An evangelical minister says his television show's content will now be "pre-screened and censored" after his remarks about homosexuals drew complaints that were investigated by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

Charles McVety's program "Word TV" will return to air Sunday, days after Christian broadcaster CTS suspended the show.

CTS chose to suspend the show after the CBSC ruled that statements McVety made about homosexuals violated its broadcasting codes.

Last week, CTS said it "respects the Council's decision and has taken the required steps to make sure our programs are in compliance."

Six days later, Word TV released a statement indicating that it would return to air on Dec. 19.

In an emailed statement, CTS said it "anticipates that the program Word TV will be reinstated in short order."

The Word TV statement released Wednesday also criticized the CBSC's "heavy hand of censorship" and the way it investigates complaints and makes decisions.

Comparing the CBSC practices to "the Salem witch trials" and to "Josef Stalin's Show Trials," Word TV said the organization did not give programs the opportunity to defend themselves.

Word TV also accused the CBSC of purposely handing down its decision immediately before the Christmas holidays.

"This is when most Canadians would be pre-occupied with holiday preparations. It was as if the Council had much to hide," the statement said.

The CBSC is an independent organization that administers the standards set by Canada's private broadcasters.

CBSC national chair Ronald Cohen said the notion that the agency's investigations are tantamount to heavy-handed censorship is "dramatic and unrelated to anything that the CBSC does or has ever done."

Cohen said the CBSC only investigates a program after a complaint is filed by a member of the public, and the agency's decisions, and all relevant material related to them, are posted to its website.

"If we had something to hide in the decision, I don't suppose we would have put it out publicly," Cohen told CTV.ca in a telephone interview. According to Cohen, decisions are released as soon as they are ready and translated into French, and are always issued on Wednesdays regardless of a coming holiday.

Cohen said the agency will release two more decisions on Dec. 22, and then resume issuing decisions on Jan. 5 and will do so every Wednesday for at least six weeks.