The Quebec government is moving forward on its plans to support the province’s cultural industry with an analysis on opportunities in the digital sector.

Quebec’s Minister of Culture and Communications Mathieu Lacombe announced Friday (April 28) that he has formed an expert panel to advise him on how to improve the positioning of French-speaking Quebec culture on digital platforms, according to a news release.

The panel includes former Member of the National Assembly and culture minister Louise Beaudoin; diplomat Clément Duhaime, the former delegate general of Quebec in Paris; and Laval University law professors Véronique Guèvremont, who is also the holder of the UNESCO Chair on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, and Patrick Taillon, who also serves as co-director of the Centre d’études en droit administratif et constitutionnel (Centre for Studies in Administrative and Constitutional Law).

The experts are tasked with advising the government on the tools available, legislative or otherwise, to support Quebec cultural products on domestic and international platforms.

The announcement included statistics from a Laval University study, which stated that 72% of Quebec users paid to use a subscription-based video-on-demand service, up from 57% in 2019. The results also showed that Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ were more popular with Quebec users than domestic streaming services such as Crave, Club illico and Ici.Tou.TV. Extra.

Quebec’s most recent budget allocated $649.3 million to “promote Quebec culture and the French language” over the next five years, including a $200 million envelope for the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC) and $95 million to support cultural content in digital media.

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