by Klaus Rohrich
July 19, 2004
Some years ago the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) introduced a series of regulations designed to "save" Canadian culture. The guidelines are known among broadcasters as the "Cancon Rules" as they specify that in order to maintain a broadcast license, Canadian broadcasters must have between 30 percent and 35 percent of their music programming originating in Canada. What’s more, some Canadians are not considered Canadian enough by the CRTC and as a result their work does not count toward fulfilling the Cancon regulation. People such as Celine Dion are considered international stars by the CRTC and despite their Canadian origins; their songs do not count as Cancon.
and you’ve wondered why your local music radio station keeps playing the same two dozen Gordon Lightfoot songs day in and day out.
The CRTC routinely admonishes broadcaster for not including enough Canadian music in the daily programming and in some cases has even declined to renew the licenses of some stations because of this. However, the CRTC has broken new ground in censorship and social engineering in a recent ruling against a Quebec radio station. CHOI-FM, a Quebec City "trash-radio" station, which apparently has offended many people in high places, will not have its broadcast license renewed when it expires on august 31of this year. It seems the station’s on-air personalities were rude and insulting in some of their broadcasts. Examples of their rudeness included talking about a local weather announcer’s breasts, being uncompassionate towards psychiatric patients as well as launching a contest for the most disgusting neighbour and then broadcasting from outside the "winner’s" house.
In addition, andre arthur, one of the on-air personalities, ran afoul of the CRTC for a rant directed at Laval University, claiming the school had an inordinate number of african Dictators’ sons attending.
"They’re the sons of plunderers, cannibals who control certain Third-World countries and can afford to send their children to Quebec to go to school," he said on air.
The CRTC’s ruling stated in part that "the broadcast of remarks that could expose individuals to its cause and in the process create serious discord between varying groups in Canadian society, to the detriment of all Canadian society." It went on to talk about the harm done to "the cultural, political and social fabric of Canada", and how it "undermined the multicultural and multiracial nature" of Canada.
However, the biggie was the CRTC’s comments on andre arthur’s rant about Laval University. Despite the testimony of a Laval professor that he did indeed teach the sons of african dictators in some of his classes, the CRTC felt that "…it is not a question of determining whether the remarks had any basis in fact, but of determining whether they were abusive and whether, taken in context, they tended or were likely to expose black or Muslim students at Laval university to hatred or contempt on the basis of race, ethnic origin or colour, regardless of their country of origin."
Get it? It means that being black or Muslim in the eyes of the CRTC trumps the truth, ergo, you can’t say that a certain individual’s father is a dictator, if the dictator happens to be black or Muslim. Presumably it’s okay with the CRTC to point out the sons of white or Hispanic dictators.
at the same time, the CRTC has just approved a batch of new television channels, including that of al-Jazeera, the arab world’s so-called CNN. Problem is, that like CNN, al-Jazeera is essentially anti-american, anti-Israel and anti-Christian, yet unlike CNN, al-Jazeera doesn’t mind showing its bias often and emphatically. For those of you unfamiliar with al-Jazeera, it’s the network that al Queda terrorists send their "snuff" videotapes to, whenever they decapitate a hostage. and the CRTC is approving it for Canada?! "Would programming originating from al-Jazeera be any less likely to expose individuals to its cause and in the process create serious discord between varying groups in Canadian society"? We all know the answer to that, of course.
I have long predicted that we are en route to a politically correct form of fascism, under which our freedoms of speech and expression are allowed, so long as we espouse the official "truth". The roots of this trend appear to be in the prosecution and persecution of people like Ernst Zundel and Jim Kiegstra. Zundel, a Toronto based German immigrant who came to Canada in the 1950s claimed that the Holocaust was a hoax, as did Kiegstra, who was a teacher in alberta.
The authorities harassed both and Kiegstra went to jail, in addition to losing his teacher’s license. In a country that has true freedom of expression, these two would have been looked upon for what they really are: a couple of kooks whose grasp of reality was, shall we say, less than firm. But prosecuting and legally harassing them only give credence to their rantings and in some circles makes them into martyrs.
The ruling against CHOI-FM and approval of al-Jazeera, in my opinion, betrays the cultural hypocrisy to which our lib-left elite adheres. The curtailment of our right to think for ourselves is a dark harbinger of future lost rights that could include the freedom to choose who will represent us in Parliament, among others. I hope that CHOI-FM appeals this decision by the CRTC bureaucracy to the courts and I hope the courts will find the wisdom to overturn that decision. I also hope that no cable carrier will pick up al-Jazeera as well. But I won’t hold my breath.