If you say or publish something that the establishment doesn’t approve of in the United States, you can be blocked on some social media platforms. But what would it take to have an entire television news network banned in an entire country? If the country is Canada, you would just need to air a Tucker Carlson commentary segment because they’re discussing doing just that. The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is Canada’s version of the FCC. They received a complaint from an LGBTQ group in April about one of Tucker’s monologues and opened an investigation. The end result may be the removal of Fox News from all cable networks in the country. (FEE)

The regulatory body that oversees broadcasting in Canada has opened a public consultation about potentially banning Fox News from cable TV. Initiated on May 3, the process was prompted by the LGBTQ advocacy group Egale Canada, which asked for the consultation in early April in response to a Tucker Carlson segment that, in their view, “aimed to provoke hatred and violence against 2SLGBTQI communities.”

“This programming is in clear violation of Canadian broadcasting standards and has no place on Canadian broadcasting networks,” wrote Executive Director Helen Kennedy in an open letter. “Egale has experienced firsthand the hate that is generated from a single segment aired on Fox News in Canada. We cannot begin to imagine the broader impacts and potential rise in hate that might result from allowing more content like this to air in Canada.”

CRTC is considering using a rather vague, generic article of the Television Broadcasting Regulations that prohibits “any abusive comment or abusive pictorial representation” that might expose individuals or groups to “hatred or contempt” based on a variety of demographics including sexual orientation. In other words, “hate speech.”

And since they get to define which speech falls under that category, they can ban pretty much anyone they like over anything. Convenient, isn’t it?

But they seem to be overlooking a few things, perhaps intentionally. Even setting aside the free speech aspect of this discussion (which apparently doesn’t exist in Canada anymore), Fox has already fired Tucker Carlson, or at least taken him off the air permanently. So the “threat” is already gone. Carlson is moving on to host his show on Twitter. Will the entire Twitter platform be banned all across Canada next? (I probably shouldn’t be giving them ideas.)

The autocratic nature of Canada’s government has grown to ridiculous proportions under Justin Trudeau’s leadership. We saw that during the freedom convoys when the truckers were locked up. All media in the country is already policed to the point where people are afraid to express any dissent regarding government policies.

Doesn’t the United States have any policies lying around collecting dust that deal with trade agreements with countries that suppress freedom? Perhaps the next Republican President (if there ever is another one) should roll out something like that and have a chat with the Canadians.