By Glenn Wanamaker
QUEBEC CITY – The owners of controversial Quebec City radio station CHOI-FM, rebuffed by the Federal Court of Appeal in their effort to overturn a CRTC decision to withdraw their licence, say they will try to take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.
"We will fight this to the end," Patrice Demers, President of GENEX Communications, the station’s owner, told a press conference late Thursday.
The station, rated number one in the market last spring, is allowed to stay on the air for at least 20 days, or until a decision is made on allowing a further appeal.
"Is there someone in Canada who can say this is not a freedom of expression issue?" Demers said. "To me, it’s obvious that it is."
In its 99-page ruling, the three-judge Court of Appeal rejected GENEX’s arguments that freedom of expression is at the core of the issue.
"The issue is, and remains, whether the CRTC’s discretionary decision not to the renew [CHOI’s] licence was made judicially and in compliance with the rules of natural justice, the standards of procedural fairness and its own procedures."
The CRTC’s exercise of this power, wrote Justice Gilles Létourneau, "defines the parameters of the appeal before us, which cannot be transformed into a crusade for freedom of expression without substantially distorting it."
Demers said however that the Court didn’t fully analyze the freedom of expression issue.
Essentially, he said, the CRTC wanted to close the station "because of its verbal content", expressed by talk show host Jeff Fillion, who left the station in August and now plans to broadcast on his own Internet website.
"This is the first time I’ve seen that. In foreign countries [when that happens], it’s criticized. But we’re in Canada. I see that as a major concern for the Quebec population and for Canada, that five bureaucrats decide to shut down a radio station because they’re not in agreement with what was said. It’s a precedent, and it’s one that merits that the highest court weigh the validity and the jurisdiction of the CRTC."
Demers rejected claims that the station wants to strip the CRTC of its regulatory powers.
"For us, it’s not about that. It’s just its power to decide what is wrong or what is bad. The CRTC has a complex role in the telecommunications industry and it’s certainly required. It’s not the end of the CRTC that we expect."
Demers, who said the legal battles have already cost the station $500,000, said that if the Supreme Court hears the case and rules against CHOI, the station’s owners would close and seek a new licence.
If the appeal is heard, the station would likely stay on the air for at least another year.
