The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) will hold a special hearing on licencing of all foreign television services available in Canada, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “We are going to hold a broader hearing — that is forthcoming — on how we treat foreign services that are operating in Canada,” said CRTC CEO Vicky Eatrides in a House of Commons Heritage Committee meeting. Separate petitions were initiated about having the CRTC ban Fox News and China Central Television after Russia Today (RT) was blacklisted by Parliament. Egale Canada called on the CRTC to begin public consultations on removing Fox News from distribution in April. READ MORE: Sexual minority group calls for CRTC to ban FOX News in Canada“Last week, Egale Canada and a prominent Canadian leader for trans rights and inclusion were featured on the infamously incendiary Tucker Carlson Tonight program on the American Fox News Channel,” said Egale Canada Executive Director Helen Kennedy. “The coverage aimed to provoke hatred and violence against [sexual minority] communities, particularly those who are Two Spirit, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming.”The CRTC banned cable and satellite television providers from carrying RT in 2022. Telecommunications providers had suspended Kremlin-funded English language programming after the House of Commons voted to blacklist RT.Eatrides said the CRTC posted the complaint as part of its normal process. She added it received more than 7,000 submissions responding to the complaint. When it came to this complaint, she said people “had very different perspectives on the complaint.”“What became very clear is that there was concern about issues around content and freedom of expression,” she said. “We took that record, and we decided we are going to hold a broader hearing.”If the CRTC banned Fox, Eatrides said it would not be at the direction of cabinet. “We are an independent quasi-judicial tribunal,” she said. “I can tell you with full certainty we are absolutely independent.”The Commons Special Committee on Canada-China Relations recommended in a May report China Central Television be banned as a specialty service in Canada. The committee said authoritarian state broadcasters should not be permitted on the List Of Non-Canadian Programming Services And Stations Authorized For Distribution. To defend Canada, the committee said regulators should take steps in “identifying the ownership of media organizations related to the People’s Republic of China in Canada and their activities in Canada.” Other Chinese Communist Party broadcasters approved for discretionary use in Canada include Beijing TV, China Yellow River TV and Zhejiang International Channel.“Witnesses voiced concern that the state of Canadian Mandarin and Cantonese language media is being compromised by the People’s Republic of China,” it said.
