The Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe, wants to legislate to force Web giants like Netflix to put Quebec content forward, at the risk of treading on the toes of the federal government, which has already tabled a bill to this effect.
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Ottawa tabled Bill C-11 with the aim of forcing web giants to promote Canadian cultural content, while Mr. Lacombe hopes to add Quebec specificity to the equation.
“C-11 will tackle the basic problem, but with Canadian glasses. Personally, I hope that when we are in Quebec territory, we look at this issue with Quebec glasses, first and foremost,” said Minister Lacombe in an interview with Duty.
File photo, Stevens LeBlanc
The Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe
“We agree, C-11 is a win. Quebec cultural products will do better after its adoption. But can we do more to protect our artists even better? […] I think so,” he said.
Even if the regulation of broadcasting is a federal responsibility, the CAQ minister believes that Quebec has levers capable of improving what he calls the “discoverability” of Quebec culture.
“There is nothing decided yet, but if we choose to go ahead with a law, it would not be in contradiction with C-11 anyway”, pleaded Mr. Lacombe who sees nothing unconstitutional if Quebec legislates in the file.