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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.

Early life and education

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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

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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 panellist on CBC Radio One's local Toronto afternoon drive show Here and Now, as well as an occasional commentator or panellist 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

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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
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Eric Hoskins 13,192 47.60 +0.17
Progressive Conservative Sue-Ann Levy 7,851 28.33 +1.79
New Democratic Julian Heller 4,677 16.88 +1.14
Green Chris Chopik 1,515 5.47 -2.87
Libertarian John Kittredge 161 0.58 +0.05
Special Needs Danish Ahmed 95 0.34
Independent Marius Frederick 84 0.30
Freedom Paul McKeever 61 0.22 -0.04
Independent John Turmel 52 0.19
Independent Rajendra Rama 24 0.09
Total valid votes 27,711 100.00
Liberal hold Swing -0.81

Personal life

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

References

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  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 March 19, 2017.
  6. ^ a b 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 13, 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. ^ a b 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 March 19, 2017.
  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 (August 31, 2016). "An interview with Sue-Ann Levy, a right-wing, gay, Jewish muckraker". Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
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