The Gargoyle: Sun Media reportedly poised to apologize to Trudeau

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All eyes will be on Sun Media following a report it is poised to offer Justin Trudeau an apology for a derogatory rant by one of its most controversial television commentators.

The Liberal leader’s office announced last week that he would ignore questions from Sun reporters after Sun News Network’s Ezra Levant used a television segment to insult Trudeau’s and his parents.

In the five-minute rant prompted by a photo of the Liberal leader kissing a bride on the cheek earlier this month, Levant referred to Trudeau’s father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, as a “slut” and said similarly derisive things about his mother.

The Liberal leader’s office said Levant had “crossed the line” and that he would boycott the media chain “until the company resolves the matter.” Exactly what steps Trudeau wanted to see taken were not indicated.

On Sunday, CTV parliamentary bureau chief Robert Fife tweeted that former prime minister Brian Mulroney had contacted the Liberals to say that Sun Media would apologize Monday for Levant’s comments. Mulroney sits on the board of Quebecor, the company that owns Sun Media.

Trudeau’s office would not comment. Trudeau’s principal secretary, Gerald Butts, retweeted Fife’s report. But Butts said he was retweeting the comment “for info only,” and that he could not confirm or deny whether it was true.

Mulroney’s office and Quebecor vice-president Kory Teneycke, who previously served as Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s director of communications, did not immediately return calls or emails.

Trudeau’s boycott has stoked a great deal of controversy on its own, with some taking issue with the Liberal leader punishing an entire news organization for the actions of one commentator. Others have argued Sun Media’s own editorial integrity has been undermined by letting Levant’s rant stand.

Any apology is likely to prompt further debate, with some likely to suggest it will set a bad precedent for future dealings between politicians and the media. Others will say undoubtedly say the only real apology will be to take Levant, who has run into trouble with his rants before, off the air entirely.

lberthiaume@ottawacitizen.com

Twitter.com/@leeberthiaume