End the attack on freedom of speech. Get government out of the way. Let Canadians and the market decide.
The CRTC may ban Fox News.
According to the National Post, “The CRTC has opened a public consultation on a complaint from an LGBTQ rights group asking the broadcast regulator to ban Fox News from cable packages in Canada.
Interested parties and the public can submit their comments through the CRTC website until June 2.
Egale Canada first said in April it would file an application asking the CRTC to ban Fox News over “false and horrifying claims” made by host Tucker Carlson regarding transgender individuals.”
Now, people could argue back and forth about the merit of the complaint.
But that’s not the issue here.
The real issue is that there is a government entity that a group can appeal to in order to have a network banned.
The issue is that the CRTC exists at all.
A tool of socialist information control
It’s no coincidence that the CRTC was heavily referenced by the Liberal government in reference to Bill C-11. The CRTC is the main enforcer of the bill, and their power is being dramatically expanded. The power of the CRTC is also being expanded in Bill C-18 – the Online News Act.
For socialist power-hungry politicians, the CRTC is the perfect tool.
The CRTC was founded in 1968, replacing the Board of Broadcast Governors. Here is how the CRTC describes itself:
“The CRTC is an administrative tribunal that regulates and supervises broadcasting and telecommunications in the public interest.”
And this is how they describe their various roles:
“Licensing. We issue, renew and amend broadcasting licences. We also issue licences for international telecommunications services whose networks allow telephone users to make and receive calls outside of Canada.
Promoting compliance with regulations. We promote compliance with the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules, including the National Do Not Call List, and Canada’s anti-spam legislation .
Making ownership decisions. We make decisions on mergers, acquisitions and changes of ownership in the broadcasting sector.
Approving tariffs. We approve tariffs and certain agreements for the telecommunications sector.
Encouraging competition. We encourage competition in telecommunications markets to ensure that Canadians have a choice of innovative and affordable services.
Providing information. We respond to requests for information and concerns about broadcasting and telecommunications issues.”
Let’s go down the list, and look at whether any of this is needed.
Licensing – There is no need for the CRTC to decide who can operate in Canada. Canadians can decide that through their own market choices.
Promoting compliance with regulations – Companies that violate the do not call list and anti-span legislation can be dealt with through the court system, as other companies are dealt with when they violate the law.
Making ownership decisions – Why should the CRTC be able to decide whether private sector companies can merge? Even with the CRTC’s ‘intervention,’ Canada has one of the most consolidated telecommunications sectors in the world. Let the market decide.
Approving tariffs – Putting tariffs on telecommunications products or companies is increasingly useless in the internet era. Any tariffs levied – for example on companies related to authoritarian regimes like China – can be done so through the industry portfolio and for national security purposes.
Encouraging competition – The best way to encourage competition is for taxes to be low, thus making it easier for new entrants into the market to compete. As it stands now, the CRTC has overseen Canada having one of the most concentrated and expensive telecommunications sectors on Earth. An immense failure.
Providing information – We don’t need a government ‘tribunal’ to provide basic information to the public. This can easily be done on the websites of individual companies – with links on a bare-bones government website – or – in the case of potential lawbreaking – the legal system.
Stop the attack on freedom, get government out of the way
Whether someone agrees or not with Fox News, it shouldn’t be up to the CRTC to stop people from watching it. That should be left up to the market, to individual Canadians.
And in a world in which more and more people consume content online, there is simply no reason for the government to insert itself. Canadian content can compete in the free market. If it succeeds, then it deserved to succeed. If it fails, then it deserved to fail. Many Canadians have done extremely well sharing their content, without government subsidies and without government intervention. Why should the successes be forced to subsidize the failures?
The continued existence of the CRTC – and expansion of it’s dangerous power under the Liberals – is an assault on our rights and freedoms as Canadians. A centralized institution focused on information control has no place in a free society. The CRTC must be abolished.
Spencer Fernando
