If you haven’t lived in/near Canada, the NDP is the extreme left party in Canada – left by European standards, not Wimpy North American standards.
The CRTC is roughly similar to the FCC, but with much broader powers, like regulating content. The CRTC has a rule in place against “false or misleading news” which to a person in the NDP would mean anything they disagree with.
Since Canada as of late is becoming more Conservative, the CRTC changed the rule to add in two further requirements – that the broadcaster knew it was false or misleading AND that it might cause harm to the public – let’s say a newscaster as a prank made up a news story the government was going to impose gasoline rationing starting tomorrow and sets off a panic
Frequent Rush Limbaugh guest host Mark Steyn has been caught up in an attempt to criminalize his opinion that Canadians face a danger by embracing multiculturalism and open immigration, especially Muslim immigrants who want Sharia law for Canada a position that now England is waking up to and embracing.
Keep an eye on Canada – the future of the two contries are going to become more intertwined than ever as the US becomes more and more dependent on Canadian energy supplies.
IF they ever get the North American Union off the ground we will be as intertwined as the EU.
The CRTC as the Mind Police in Canada. Oh Canada.
Isn’t it always interesting how conservative thoughts are dangerous, and liberal thoughts are not?
Ann Coulter had problems with speaking in Canada. Michael Savage is banned in the UK. Yet Liberal ideas based on fear tactics that were either entirely wrong (The Population Bomb of the sixties) or even criminally fraudulent (Global Warming, as evidenced by the hacking into the college – East Anglican? (can’t remember) emails that admitted making up data points to conform to the theory) aren’t deemed harmful. Or even mildly relevant.
So books like Fahrenhit 451 and Animal Farm, warning us of the eventual supplication of the people by the “State”, forgot to mention the most important part:
this supplication was more than likely coming at us from our liberal friends?
East Anglia’s theme: “If the data doesn’t match your theory… change the data”
Yeah, but they are more equal than we are.
The bizarre thing is that up there you can drop the f-bomb or show a penis on air with no repercussions… but if you are politically incorrect they’ll tear you apart.
With the CRTC, it’s more than just content, stations can’t change formats without approval and an integral part of the licensing process.
My favorite example iof Canadian governmdnt paternalism was Sesame Street. When it became a hit on PBS, Canada insisted that they create a Canadian version incorporating French and Native people content. The CBC created a competing culturally richer program that drew no audience. Most of the population of Canada lives close enough to the border to receive US television, but oddlly Canadian children wanted to be friends with Big Bird and Cookie Monster.