OTTAWA – The CRTC has found in favour of Rogers Cable Communications over a complaint from a political candidate regarding an election debate program broadcast on its community channel Rogers TV.
The Commission received a complaint from John Turmel on September 24, 2007, who, at that time, was a political candidate in the riding of Brant, ON. Brant is a mostly rural municipality located approximately 100 kilometres southwest of Toronto.
Rogers TV taped a program involving a debate between six candidates in the riding of Brant, one of whom was Turmel, on September 18, 2007. The program was to be broadcast a number of times in September and October 2007.
In his complaint, Turmel claimed that Rogers breached regulations regarding the equitable allocation of time for programs of a partisan political character by expelling him from the program, and asked the CRTC to direct Rogers to grant him an equitable share of time in the debate program before the Ontario provincial election on October 10, 2007.
Specifically, Turmel wanted Rogers to allow him to tape a 32-minute segment to be added before or after the remaining broadcasts of the election debate program. When Rogers refused, he complained to the CRTC and brought an application for judicial review in the Federal Court of Appeal on October 4, 2007.
A judge of the Federal Court of Appeal denied interim relief in November 2007, and the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed Turmel’s application on December 17, 2008, saying that the CRTC had not rendered a decision regarding Turmel’s complaint which could be the subject of judicial review, or against which relief could be sought.
So, on January 26, 2009, Turmel requested that the Commission render a decision on his complaint, claiming that Rogers had violated section 27(4) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations regarding the equitable allocation of time for programs of a partisan political character.
But in Public Notice 1995-44, the Commission clarified that the regulations’ provisions do not apply to debate programs, and further stated that it would not require that debate programs feature all rival parties or candidates in their programs.
In its decision, the CRTC said that it is within Rogers’ editorial discretion to set the rules and format for debates it chooses to air, and to exclude participants who do not comply with its rules.
For more on the decision, click here.
