The CRTC is also largely responsible for the mess we are all in. The CRTC has always been hungry for power. In the late 1970's when the first Big Dish systems started emerging into Canada, The CRTC one day decided that they were illegal. Yes you can't watch TV on Satellite, you have to have Cable vision. If you didn't have access to cable tough, you can't watch anything. Well a lot of people didn't agree with their ruling. Who were they to tell people what they could watch on TV. So the CRTC decided to get a bunch of ole' boys together and round up these self proclaimed "illegal" dishes. After all its OK to steal other people property as long as the goverment does it right? So these boys went around looking for dishes, when they found one, they would casually sashay into the yard and make off with peoples satellite equipment. This turned into a much heated debate. Now here we go with round two;

We as Canadians, live in a country where citizens are free to believe in whatever they want to and they can come here from virtually anywhere in the world and be welcomed, and yet the goverment and large corporations are working hard to insure that we are restricted in what we can watch in the privacy of our own homes. The enemy?: American Television!

The CRTC and goverments have taken it apon themselves to decide what is okay for you to watch and what you can't. The CRTC's so called "white list" contains all the American and International channels that can be distributed in Canada. And all the other channels that aren't on it are forbidden to you as we as Canadians are obviously considered too dumb by our goverment to choose for ourselves what we should watch and so the decision is made for us like we are a bunch of preschoolers.

The channels that are on the "white list" are the ones that are available on cablevision. There are literally hundreds of channels that our goverments say are "illegal" to watch and discourage us from disobeying them by slapping our wrists and delaring that Canadians watching "grey market" TV are lawbreakers and we dealers that are giving access to US television are likened to "Dopepushers"

The simple fact of the matter is THEY SCREWED UP!

And now they are trying to fix their little boo boo by SCREWING US!

If I have the ability to watch a program on television (With satellite)and I want to watch it in the privacy of my own home, then I should be able to do so! Without any goverments or corporations declaring me a lawbreaker! I can't seem to recall the last time that someone was convicted of watching television that they are subscribing to and legally paying for! Silly me I was also under the impression that we lived in a free country, but that also is proving to be a falacy.

The goverment and CRTC Screwed up in 1995 by declaring that no company shall be granted a DBS licence unless they carry a ludicrious 50% Canadian content on their service. I agree that we do need a voice, but a 50% edict is far too much. Especially considering that cable companies are only required to carry 35%. (Favoritism or what!)

At the same time as they are doing this they are also working to shut down the CBC and further limit our Canadian choices. This tactic can be likened to shooting yourself in the foot and while you are bandaging it, you are shooting yourself in the other foot with the other hand! Absolute nonsense!

Canada for some reason seems to favor monopolies and biopolies. Competition in many sectors is discouraged. Major telephone companies in Canada held monopolies for over 100 years until deregulation in 1992. Hydro in Canada is monopolized. Cellular phone service is a biopoly between Cantel and the major phone companies. And so on.

I agree with the fact that Canadian companies have paid big money to aquire the broadcasting rights of some of the American companies, but the last time I checked, viewership was a privilage not a right, and if these Cdn. companies want us to watch their programming instead, then they should do so by making it worth watching! And not because we are forced to! Our goverments are trying to shelter us from an invisible enemy. I for one am sick of it and I don't need protecting...thank-you very much!!

Anyone of reasonable intelligence is quite capable of deciding what to watch on television, be it a documentry, nature show or a good movie (or a crappy one for that matter) This "Big Brother" attitude must be curbed here! Or it will set a precedent for other things! If this continues one day it may be illegal to read anything other than Canadian magazines. (Sound like nonsense? What if I was to tell you 5 years ago that it would be considered illegal to watch non-Canadian tv? You would probably have laughed and said it could never happen!) Well it is happening people and we need to wake up and make sure it ends here! These Cdn. companies have it made! Why put up with competition when our gullable goverment can make competition illegal!!!! We are already one of the most heavily taxed countries in the world! We can't allow to be dubbed "most restricted" also. A recent court decision in May that declared US satellite services "legal" in Canada can be viewed Here! However another one a month later reversed it and declared the US services "illegal" That can also be viewed Here!

Another factor to consider is they seem to be ignoring completely the Supreme law of Canada, The Canadian Constitution!!

Here is a related excerpt:

Section 52 The Constitution is the supreme law of canada, and any law that is inconsistant with the provisions of the constitution is, to the extent of the inconsistency, of no force or effect.

Section 2

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a)Freedom of conscience and religion;
(b)Freedom of thought, belief opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other
means of communication;
(c)Freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d)Freedom of association.

Perhaps our goverment feels that they are not subject to constitutional provisions. You be the judge. Clearly they are trying to discourage International competition, protecting the cable monopolies and hiding it behind "Canadian Culture" excuses. I wonder if the fact that the CRTC is funded by Canadian Broadcasters has anything to do with it? (Hmmm...)

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact one of the following individuals;

risestar@yahoo.com
ttrk@legal-rights.org
dr7@v-wave.com