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Levant issued a statement of his own Wednesday, calling the NDP “a government that bullies people.”

“Except this time they didn’t get away with it,” he said in an email. “Until (Premier Rachel) Notley’s blacklist was denounced in the national media, she was completely comfortable with infringing our freedom of the press.”

In a letter to the premier’s office last week, The Rebel’s lawyer offered to avoid legal action if the government agreed to allow its reporters access in the future. But the government refused to comply.

“Our client’s position remains that your client (The Rebel) and those who identify as being connected to (The Rebel) are not journalists and are not entitled to access media lock-ups or other such events,” reads a response from an Alberta Justice Ministry lawyer, posted by The Rebel.

Oates defended that decision Tuesday.

“Our rationale on this is very simple and it comes down to one thing: It’s the fact that Ezra Levant himself has testified under oath that he is not a reporter and so we don’t consider him a reporter,” she said — apparently referencing Levant’s 2014 testimony in Ontario Superior Court as a defendant in a libel case.

“I’m a commentator, I’m a pundit,” Levant said at the trial. “I don’t think in my entire life I’ve ever called myself a reporter.”

“If you go to court and testify under oath that you are not a reporter, the government doesn’t consider you a reporter,” Oates said.

“Of course I’m a journalist. I have been for more than 20 years,” Levant told the National Post via email. “Opinion journalists are journalists, and are naturally allowed to cover the government. Is Oates claiming otherwise?”

“It’s outrageous that a government would arrogate unto itself the power to choose who is and isn’t a journalist and would enforce that blacklist with armed sheriffs and Department of Justice lawyers.”

Notley’s office said the “unofficial” cost of Boyd’s review will be $9,500 — based on a month’s salary for a level-two manager.

With files from Jake Edmiston, National Post