CBC News on Thursday dropped political scientist Tom Flanagan as a commentator on Politics and Power, following remarks the TV pundit made during a University of Lethbridge speech Wednesday.

“While we support and encourage free speech across the country and a diverse range of voices, we believe Mr. Flanagan’s comments to have crossed the line and impacted his credibility as a commentator for us,” said CBC News and Centres GM and editor in chief Jennifer McGuire in a statement.

Flanagan, former advisor to Stephen Harper and a political science professor at the University of Calgary, said during a speech at the Alberta university that he supported the freedom to look at child pornography, after his previous comments on the matter were brought up.

“I certainly have no sympathy for child molesters, but I do have some grave doubts about putting people in jail because of their taste in pictures,” Flanagan said during the talk, a portion of which was later posted on Youtube. “I don’t look at these pictures.”

Flanagan’s comments also resulted in Alberta’s Wildrose party dumping Flanagan as its campaign manager.

“There is no language strong enough to condemn Dr. Flanagan’s comments…To be clear, Dr. Flanagan does not speak for me or the Wildrose caucus and he will have no role – formal or informal – with our organization going forward,” said Wildrose leader Danielle Smith in a statement.