Newly appointed Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge’s background in culture and communication will help her navigate key legislation championed by her predecessor, Pablo Rodriguez, according to political and cultural watchers of Parliament Hill.

“Heritage is a huge portfolio, and her orientation and priority will be toward the cultural sector and all the producers and creators in that sector as opposed to some of the other things that fall under that portfolio,” Jordan O’Brien, a founding partner of and head of the government relations practice at Fredericton-based consulting firm, Porter O’Brien, tells Playback Daily.

Prior to her election as the Liberal Member of Parliament for the federal Quebec riding of Brome—Missisquoi in 2021, St-Onge (pictured) served as secretary general then president of the Montreal-based Fédération nationale des communications et de la culture, where – according to her cabinet biography – she “contributed to the implementation of policies and programs designed to help the media and cultural sectors adapt to shifts brought about by digital platforms.”

Sworn into her new role as Heritage Minister on Wednesday (July 26), 46-year-old St-Onge will be faced with two major legislative files, one of which Rodriguez advanced earlier this month when his now-former department issued a backgrounder on the “next steps” for Bill C-18, the Online News Act, which received royal assent on June 22 and an immediate response from Meta to remove Canadian news content from its Facebook and Instagram social-media platforms. However, Rodriguez proposed regulations that St-Onge could use in allaying some of Meta’s and Google’s concerns over the legislation.

C-18 is intended to level the playing field between Canadian news businesses and global digital platforms. A similar idea drives Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act – which passed Parliament in April and will serve as St-Onge’s other major file. It’s intended to “level the playing field for domestic broadcasters, creators and independent producers… [to] ensure that more Canadian stories are seen on screens at home and abroad,” as the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) said in a statement saluting Rodriguez “for his strong support of Canada’s independent film and television production sector, and his heroic efforts to secure the passage of Bill C-11.”

“Minister Rodriguez deserves enormous credit for persevering and getting the job done,” says CMPA president and CEO Reynolds Mastin. “What a legacy to be leaving from his tenure as minister of Canadian Heritage.”

Canada Media Fund (CMF) president and CEO Valerie Creighton was as effusive in her praise of Rodriguez, who served two tours of duty as heritage minister.

“He has shown remarkable vision and dedication in leading the recovery and transformation of the cultural sector during these challenging times,” she said in a statement that also welcomed St-Onge’s appointment as Rodriguez’s successor.

“Minister St-Onge’s strong track record of leadership and advocacy for the media and cultural sector will be invaluable as we work together to invest in our industry in a rapidly changing digital landscape,” said Creighton. “I am eager to collaborate with her and her team on the CMF’s transition towards a modernized system that better supports the creation of compelling Canadian and Indigenous stories and that ensures the continued vitality and resilience of Canada’s screen-based production sector.”

Creighton tells Playback Daily that she was impressed by the “strength, compassion and intelligence” St-Onge demonstrated in her previous role as sport minister when she took steps to address a culture of abuse in sports organizations, such as hockey, soccer and gymnastics, including the creation of the Office of the Sport Integrity Commission.

Mastin also has high hopes for St-Onge, “not only because of the excellent job she did in her prior portfolio, but before entering politics she was working in our industry.”

“So we expect that she will be bringing her extensive expertise and experience with regard to the big issues that are facing the cultural industries,” he says, adding that it will also “greatly shorten her learning curve and enable her to move forward more quickly than others who may not have that kind of experience coming into this job.”

Offers Mastin: “She comes from our world – and that is a huge asset to bring to the table, especially because there’s so much going on right now for her to manage.”

“We need to continue to have strong leadership, both in the implementation of Bill C-11 and the adoption of the policy directions, but also on files like C-18, where Minister Rodriguez had all of us cheering from the sidelines as he stood up to Meta and its decision to withdraw links to Canadian news stories on its Facebook and Instagram platforms.”

In a statement, Marla Boltman, executive director of the Canadian cultural and public broadcasting advocacy group, FRIENDS, called Canadian Heritage “a bastion for strong cultural media policy in Canada [that] represents the first line of defence against foreign tech giants’ abuse of market power.”

“Minister St-Onge brings a wealth of experience from the cultural sector, and we have no doubt that she will be a fierce defender of Canadian voices in Canadian media” and that CBC/Radio-Canada will have, in her, “a strong ally at the cabinet table,” said Boltman.

Beyond the accolades, however, come the asks for the new Heritage Minister, including a significant one from the CMF.

“We’ve had such a fantastic expansion of creators and production companies and content in our industry over the last two years that no matter how much money you have, there’s never going to be enough to serve the high demand and the expectations that everybody has,” says Creighton.

“The financing of the sector, with its expansion, is one of the challenges she’ll probably experience.”