Wildrose candidate Allan Hunsperger called for radio stations to be forced to air conservative ads

[Posted at Bene Diction Blogs On Apr 21 2012] Imagine an election where radio stations were forced to run small-c conservative and Christian radio ads against their will. The idea has been floated by a Wildrose Alliance candidate in Monday's Alberta provincial election..

I was reading some online news about Monday's Alberta provincial election, when I came across a name that will be familiar to BDBO readers..

The Progressive Conservatives are in a tight race with the Wildrose Alliance, a very conservative party looking to outflank Alberta's Tories to the right. The Wildrose has an excellent chance of ending the Tories 41 years of power in the province..

Enter Allan Hunsperger, a Tofield, Alberta pastor who is running for the Wildrose Alliance in the riding of Edmonton Southwest. He's under fire for writing on his blog that homosexuality is evil and will cause you to go to hell. Edmonton Journal columnist Paula Simons, reprinted in the Vancouver Sun, summarizes what has been happening, and takes Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith to task for not taking Hunsperger behind the woodshed..

As dismaying as that may seem, I have to confess that my first thought was "Hey, I've blogged about this fellow." May I cite the essentials?.

Allan Hunsperger, the former owner of the Shine Christian radio stations in Edmonton and Calgary, was pivotal in getting CRTC regulations changed to allow Canadian music radio stations in Canada. He proffered the opinion that I will be quoting below in 2009, but I think it important to recall what he said if he becomes a member of of the Alberta legislature, or even a cabinet minister..

Faytene Grasseschi (who was Faytene Kryskow at the time this was recorded) admires Hunsperger, and has mentioned how grateful she was that the first The CRY that she was in charge of, was broadcast on the radio over Hunsperger’s Shine radio (at least in Edmonton)..

Sometime in 2009, as Faytene was in a whirl of media mentions, she went to Hunsperger’s church where she spoke at discipleship training school. Her talk was recorded as “Media Advance” and the resulting talk was available at her online store. It’s not now..

Towards the end of the first CD of the message, Faytene is talking about the second debate on legalizing gay marriage in the House of Commons and the difficulty of getting the small-c conservative message out..

Hunsperger, who was sympathetic to the “no legal gay marriage” side in some way, asks for the mike to say a few words. Faytene gives it to him..

Hunsperger then says (emphasis mine):.

“The secular media would not play commercials alerting Canadians of the vote coming up in the Parliament House. 92 per cent of media outlets would not allow that message across. So, first point. The issue is ‘fair and balanced’ in the matter of public issues, public concern. Definition of marriage is a public concern.. Radio stations should have been forced to carry those ads. They weren’t, okay.So, and the only ones that really ran that, really were some Christian outlets. But just so you know, they are under the disguise of balance, but the media is not giving the balance and there’s nobody forcing that issue. The only ones that would force that issue would be someone loud or squawking to force them to do it–but by the time you got to that issue, you would be punishing them after the fact.".

Now, as an Alberta politician, he would have difficulty in directly making radio stations to do his will as radio is under federal oversight. But, a new Alberta government has tried to regulate the media, in the interest of "access to accurate information", and although that was ruled "ultra vires", legal experts in a Wildrose Alliance government might want to find a way around this technicality..

As sad as people may be about his religious opinions on homosexuality, I don't think that Allan Hunsperger has called for special "fairness" laws relating to homosexuality. In the case of freedom of speech, and the freedom not to speak, Hunsperger has. And that should give Edmonton Southwest voters cause to be careful.