(Quebec) The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) and the Parti Québécois (PQ) sharply criticized Québec solidaire (QS) and the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) for having advertised Jean-Talon’s partial election on the platforms by Meta.
“Solidarity, except when there is an election to win? », Wrote the CAQ Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, on the social network X (formerly Twitter) by sharing an image with the definition of the word “opportunism”.
The PQ also attacked QS and the PLQ on X. “The commitment to boycott Meta was nevertheless clear on the part of each of the political parties. This is a missed opportunity to truly show solidarity with the media,” wrote PQ MP Pascal Bérubé.
These scuffles follow an article from TVA Nouvelles showing that QS and the PLQ bought advertising on Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) to promote their candidate for the Jean-Talon by-election.
However, the two parties indicated last July that they did not have any advertising campaigns in progress on Meta platforms and that they would not launch any until further notice. This decision followed Meta’s decision to block the sharing of articles from Canadian media on its platforms.
“We made a commitment not to do any more until further notice. In elections, it is important to reach as many voters as possible. To do this, advertising on social networks is essential. This is a one-time investment strictly for the partial. For every dollar spent on social networks, we will invest the same amount in traditional media,” indicated the PLQ press secretary, Alexandra Régis.
On the QS side, we assure that it was not a commitment. “More than two months ago, we responded to The Canadian Press that no advertising was currently broadcast on our pages and that we did not plan to do any in the short term this summer, but we took no action commitment,” assures QS’s communications director, Stéphanie Guévremont.
“The job of a political party is to speak to people where they are, so we will invest 50% of our advertising budget for Jean-Talon’s campaign in traditional French-speaking media and 50% on social media” , she added in a written statement.
The Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) is advertising this campaign on Meta, but claims to have never made any contrary commitment.
Éric Duhaime’s party recalls being against the federal government’s Bill C-18, which would force web giants to pay royalties to Quebec media. It was following this law that Meta blocked the sharing of Canadian media content on its platforms.
On September 15, there will be a day of boycott of Meta platforms organized by the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ) and the Quebec Society of Public Relations Professionals.
Several groups have already announced that they will participate in the boycott, such as the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, the Canadian Journalism Association, the Union of Artists, the Friends of Broadcasting, the Quebec Federation of Workers and the Press Council.