Canada Wants To Pull Plug on Russian State Television

Canada’s minister responsible for broadcasting said the government was investigating “all options” for getting a state-owned Russian TV network off the nation’s airwaves amid rising anger over the invasion of Ukraine, reports Bloomberg.

“I share the concerns of many Canadians about the presence of Russia Today in our broadcasting system,” Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said Saturday on Twitter. “We’re looking at all options.”

The three largest telecommunications companies all offer RT to their television subscribers, according to their websites. Spokespeople for those companies -- Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. -- did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of regular business hours.

RT and other state-funded media outlets such as Sputnik are active participants in advancing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s geopolitical agenda, according to a paper published by the U.S. State Department in January.

 

“RT and Sputnik’s role as disinformation and propaganda outlets is most obvious when they report on issues of political importance to the Kremlin,” said the report from the department’s Global Engagement Center. “A prevalent example is Russia’s use of RT and Sputnik to attempt to change public opinions about Ukraine in Europe, the United States, and as far away as Latin America.”

Paula Simons, a member of Canada’s Senate, said she would be meeting with the country’s broadcast regulator on Monday to ask questions about RT. A 2017 probe by the Globe and Mail newspaper found that Canada’s cable companies were in some cases being paid by an affiliate of RT to carry the channel. At the time, it was estimated that RT reached between 6 million and 7 million Canadian households.