Sue-Ann Levy

Last updated

Sue-Ann Levy (born September 23, 1956) [1] is a Canadian writer and former political columnist for the Toronto Sun and Postmedia, who focused on municipal and social issues in Ontario. She has been described as 'unapologetically conservative', and has written Underdog: Confessions of a Right-Wing Gay Jewish Muckraker. Levy placed second in the 2009 Ontario by-election as Progressive Conservative candidate for Toronto, St. Paul's. She currently spends her time writing for True North Media.

Contents

Early life and education

Levy grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, the daughter of an accountant. Levy is the niece of the late Jeffrey S. Lyons, a Toronto lawyer and prominent municipal lobbyist who is best known for having been implicated in the MFP scandal at City Hall. She earned a journalism degree from Carleton University in 1978. After graduating from Carleton, Levy worked as an aide to Ontario Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Frank Drea before returning to school to earn an MBA from the University of Toronto in 1985. She then worked in public relations but left in order to enter journalism as a reporter for the Bracebridge Examiner, before being hired by the Toronto Sun in 1989, whose publisher at the time, Paul Godfrey, described Lyons as "a close pal of mine". [2] [3] [4]

At the Sun

Levy became the Sun's City Hall columnist in 1998 and covered the mayoralties of Mel Lastman, David Miller, and Rob Ford before moving to Queen's Park to cover the Ontario legislature. She later returned to covering city politics under Mayor John Tory.

In 2004, the Ryerson Review of Journalism surveyed city councillors and found that Levy was "rated lowest among the 18 city hall reporters for accuracy, fairness and knowledge". [5] Levy made a reputation as the press gallery's "most unapologetically conservative chronicler of local politics." [6] She created enemies among some city councillors, whom she goaded with derogatory nicknames. [6]

Levy was criticized by the National NewsMedia Council for a "serious breach of journalistic standards" [7] for an October 2018 column which quoted a false allegation that immigrants and refugee claimants temporarily residing at the Radisson Hotel Toronto East were slaughtering goats in one of the hotel's public bathrooms. [8] [9] This assertion was based on on-line reviews of the hotel posted to TripAdvisor and Expedia, and interviews with clients who posted their reviews on Trip Advisor, [10] but were not fact-checked: the council's report noted that Levy did not make "any attempt to visit the hotel, verify the claim, or offer any caution about the failed efforts to do so." Levy's columns were widely circulated online by alt-right commenters on 4chan and Reddit, as well as sites such as Infowars . [10] Two days after the column ran, an unknown person engaged in an act of arson at the hotel. [11]

Levy is the author of the book Underdog: Confessions of a Right-Wing Gay Jewish Muckraker (2016) and also appeared as a regular guest on The John Oakley Show on Talk 640 until 2018. She was previously a panelist on CBC Radio One's local Toronto afternoon drive show Here and Now , as well as an occasional commentator or panelist over various cable news channels. [12]

Levy announced her retirement from the Toronto Sun on June 26, 2021. [13] She subsequently joined the True North Centre for Public Policy, an online publication, as a contributor. [14]

Politics

In 2009, Levy was the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario's by-election candidate in the Toronto riding of St. Paul's, placing second with 28.33% of the vote behind the Liberal victor, Eric Hoskins.

Ontario provincial by-election, September 17, 2009: St. Paul's
Resignation of Michael Bryant
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Eric Hoskins 13,19247.60+0.17
Progressive Conservative Sue-Ann Levy 7,85128.33+1.79
New Democratic Julian Heller4,67716.88+1.14
Green Chris Chopik1,5155.47-2.87
Libertarian John Kittredge1610.58+0.05
Special Needs Danish Ahmed950.34
Independent Marius Frederick840.30
Freedom Paul McKeever 610.22-0.04
Independent John Turmel 520.19
Independent Rajendra Rama240.09
Total valid votes27,711 100.00
Liberal hold Swing -0.81

Personal life

Levy is Jewish and an openly gay conservative. She came out publicly in 2007 and married her wife Denise Alexander in 2009. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Coulter</span> American conservative political commentator (born 1961)

Ann Hart Coulter is an American conservative media pundit, author, syndicated columnist, and lawyer. She became known as a media pundit in the late 1990s, appearing in print and on cable news as an outspoken critic of the Clinton administration. Her first book concerned the impeachment of Bill Clinton and sprang from her experience writing legal briefs for Paula Jones's attorneys, as well as columns she wrote about the cases. Coulter's syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate appears in newspapers and is featured on conservative websites. Coulter has also written 13 books.

<i>Toronto Sun</i> Canadian tabloid newspaper published in Toronto

The Toronto Sun is an English-language tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several Sun tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices are located at Postmedia Place in downtown Toronto.

Warren James Kinsella is a Canadian lawyer, author, musician, political consultant, and commentator. Kinsella has written commentary in most of Canada's major newspapers and several magazines, including The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Sun, Ottawa Citizen, the National Post,The Walrus, and Postmedia newspapers. He appeared regularly on the Sun News Network. Kinsella is the founder of the Daisy Consulting Group, a Toronto-based firm that engages in paid political campaign strategy work, lobbying and communications crisis management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Coyne</span> Canadian journalist and editor (1960-)

James Andrew Coyne is a Canadian columnist with The Globe and Mail and a member of the At Issue panel on CBC's The National. Previously, he has been national editor for Maclean's and a columnist with National Post.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Fromm (white supremacist)</span> Canadian white supremacist

Frederick Paul Fromm is a Canadian former high school teacher, white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and perennial political candidate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Parker (Canadian politician)</span> Canadian politician

John L. Parker is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for York East from 1995 to 1999. From 2006 to 2014 he was a Toronto city councillor for Ward 26, which includes the neighbourhoods of Leaside and Flemingdon Park. From 2010 to 2014 he was appointed as Deputy Speaker.

Antonia Zerbisias is a Canadian journalist associated with the Toronto Star from 1989 until she took early retirement from the paper on 31 October 2014. She has been a reporter and TV host for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as well as the Montreal correspondent for the trade paper, Variety.

Judi Ann T. McLeod is a Canadian journalist. Formerly a reporter for a series of newspapers in Ontario, she now operates the conservative website, Canada Free Press (CFP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa MacLeod</span> Canadian politician (born 1974)

Lisa Anne MacLeod is a Canadian politician who represents Nepean in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Elected in 2006, MacLeod is a member of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party. She previously served as the Ontario minister of children, community and social services from 2018 to 2019 and Ontario minister of heritage, sport, tourism and culture industries from 2019 to 2022.

Jeffrey S. Lyons was a Toronto lawyer, lobbyist, and community activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernie Farber</span> Canadian journalist and activist (born 1951)

Bernie M. Farber is a Canadian writer, commentator, and the former chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress and a social activist. He has testified before the Canadian courts as an expert witness on hate crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Marsden</span> Canadian journalist (born 1974)

Rachel Marsden is a Canadian conservative political columnist and television commentator based in Paris. She is the former host of a talk show on Sputnik News and is a columnist for the Toronto Sun. Her column is syndicated by Tribune Content Agency and she is a regular contributor to the English and French services of the RT news channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. E. Cupp</span> American political commentator and writer

Sarah Elizabeth Cupp is an American television host, political commentator, and writer. In August 2017, she began hosting S.E. Cupp: Unfiltered, a political panel show, co-hosted by Andrew Levy, on HLN and later CNN.

Mark Bonokoski, is a Canadian conservative newspaper columnist and commentator. In November 2017, he was inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame. He has covered topics ranging from civil wars in Africa to federal Canadian politics. Former Toronto Mayor John Tory once stated "He's a tough columnist but always a fair columnist."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election</span>

The 2018 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election was held on March 10, 2018, due to the resignation of party leader Patrick Brown on January 25, 2018, following allegations of sexual misconduct. Winner Doug Ford narrowly defeated runner-up Christine Elliott on the third ballot with 50.6% of allocated points.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTory</span> Conservative LGBT organization in Canada

LGBTory is a Canadian LGBT conservative organization. The group was established in 2015, as an advocacy group for LGBT supporters of the Conservative Party of Canada and provincial conservative parties. While officially open to all LGBT supporters of conservative parties across Canada, the group was founded in Toronto, Ontario by people associated with the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario who wanted to be represented in the Toronto Pride Parade. The name was inspired by the similar British conservative group LGBTory, now called LGBT+ Conservatives, which gave permission to use the name.

Mark Towhey is a broadcaster, columnist, and former political aide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Toronto mayoral election</span>

The 2018 Toronto mayoral election was held on Monday, October 22, 2018, to elect the Mayor of the city of Toronto. Incumbent Mayor John Tory was re-elected for a second term, defeating former Chief City Planner Jennifer Keesmaat with 63.49% of the vote. Tory won all of Toronto’s 25 wards.

Radisson Toronto East Hotel is a hotel in North York, Toronto, Ontario. It is located at 55 Hallcrown Place, immediately north-west of the intersection of Highway 401 and Highway 404.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melissa Lantsman</span> Canadian politician (born 1984)

Melissa Lantsman is a Canadian politician and public relations executive who serves as the member of Parliament (MP) for Thornhill since 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, she is the party's co-deputy leader and the co-deputy leader of the Official Opposition, serving with Tim Uppal. Lantsman is the first openly gay and first Jewish woman ever elected as a Conservative MP. Upon Pierre Poilievre's election as Conservative Leader, he named Lantsman one of two deputy leaders along with Uppal.

References

  1. ↑ https://twitter.com/SueAnnLevy/status/1572965144426348546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw [ bare URL ]
  2. ↑ "Jeffery Lyons paved the way for consumer lawsuits". Globe and Mail. August 7, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Well-known Torontonian Jeff Lyons dies at 75". Toronto Sun. July 26, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  4. ↑ Weisblott, Marc (September 26, 2016). "SUE-ANN LEVY'S NEW BOOK LACKS TABLOID CRACKLE". J-Source. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  5. ↑ Joe Friesen. "Cruella to be kind". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
  6. 1 2 Shea, Courtney (August 23, 2016). "Q&A: Sue-Ann Levy, the Toronto Sun's most notorious columnist, whose new book comes out today". Toronto Life. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  7. ↑ News, Trish Audette-Longo; December 13th 2018, Politics (December 13, 2018). "Press council comes down on Toronto Sun for 'serious breach' after false report about goats". National Observer.{{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ Levy, Sue-Ann (September 29, 2018). "East-end hotel painted as refugee camp". Toronto Sun. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  9. ↑ Levy, Sue-Ann (October 3, 2018). "'Irregular' migrants continue to flock into Toronto". Toronto Sun. Retrieved October 18, 2018. The reputable Tripadvisor [ sic ] website has been inundated in the past few weeks with scathing reviews of the hotel, calling it a "zoo, filthy, noisy and dangerous" with the lobby full of loitering refugees and halls containing graffiti and garbage.
  10. 1 2 Daro, Ishmael N. (October 11, 2018). "A Fake Online Review Claimed Refugees 'Slaughtered Goats' In A Hotel. This Newspaper Helped It Go Viral". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Tensions high after fire set at Toronto hotel housing refugees". The Hamilton Spectator. October 13, 2018 – via www.thespec.com.
  12. ↑ "Sue-Ann Levy". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
  13. ↑ "LEVY: A new chapter calls after 31 wonderful years".
  14. ↑ "True North's newest contributor: Sue-Ann Levy". True North. July 8, 2021. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  15. ↑ Shupac, Jodie (2016-08-31). "An interview with Sue-Ann Levy, a right-wing, gay, Jewish muckraker". Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.