KITCHENER — If you tune into Kitchener radio station 107.5 Dave Rocks most afternoons, you'll get a steady dose of mainstream rock music. If Craig Fee was on the air, you've also been getting some unexpected political commentary.

Fee is the station's afternoon drive show host. In between all the AC/DC, Green Day and Def Leppard, he's been mixing in rants against the Liberals and Premier Kathleen Wynne.

What Fee doesn't mention is that his wife Amy Fee is the Ontario PC Party candidate in Kitchener South-Hespeler. What he's doing amounts to free political advertising for his wife's party, according to Elections Ontario — something that's closely regulated by Canadian law.

On Thursday's show, he compared the premier to a gassy "bichon frise," criticized Liberal plans for high-speed rail and defended Ontario PC leader Doug Ford.

"We're $300-plus billion in the hole, and right now Kathleen Wynne is running around promising unicorns and ice cream to everyone," Fee said.

On Monday's show, Fee defended Ford's controversial decision to appoint 11 candidates across the province, including in Kitchener-Conestoga, against the wishes of the local riding association.

Fee's on-air rants have drawn complaints against his employer to the provincial election watchdog and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Canada's broadcast regulator.

Listeners' concerns have also been passed on to the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council (CBSC), an industry-funded self-regulatory organization that deals with ethical issues among broadcasters.

Fee did not respond to questions about the complaints. Dave Rocks' parent company also declined to comment.

"Since the Dave Rocks CBSC complaint is currently under review, we're unable to provide any further comment," said Rishma Govani, a spokesperson for the station's owner, Corus Entertainment.

Amy Fee, meanwhile, said it was an issue for her husband, not her, to answer to.

"Any questions related to Amy Fee's husband Craig Fee should be directed to him," said her campaign manager, Chad Dance, in an email.

The CRTC said the broadcasting rules that require equitable airtime for all parties and candidates during an election period begins May 10.

But prior to that, all radio stations are still bound by the standards of the Broadcasting Act, explained CRTC spokesperson Eric Rancourt.

That law says "the programming provided by the Canadian broadcasting system should provide a reasonable opportunity for the public to be exposed to the expression of differing views on matters of public concern," according to the Broadcasting Act.

If Dave Rocks is found to be in violation of broadcasting rules, the CRTC could issue a shorter-term renewal of its licence, so it can more closely monitor the station's compliance, Rancourt said.

Canadian law doesn't allow political candidates who are broadcasters to remain on the air once an election begins, but it's less clear on how their spouses can behave.

Amy Fee, a Waterloo Catholic District School Board trustee, is up against Liberal candidate Surekha Shenoy, past chair of the Cambridge Memorial Hospital Foundation, former professional boxer Fitz Vanderpool for the NDP, the Green Party's David Weber and Libertarian Nathan Lajeunesse.

Craig Fee's political opinions carry over onto his show's Facebook page, where he offers a steady diet of anti-Liberal and anti-NDP posts, a defence of former PC leader Patrick Brown, and lists his interest in "boobs, hockey and sweater meat."

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Fee has also been an outspoken advocate for children with disabilities. Last year, he took the Waterloo Catholic District School Board to the Ontario human rights tribunal, after his son's school declined to allow their son, who has autism, to bring his service dog into class.

gmercer@therecord.com, Twitter: @MercerRecord