Bloc interested in working with province to create Quebec CRTC, says MP

Bloc Québécois MP Martin Champoux is extending an invitation to the newly-elected sovereignist party in Quebec to collaborate on establishing a provincial version of the CRTC. In its 2025 federal election platform, the Bloc Québécois pitched the creation of a conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications du Québec – or a CRTQ – to oversee all regulatory matters related to arts and culture in la belle province. Now, following the election of a sovereignist provincial party, Bloc MP Martin Champoux (Drummond, Que.) sees an opportunity to collaborate with the Parti Québécois to make the dream a reality. “I think the CRTC, the Quebec version of a CRTC, is a project that we care a lot about,” he told The Wire Report on Oct. 22. “And having a new government in Quebec, with the Parti Québécois…, I think this is the kind of idea that this government in Quebec could bring forward, and if they wish to do so, they will have the Bloc Québécois as a serious partner in the process.” Aside from the election platform, Champoux, his party’s heritage critic, has previously raised the issue in the House of Commons. On May 28, during debate on a Conservative motion to eliminate funding requirements for online streamers, Champoux renewed the Bloc’s call for a regulator focused solely on Quebec. “The current CRTC makes decisions that profoundly affect Quebec culture, but it does so within a Canadian framework where Quebec is just one minority among many,” he said in French. “Even with the best of intentions, this structure cannot fully reflect Quebec's reality. It cannot give francophones the weight they deserve. It cannot prioritize our creators the way we would. It cannot fully grasp the complexity of our cultural ecosystem.” Earlier this year, the Liberal government asked the CRTC to review its decision requiring streamers to allocate 15 per cent of Canadian revenues to fund local content, and later indicated intentions to scrap the five per cent base contribution rate altogether. Since then, Champoux and his party have repeatedly accused Mark Carney’s (Nepean, Ont.) government of federal interference, saying it has overstepped its authority over the arm’s-length regulator. When asked last week by The Wire Report whether creating a body catered to the interests of a specific province also constituted federal interference, Champoux said “anything that comes from the federal government into the Quebec culture is an interference.” “Everything should be decided in Quebec for anything that concerns culture and media sector,” he added. In the interim, the Bloc platform also contained a promise to bring forward a bill that would mandate the CRTC to consult Quebec (or the relevant provinces) before implementing regulations that “affect our distinct cultural identity, or that of Francophone communities elsewhere in Canada.” The Parti Québécois did not immediately respond to The Wire Report’s questions regarding whether it is open to pursuing a CRTQ. mcollins@thewirereport.ca

Bloc interested in working with province to create Quebec CRTC, says MP

Regulatory |
By Maria Collins
|October 29, 2026

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Bloc interested in working with province to create Quebec CRTC, says MP

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