Montreal: CRTC chairman Keith Spicer has fired the latest salvo in the ongoing dispute over violence in u.s. children’s tv programming.

Speaking in Washington, d.c. mid-month on the issue of American v-chip technology and a corollary classification system, Spicer threatened to block out violent u.s. kids programs from Canada. Spicer qualified his remarks by saying he d’esn’t want to start a trade war, or put a knife to the Americans’ throat, but said he is operating under mounting public pressure at home, not the least of which is a petition for tighter regulation of tv violence signed by two million Canadians.

Spicer told his American audience shows like The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers violate the Canadian Association of Broadcasters code on violence, and the issue in Canada should be decided by parents on behalf of their children ‘and not by half a dozen toy manufacturers and broadcast lobbyists.’

Alan Mirabelli, Ottawa-based chairman of the Alliance for Children and Television, says Spicer’s comments ‘are quite legitimate.’

He says if the crtc chairman used a ‘stick and carrot’ approach, the goal was to find common ground for a North American classification system.

Mirabelli, who is also the executive director of the Vanier Institute of the Family, says Canada’s complaint is valid ‘because the problemŠwith violent and sexist programming d’es not originate in Canada.’

He says broadcasters face ‘serious consequences’ if they do not comply with the cab’s strict voluntary code on violence, but cablecasters are not subject to the same regulations.

By directly importing violent u.s. shows into Canada, Mirabelli claims cable operators are placing broadcasters at an unfair disadvantage.

Mirabelli says there are basically two choices ­ either impose signal blocking on cable and subsequently dth operators, or devise a common set of standards for a parental classification and warning system.

Ken Stein, vp of regulatory affairs at Shaw Cable says he is opposed to the blackouts and that Canadians would look askance at blackouts of programs.

‘Our solutions should be smarter,’ says Stein. ‘Solutions should be found without resorting to Draconian measures.’

Representatives of Rogers Communications, Shaw and the Canadian Cable Television Association had earlier endorsed the use of v-chip technology, which allows parental control of programming accessible to children in a household.

Michael McCabe, president of the cab, says v-chip technology d’es not deal with the problem of violent programs coming into Canadian homes.

‘If u.s. signals remain unclassified and Global is forced to not run a program which Fox can still run, Global loses out, as do the kids of Canada,’ he says.

McCabe says agreement on a single North American classification system would help matters, but he is skeptical the Americans would agree to such a system. ‘There will be considerable resistance to any codes from u.s. networks,’ says McCabe. ‘It could lead to a major battle concerning first amendment rights.’