On the June 18, 2012 edition of The Source, host Ezra Levant put forward his 5-point plan to rid Canada of the Canadian Censors Council, or as they like to call themselves, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC).

As I wrote last week, membership in the CBSC is 100% voluntary. If you do NOT want a television broadcast license, you have no need to “volunteer” to join the CBSC.  However, if you actually want to create a broadcast television channel then there is nothing voluntary about it.  You must join or your application will be denied.

Once you voluntarily join the CBSC you are required to abide by its Code of Ethics.

Ezra Levant was found guilty of violating Clause 6 of the CBSC Code of Ethics by the Canadian Broadcast Censors Board.

That clause reads as follows:

Clause 6 – Full, Fair and Proper Presentation

It is recognized that the full, fair and proper presentation of news, opinion, comment and editorial is the prime and fundamental responsibility of each broadcaster. This principle shall apply to all radio and television programming, whether it relates to news, public affairs, magazine, talk, call-in, interview or other broadcasting formats in which news, opinion, comment or editorial may be expressed by broadcaster employees, their invited guests or callers.

The problem is not that Levant violated this section; it’s that he actually exceeded its requirement and disclosed the full and complete facts about the Chiquita Banana corporation and their long history of paying off terrorists in order to produce their crops in third-world nations.

That was considered impolite by the censors, or as they prefer to be known, “impartial adjudicators” and they decided they needed to make Ezra Levant shut up.

Now, am I really saying these people specifically have it in for Levant and Sun TV?

No, I’m not.

What I’m saying is they are using the system put in place 30 years ago to their advantage.  That’s just human nature.  That’s also why the system needs to be changed, to be stripped of the power to censor someone simply for expressing an opinion they, the censors, don’t like.

To quote Sir Wilfred Laurier,

“Canada is Free, and Freedom is its Nationality.”

That’s a sentiment that both Ezra Levant and me share.  Despite the long history of Trudeau’s Nanny State policies trying to control our lives from cradle to grave, Canadians long for Freedom.  It’s in our DNA.

Canadians have proven that both in the courts and in Parliament in the past 12 months.  Censoring individuals under the guise of human rights councils is unconstitutional.  The Canadian Human Rights Commission ultimately came to this conclusion themselves in their bizarre prosecution of Marc Lemire.  They ruled that Section 13 was unconstitutional.

Canadians owe a debt of gratitude to Marc Lemire and his entire defense team for presenting such a powerful case that the censors themselves had no choice but to come to the conclusion the rest of us had come to years ago.

This is, partly as a result of the Lemire case, what ultimately led to Brian Storseth’s landmark Bill C-304 passing in Parliament.  That bill repealed Section 13 of the Human Rights Act in its entirety.

Now it’s time to do the same thing for television and repeal Section 5 of the Broadcast Regulations.  It contains the exact same unconstitutional language as Section 13 of the Human Rights Act did before it was repealed.

Here then is Ezra Levant’s 5-Point Plan for ridding Canada of its television censors:

Step 1. Violate censor rules as much as possible.  Ezra is doing this every day on his show, The Source.  He’s made such a mockery of them that they’ve already gone crying to Daddy... they’ve referred the case back to the CRTC itself, in the hopes that government bureaucrats will do what they could not: shut up Ezra Levant.

Step 2. Point out inconsistencies and illegalities of the rules the censors operate under.  As I’ve noted already, Section 5 of the Broadcast Regulations contains exactly the same language as Section 13 of the Human Rights Act did.  If that language is unconstitutional in one Act, there is no way you can tell me it’s magically constitutional in another.  That’s just not possible.

Step 3. Write, tweet, facebook, spread the word about the censors and their unconstitutional powers.  De-normalize the system of censorship and make the entire system politically irrelevant.

Step 4. Get Parliament involved and demand they abolish Section 5 of the Television Broadcast Regulations.   Congratulate and thank public officials who support this plan, such as Senator Mike Duffy.

Step 5. Contact Heritage Minister James Moore (james.moore@parl.gc.ca) and Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca) and tell them it is time to toss censorship on the dustbin of history.

Thank them for voting to repeal Section 13, the censorship provisions, of the Human Rights Act, and make them aware that the exact same language exists in Section 5 of the Canadian Television Broadcasting Regulations.

Since that language was ruled unconstitutional  by the Canadian Human Rights Council themselves and that’s what led to the vote in Parliament to repeal Section 13, the same language in Section 5 of the Broadcast Regulations is obviously unconstitutional as well, and must be repealed as well.

Step 6. Yes, I know I said it's Ezra's 5-point plan, but I’ve added a 6th step, and that is to contact your own MP and urge them to repeal Section 5 of the Broadcast Regulations as well.  Make sure you send copies of the letter to your MP to both Heritage Minister James Moore and Prime Minister Stephen Harper as well.

Click here to read my sample letter and use it as a starting point for your own letter to your MP, James Moore and Stephen Harper.

 

Together we can rid Canada of censorship, but only if we act now!