A Christian television channel that was rebuked for encouraging viewers to donate their retirement savings is looking to expand its viewership in Alberta.

The owners of the Lethbridge-based Miracle Channel, which is carried on cable, have applied for the right to set up transmitters in Calgary and Edmonton, which, if approved, would make the channel available for free to viewers in both cities.

The Miracle Channel wants to set up transmitters in Edmonton and Calgary.
(CBC)

Appearing in front of a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on Monday, station representatives were questioned about statements made by an on-air host during a fundraising drive in 2004 when he asked viewers to cash in their RRSPs for donations. 

The channel's president, Dick Dewert, said Monday that the channel has since worked with the CRTC to create a new internal fundraising policy.

"From time to time, we get questions about different statements that were made on the stations," added Gordon Klassen, vice-president of the Miracle Channel.

"We abide by internal fundraising policies and the ethics guidelines and of course the religious broadcasting policy, and we would work well with commission staff to make sure we are within those guidelines."

Former Saskatchewan donor and ordained minister Tim Thibault, a vocal critic of the station who filed a complaint about statements made during past fundraising drives, wants to stop the expansion. 

"The people that they appeal to are vulnerable viewers," Thibault said. 

"We've found that every market the Miracle Channel has gone into, the number of people that contact us with concerns and questions about their fundraising methods has increased," he claimed.

The CRTC isn't expecting to announce its decision on the Miracle Channel's application for at least three months.

'God's speaking to you to cash those in'

A complaint by Thibault led the CRTC to investigate the station's November 2004 and March 2005 fundraising campaigns.

"There is somebody right now watching and God is speaking to them about RRSPs," a host said in 2004. "They've got RRSPs and they've got a sizable amount and it's a security thing. Well, it's not a security thing; your security is in God. And God's speaking to you to cash those in. I dare you to do it."

According to CRTC records, a host also said of a woman who put a $5,000 donation on a credit card: "And we believe that God is going to give that back to you and you are going to be able to pay it off real fast."

In January 2006, the CRTC found that the statements "placed an undue responsibility on the viewer to respond to the appeal," contravening the policy on ethics for religious programming.

Others were inconsistent with the guidelines because they "predicted divine consequences of not responding, or exaggerated positive results of responding."

"Donations to a religious programming service cannot, to the best of staff's knowledge, cure nicotine addictions or cancer, spur immediate financial success or enable the quicker repayment of outstanding debts," wrote the CRTC's Martine Vallee in her decision.

In 2005, supporters donated nearly $4 million, which went mostly to creating the station's programs, with the rest going to other charities, including the church inside the station and other evangelical ministries.

The channel is expected to bring in about $7.5 million in donations this year.