In order to slow down what it considers to be one of the causes of anglicization, the Parti Québécois (PQ) proposes the creation of a Quebec Radio and Telecommunications Council (CRTC) to better highlight audiovisual content from here.
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According to the political party, young people consume very little Quebec cultural content. A Léger poll commissioned by the PQ indicates that 58% of 18-34 year olds consume very little, if any, Quebec audiovisual content on online platforms.
In addition, nearly a third of respondents (31%) admitted that they never listen to or watch content from Quebec and 75% of the other respondents say that their consumption of Quebec content does not exceed 4 hours per week, a tiny part of their screen time.
“It is worrying, yes, both for the future of French in Quebec and for the knowledge that Quebec youth have of what is being done here. It is worrying, too, for our artists, our production houses and our distributors. However, the blame should not be placed on young people; it is rather a question of accessibility, of discoverability”, deplored in a press release on Saturday the spokesperson for the party in terms of Culture, Pascal Bérubé. He adds that the appeal of English is enormous, given its immense availability, the space it occupies and the promotion it enjoys.
To improve the situation, the political party is also proposing the establishment of a Quebec content promotion office in order to negotiate visibility agreements with the Netflix of this world, to double the budgets of Télé-Québec to increase production and the distribution of Quebec content and to consolidate a national digital platform where content from here would be grouped.
“By doubling its budgets to $140 million during the first year of our mandate, we could both stimulate the production of Quebec content and consolidate a national digital platform serving as a place of consumption, reference and archiving for our cultural productions; yes, we have the ambition to compete with Radio‐Canada; yes, we have the ambition to affirm our cultural sovereignty without hesitation!” added the MP for Matane-Matapédia.