Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge will not seek re-election, Radio-Canada has learned. However, she will shortly unveil her proposal to modernize CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate.
According to a Liberal source, St-Onge will announce this week that she will not be a candidate in the next election. She represents the riding of Brome-Missisquoi in Quebec and was elected in 2021. St-Onge plans to complete her term as minister and MP.
The source told Radio-Canada that St-Onge wants to devote her time to her family, having recently had a child with her spouse.
In addition to her duties as heritage minister, St-Onge recently took on the portfolios of Tourism and the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec on an interim basis. Her predecessor, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, announced her intention to run for mayor of Montreal in early February.
But before she goes, St-Onge plans to fulfil a key part of her mandate letter as Heritage Minister.
According to information obtained by Radio-Canada, this week St-Onge will unveil her proposal to modernize CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate in the Broadcasting Act, which has not been reviewed since 1991.
In recent months, St-Onge has appointed a committee of experts to advise her on the public broadcaster’s financing, governance and mission.
According to the source, one of St-Onge’s wishes is to enshrine in law that programming for Radio-Canada’s French services is independent from that for CBC.
New CBC/Radio-Canada CEO Marie-Philippe Bouchard says a budget cut of $500 million or more could represent an ‘existential threat’ to the corporation.
With Parliament prorogued and an election possibly imminent, passage of this plan in the House of Commons is very uncertain. That said, St-Onge intends to call on Liberal leadership candidates to support her proposal and commit to its adoption at the earliest opportunity.
The source said St-Onge plans to put pressure on the leadership candidates to get her plan passed before the next federal election. In her view, U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st U.S. state add to the urgency of modernizing the public broadcaster’s mandate.
St-Onge also believes modernizing CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate must be part of Canada’s response to Trump’s ongoing threats.
In the eyes of the minister, the source said, CBC/Radio-Canada is a “tool for cultural sovereignty” and “a credible source of information.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has pledged to defund CBC, but would continue supporting Radio-Canada’s French services. Groups have warned his proposal could weaken the French-language public broadcaster, since the two entities are interdependent.
Radio-Canada reached out to St-Onge’s office. They declined to comment on the story.
