The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has cleared the TQS program L’Avocat et le diable of religious discrimination, following an investigation into an on-air talk about the rights of ethnic groups.

The program came under fire following a May 9, 2006 episode in which callers uttered slurs and other negative comments against Muslims – prompting a number of complaints from viewers.

The CBSC’s Quebec board noted that remarks by one caller in particular, though ‘ugly,’ were quickly countered by cohosts Stéphane Gendron and Richard Desmarais.

‘Nipped in the bud, they were permitted no life or existence by the co-hosts,’ reads the decision. ‘They did not… amount to abusive or unduly discriminatory comment.’