Porn, Bell Canada, Sheila Copps and religion Final Edition

• Published in: The Ottawa citizen (1986)
• Main Author: Langan, Thomas
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa, Ont Postmedia Network Inc 31.03.2001
• ISSN: 0839-3222

The really dirty secrets come in the form of pornography addiction. People ring up huge sums in bills to cable and satellite companies, similar to the bills formerly rung up by people calling telephone sex- chat lines. The total acceptance of pornography, as with total acceptance of gambling, brings with it the individuals who need the constant fix. What are these companies or the CRTC doing to address these problems of addiction? The addicts run up thousands in fees for these movies yearly. It can be a staggering cost to a family that is already short on funds. most disturbing is that, all the while, the CRTC has been rejecting application after application for religious programming. EWTN, the largest religious broadcasting service in the world, applied at the same time as Playboy four years ago. Though Playboy was accepted on the first round of applications, EWTN is in need of support to be licensed now. The CRTC felt it necessary to protect Canadians not from disturbing pornographic images, but from programming that is based on the moral values and principles upon which Canada was founded. Where is the balance that Heritage Minister [Sheila Copps] speaks of so regularly and so proudly? Well, if she were getting her information on Christianity from Canada's licensed broadcasters, the honourable member would be pretty much limited to slurs, stereotypes, aspersions and misinformation contained in Canadian and American drama and talk shows and, oh yeah, don't forget fantasies of clergy having sex on porn channels. All of which is defended as free speech in decision after decision by the CRTC and the private broadcasters.