State financing of a television debate | “A good question,” says Roberge

(Quebec) The Legault government will reflect on the financing of a television debate for the Quebec elections of 2026.

The Minister responsible for the reform of democratic institutions, Jean-François Roberge, suggested that he would take the question under “deliberate” for the 2026 government budget.

He thus reacted to the controversy aroused by TVA, which wanted to invoice each federal party $ 75,000 for the production of a debate in the last electoral campaign, but which had to give up on the refusal of the Liberal Party of Canada (PLC).

“We must be concerned about the future of democracy and go around the question. Are we safe from the cancellation of a debate [aux élections générales de 2026] ? Asked the liberal deputy Monsef Derraji, to the parliamentary committee on the study of budgetary credits, a reform component of democratic institutions.

He said it was a “good question”, whether it is up to the State to finance a debate on a private television network.

The Minister recalled, however, that there was currently no envelope which would finance a possible debate and that Fortiori, it would be a function of the budget for the next financial financial year, 2026-2027, and not that that parliamentarians are currently studying, 2025-2026.

Raberge also said that he wanted the “same number of debates” organized by several media in 2022.

There had then been a debate in French broadcast in particular by Radio-Canada and Télé-Québec, with François Legault, Dominique Anglade, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and Éric Duhaime. And there had also been the debate Face-to-face VAT with the same chefs.

The Minister also said that the Caquist government did not intend to acquire a debate commission like that which exists in the federally and which got into the controversy during the last electoral campaign.