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Circular No. 430
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Ottawa, 30 October 1998 |
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To all Licensees of Broadcasting
Undertakings serving the Province Of Quebec |
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1. On 28 October 1998, a Provincial Election
was announced in Quebec. The Election will occur on 30 November 1998. |
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2. The Commission reminds licensees that the
"black-out" period for partisan political programs, including election
campaign advertising, has been eliminated from the Broadcasting Act
since 1991. However, licensees should note that this pertains to the
"black-out" period under the Broadcasting Act only and that
applicable electoral laws may vary from province to province with respect
to campaign advertising or other matters. Licensees are advised to seek
appropriate advice relating to matters of provincial jurisdiction. |
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3. Any questions pertaining to applicable
provincial legislation should be referred to Quebec's Chief Electoral
Officer. |
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4. Mailing address: |
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Jacques Girard
Chief Electoral Officer
Édifice René-Lévesque
3460, rue de la Pérade
Sainte-Foy (Québec)
G1X 3Y5
Telephone: (418) 528-0422
Toll free (in Quebec): 1-888-353-2846
Fax: (418) 643-7291
e-mail: dgeq@dgeq.qc.ca |
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5. The attached guide is intended for all
radio and television stations, specialty television services and cable
television licensees serving any part of Quebec. |
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6. Extra copies of the guide are available
upon request to the CRTC. |
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7. Any inquiry relating to broadcasts of
partisan political character should be addressed to the CRTC, by letter, by
telegram, by fax or by telephone, confirmed by letter. |
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Mailing address:
CRTC
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A ON2 |
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Telecopier: (819) 994-0218 |
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Telephone |
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Bill Howard: (819) 997-5523
Donald Rhéaume: (819) 997-5523 |
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Secretary General |
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This document is available in alternative
format upon request, and may also be viewed at the following Internet site:
www.crtc.gc.ca |
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Attention Station Managers
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Please distribute to News Department, Program
Department, Sales Department, Traffic Department and any other affected
personnel. |
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Provincial General Election - Guidelines
For Broadcast Licensees |
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Broadcasting Act and Regulations |
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The following material is drawn from the
Broadcasting Act and Regulations. |
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I. The Broadcasting Act |
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A. Sections 3(1)(i)(i) and 3(1) (i)(iv)
of the Act declare that: |
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"the programming provided by the Canadian
broadcasting system should |
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i) be varied and comprehensive, providing a
balance of information, enlightenment and entertainment for men, women and
children of all ages, interests and tastes, |
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iv) provide a reasonable opportunity for the
public to be exposed to the expression of differing views on matters of
public concern, ..." |
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B. Temporary Network operations are
subject to the Act and a request for such operations must be submitted to
the Commission for prior approval. See Section 2 of the Broadcasting Act. |
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II. The Broadcasting Regulations |
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The Radio Regulations, 1986 and
Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987 (Sections 6 and 8
respectively) read as follows: |
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"Political Broadcasts |
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During an election period, a licensee shall
allocate time for the broadcasting of programs, advertisements or
announcements of a partisan political character on an equitable basis to
all accredited political parties and rival candidates represented in the
election or referendum." |
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"Election period" means: |
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"(a) in the case of a (federal or) provincial
election (or of a federal, provincial or municipal referendum), the period
beginning on the date of the announcement of the election or referendum and
ending on the date the election or referendum is held." |
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The Television Broadcasting Regulations,
1987, Section 11(4), reads as follows: |
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(4) In addition to the maximum of 12 minutes
of advertising material set out in subsection (1), a licensee may broadcast
partisan political advertising during an election period. |
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The Specialty Services Regulations, 1990
(Section 6) reads as follows: |
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"Where a licensee provides time on its service
during an election period for the distribution of programs, advertisements
or announcements of a partisan political character, the licensee shall
allocate the time on an equitable basis to all accredited political parties
and rival candidates represented in the election or referendum." |
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"Election period" has the same definition as
that set out in the radio and television regulations. |
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Section 27 (4) of the Broadcasting
Distribution Regulations states: |
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"If a licensee provides time on the community
channel during an election period for the distribution of programming of a
partisan political character, the licensee shall allocate that time on an
equitable basis to all accredited political parties and rival candidates." |
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"Election period" has the same definition as
that set out in the radio and television regulations. |
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III. Following are some excerpts from
Public Notice CRTC 1988-142 entitled "A Policy with Respect to Election
Campaign Broadcasting" which are applicable to federal and provincial
general elections. |
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A. The Underlying Rationale |
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Throughout the history of broadcasting in
Canada, licensees, as part of their service to the public, have been
required to cover elections. Moreover, where licensees have allocated paid
or free campaign time, they have been required to do so in a manner that is
equitable to all political parties and rival candidates. |
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The purpose of these requirements is to ensure
the public's right to be informed of the issues involved so that it has
sufficient knowledge to make an informed choice from among the various
parties and candidates. This right is a quintessential one for the
effective functioning of a democracy, particularly at election time. The
broadcaster's obligation as a trustee of the public airwaves is seldom
greater than it is in respect to this exercise of the most fundamental
democratic freedom. |
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As the Commission noted in Circular No. 334: |
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"It is the broadcaster's duty to ensure that
the public has adequate knowledge of the issues surrounding an election and
the position of the parties and candidates. The broadcaster does not enjoy
the position of a benevolent censor who is able to give the public only
what it "should" know. Nor is it the broadcaster's role to decide in
advance which candidates are "worthy" of broadcast time." |
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From this right on the part of the public to
have adequate knowledge to fulfill its obligations as an informed
electorate, flows the obligation on the part of the broadcaster to provide
equitable -- fair and just -- treatment of issues, candidates and parties.
It should be noted that "equitable" does not necessarily mean "equal", but,
generally, all candidates and parties are entitled to some coverage that
will give them the opportunity to expose their ideas to the public. |
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The question of equitable treatment applies to
parties and to candidates; to programs, advertisements and announcements;
to federal, provincial and municipal elections, as well as to referenda.
Equity also applies to the duration of broadcasts, to scheduling, to
potential audience, to the choice of which electoral districts and offices
to cover, to language of broadcast, to issue coverage and approach, to
conditions under which an appearance may be made, and -- in the case of
paid-time programming --to price. |
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The Commission acknowledges that each
licensee's situation is unique. The Commission has no firm rules to cover
all aspects of election campaign broadcasting; to some extent it will have
to deal with situations on a case-by-case basis. |
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B. Equity in Various Categories of
Broadcast |
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Political campaign broadcasts generally fall
into four categories: |
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i) Paid-time - Time bought and paid for
by or on behalf of parties or candidates or advocacy groups, and largely
under the editorial control of the advertiser. |
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ii) Free time - Time given free of
charge by the licensee to the party or candidate, and largely under the
editorial control of the party or candidate. |
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iii) News - Coverage of the campaign by
licensee's news department, and under the editorial control of the
licensee. |
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iv) Public Affairs - In-depth
examinations of candidates and issues, profiles of candidates, debates, and
under the editorial control of the licensee. |
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There may be some "blurring" of the latter two
categories given that, for example, they may be part of the station's "news
package" and may involve the same station personnel. |
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If one party or candidate receives free time,
all rival parties and candidates must be offered equitable time. |
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Similarly, if paid advertising time is sold to
any party or candidate, advertising time must be made available on an
equitable basis to rival parties and candidates. |
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In the case of conflicts between requirements
for equity with respect to paid advertising time and sold-out commercial
schedules, it is the Commission's view that such conflicts should be
resolved in favour of the electoral process and in accordance with the
principle of equity: |
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Equity in News Coverage (category iii) |
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The Commission agrees with the arguments put
forward that news coverage should generally be left to the editorial
judgement of the broadcast licensee. |
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However, Section 3 of the Broadcasting Act
requires that "the programming originated by broadcast undertakings should
be of high standard" and "the programming provided by the Canadian
broadcasting system should provide a reasonable opportunity for the public
to be exposed to the expression of differing views on matters of public
concern". Licensees have an obligation under this section to ensure that
their audiences are informed of the main issues and of the positions of all
candidates and registered parties on those issues. |
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Equity in Public Affairs Programming
(category iv) |
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Section 3 of the Broadcasting Act must also be
applied when presenting public affairs programs, such as party or candidate
profiles, features on certain issues or panel discussions. |
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Equity requirements will apply within each of
the categories of paid-time, free time, news and public affairs programs. |
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Licensees who program in more than one
language should take into consideration that a political broadcast in one
language cannot be construed as balancing a political broadcast in another
language. |
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The equitable time requirement is triggered at
the later of (a) the date a candidate is nominated or (b) the date on which
an election is called. |
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Not all candidates are nominated at the same
time; some, for strategic or other reasons, may not be nominated until well
into a campaign. In the Commission's view, there is no obligation on the
part of licensees to compensate late entrants for time previously afforded
other candidates following the election's call. Late-entry candidates
should receive equitable coverage from the time they enter the campaign. |
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For some licensees the provision of equitable
coverage to all the candidates running for office in all of the electoral
districts reached by the station could amount to an unwieldy proposition. |
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In the Commission's view, the decision should
be made by the licensee, in consideration of three principal factors: the
station's service area (i.e., the area it is licensed or committed to
serve), its signal coverage area, and the practical aspect based on the
number of electoral districts and candidates. |
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The Commission remains persuaded that on-air
personalities, whether they are employed on radio or television or
community programming channels of cable systems, even if their exposure is
solely in the role of commercial announcer, have an unfair advantage over
their opponents. |
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Accordingly, the licensee has the
responsibility to ensure that such candidates be removed from their on-air
duties during the election campaign period as defined in the regulations
(the Radio Regulations, 1986, the Television Broadcasting
Regulations, 1987, the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations and
the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990) or on the date their
candidacies are announced, whichever is later. Offering similar on-air
opportunity to an on-air candidate's opponents is no longer an option. |
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In Public Notice CRTC 1995-44 issued on
15 March 1995, the Commission announced that it will no longer require that
so-called "debates" programs feature all rival parties or candidates in one
or more programs. The licensee will have satisfied the balance requirement
of the Broadcasting Act if reasonable steps are taken to ensure that
their audiences are informed on the main issues and of the positions of all
candidates and registered parties on those issues through their public
affairs programs generally. |
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IV. Advertising Content |
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Licensees shall log as advertising material
any paid program, advertisement or announcement of a partisan political
character which, including the partisan identification of the sponsor and
the party, if any, is two (2) minutes or less in duration. |
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Television licensees are reminded that under
the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987 (recent amendments),
partisan political advertising, including advocacy advertising, is excluded
from the calculation of the amount of advertising they broadcast. The
Commission advises other licensees that, for this election, any advertising
material of a partisan political character with regard to the election,
regardless of length, may be treated as program material by licensees who
are not prohibited from carrying advertising material by regulation or
condition of licence. |
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To circumvent certain logging software
problems that have occurred in the past, television licensees should
continue to log such material as "COM". However, to distinguish election
advertising material from other television commercials, licensees should
insert "ELE" at the beginning or end of the field that is used to identify
the advertiser or the title of the advertisement. For FM radio, such
material may be logged as category "6" instead of category "5". |
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V. Of Special Interest to Cable Television
Systems - Community Channels |
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No cable operator is obliged to engage in
political programming. |
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However, if the cable licensee decides to
engage in political programming, then the Commission suggests that the
following criteria be respected for the two types of political programming
normally carried by cable systems: |
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- free access political programming; and |
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- programming produced under the editorial
control of the cable television licensee. |
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A. Free Access Political Programming |
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In this type of programming, time is made
available to be used freely and without the intervention of the licensee
whether as moderator or in terms of the production process, providing that
the general rules regarding existing laws for libel and slander and the
broadcasting guidelines respecting equitable treatment are followed. While,
as with any community programming, the licensee is ultimately responsible
for the program content, the candidate or party is afforded the widest
possible latitude and control. |
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B. Political Programming Under the
Editorial Control of the Licensee |
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Programs produced under the editorial control
of the cable licensee are those programs over which the licensee retains
control as to format, participants, and where he directly intervenes in
the production process as a moderator or otherwise. |
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These programs can be likened to public
affairs programs. Such programming must be done on an equitable basis
for all political parties and rival candidates and must conform to the
Commission's regulations and policies respecting community programming. |
Date Modified: 1998-10-30 |