Former Que. shock jock named to CRTC committee
CTV
In an ironic twist, a former Quebec shock jock-turned Independent MP, who has spent more than a decade battling with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, was named to the committee that oversees the body.
Quebec MP Andre Arthur was appointed to the House of Commons standing committee on industry, science and technology on Wednesday.
As a radio host, Arthur was notorious for making controversial statements. Some of his past comments were among the reasons the CRTC listed when it refused to renew CHOI FM's broadcast licence two years ago.
Last week, the Quebec Superior Court ordered Arthur and a former employer, Metromedia CMR, to pay $220,000 plus costs for 1998 on-air comments judged to have insulted Arab and Haitian cabbies.
Arthur admitted that he has had a strained relationship with the CRTC in the past.
"Ask a fire hydrant if it likes dogs," he told The Montreal Gazette, likening himself to the hydrant.
CRTC spokesperson Denis Carmel declined to comment on the appointment.
Arthur insists, however, that their poor history will not affect his work on the 12-member committee.
"I don't have an axe to grind, not even with the CRTC," he told the Gazette.
"I will smile nicely at them, I promise."
Shortly after being elected, Arthur told CTV that the CRTC decision to take his station off the air played a factor in his decision to enter politics.
"It became quite evident to me we were living in a kind of country where words spoken on the air misrepresented by quotes that are done out of context could bring somebody much pain and some owner the loss of his station in a country where tribunals, courts, should be deciding what's right or wrong," as opposed to bureaucrats "answering to a political party," Arthur charged.
He also applauded Stephen Harper's earlier criticism of the CRTC ruling, but added the prime minister-designate would now have the opportunity to "bring this story to an end."
Arthur, 62, is the only Independent candidate elected in the January 2006 election. He beat the Bloc Quebecois incumbent Guy Cote in the Portneuf-Jacques-Cartier riding, north of Quebec City.
Arthur was not the only on-air personality named to the committee.
Former radio host Jean Lapierre, now the Liberal's industry critic, was also appointed.
The industry committee oversees the telecommunications side of the CRTC, everything from telephones to satellite signal piracy.
[img height=120 alt="Independent MP Andre Arthur speaks with Canada AM on Wednesday from CTV studios in Quebec City." src="vny!://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20060125/160_andre_arthur_060125.jpg" width=160 border=0]
Independent MP Andre Arthur speaks with Canada AM from CTV studios in Quebec City.
