. Keep cranking out them books, Ezra. You'll need the funds, and anyway I'm sure "Oiled Up" will sell in the high double-digits (which may, incidentally, be enough to make it a Canadian bestseller).

Update: In related news, The National Post offers Warman a "satisfactory settlement agreement", and his libel action has been discontinued.