State funded televised election debate: ‘a good question’, says Roberge
Posted May 8, 2025 7:35 pm.
The Legault government will consider funding a televised debate for the 2026 Quebec elections.
The minister responsible for the Reform of Democratic Institutions, Jean-François Roberge, suggested that he would take the matter “under advisement” for the government’s 2026 budget.
He was reacting to the controversy caused by TVA, which wanted to charge each federal party $75,000 for the production of a debate during the last election campaign, but had to give up after the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) refused.
“We have to be concerned about the future of democracy and look at the whole question. Are we safe from the cancellation of a debate (in the 2026 general election)?” asked Liberal MP Monsef Derraji at the parliamentary committee on the study of budgetary appropriations, part of the reform of democratic institutions.
“It’s interesting to raise the question so that we can take it under advisement. I don’t have an answer to give you today,” replied Roberge.
He said that it was a “good question,” namely whether it was up to the State to finance a debate on a private television network.
The Minister pointed out, however, that there was currently no envelope that would enable a possible debate to be funded, and that a fortiori it would depend on the budget for the next financial year, 2026-2027, and not the one that parliamentarians were currently studying, 2025-2026.
Roberge also said that he wanted the “same number of debates” organised by several media as in 2022.
Back then, there was a debate in French broadcast by Radio-Canada and Télé-Québec, with François Legault, Dominique Anglade, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, and Éric Duhaime. There was also the TVA “Face-à-face” debate with the same leaders.
The minister also made it clear that the Caquist government had no intention of setting up a debates commission like the one at the federal level, which became mired in controversy during the last election campaign.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
