A bill that proposes to reduce the level of violence seen on television is meeting resistance in Ottawa on the grounds that it is unnecessary and, like Bill C-10, looks too much like government censorship.

Bill C-327, a private members bill put forth by Bloc Québécois MP Bernard Bigras, received its second reading in the House of Commons earlier this week. It refers to an increase of violent programming aimed at children, and calls on the CRTC to introduce new rules ‘respecting the broadcast of violent scenes’ and for it to monitor broadcasters more closely, publishing regular reports on their compliance.

It has so far played to mixed reviews in policy circles. Appearing before Parliament’s heritage committee on Thursday, Ron Cohen, head of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, said C-327 is neither necessary nor ‘even moderately useful’ in dealing with TV violence. He added that complaints about violence have fallen 22% since 2000.

The bill’s preamble notes that ‘censorship is not a solution’ and — in a curious echo of the complaints aimed this week at C-10 — says the ‘creative freedom’ of the industry must be protected. Cohen argued that the bill adds up to censorship, however.

Earlier this week CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein said the commission had no problem with the broader goals of the bill, but took issue with the additional reviews and reports his organization would be required to carry out.

The changes would ‘require monitoring of compliance, and the punishment of non-compliance according to law. This is contrary to our regulatory approach,’ he told the committee, noting that, these days, the CRTC looks to regulate with a lighter hand. He did use the occasion, however, to repeat the oft-heard argument that the CRTC would be better able to enforce its rules if it had greater freedom to lay fines.

C-327 follows this week’s furor over C-10, the Tory bill which proposes to give the heritage minister the power to withhold tax credits from film or TV projects deemed offensive by Ottawa bureaucrats. C-10 is expected to stay on hold until about April, pending review by the Senate banking committee.