Licensing journalists? Blame it on the CBC: Ezra Levant

The to-license-or-not-to-license debate is one of the most heated conversations in Canada's journalism world. Part of the anti-license faction? Well, according to Sun Media's Ezra Levant, you can point three fingers of blame: one at Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications Christine St-Pierre, one at report writer Dominique Payette, and one at the CBC.

Yes, the CBC.

The to-license-or-not-to-license debate is one of the most heated conversations in Canada's journalism world. Part of the anti-license faction? Well, according to Sun Media's Ezra Levant, you can point three fingers of blame: one at Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications Christine St-Pierre, one at report writer Dominique Payette, and one at the CBC.

Yes, the CBC.

While Payette and St-Pierre may be the face of the "for" side, it's really the CBC's fault, writes Levant in a recent column: "This is the sickness having a state broadcaster has caused in this country."

Both Payette and St-Pierre are CBC alumni.

Not that this surprises Levant: "Do you think a private journalist would call for government censorship? Do you think a private journalist would try to marginalize their competitors using the power of the state?"

To Levant, at least, that answer is self-evident.

He goes on — as many have — to say any licensing policies would unfairly target amateur journalists. He also classifies himself as an amateur journo, adding: "I thank my lucky stars I never went to a journalism school — where the chief thing they teach is left-wing ideology."

He closes by summing up the issue:

"I blame St-Pierre. She’s the political bully who is proposing this cockeyed law. But I also blame Payette for giving Soviet-style journalism an academic patina. And I blame the CBC for being a massive petri dish in which such vile ideas can ferment."