MONTREAL — The Parti Québécois will demand that Quebec be allowed to pull out of federal cultural agencies such as the National Film Board, Telefilm Canada and the CRTC if it wins the upcoming provincial election.

‘Stephen Harper sent a clear message yesterday [in the throne speech],’ said party leader Pauline Marois in a statement. ‘He doesn’t care about our culture. As a result we need to get control over our culture programs as soon as possible.’

Marois wants $300 million from the feds to make her vision happen — taking the federal cash and human resources allocated to Quebec at places like the NFB and Telefilm and transferring it into provincial cultural agencies such as SODEC, according to PQ MNA and actor Pierre Curzi.

‘We want to negotiate a contract in good faith with the federal government like we did for immigration,’ he told Playback Daily. Quebec controls is own immigration policy. ‘If we are refused we will request a constitutional amendment.’

According to Statistics Canada, in 2003/04, Quebec received more culture funding from Ottawa than any other province, $156 per capita.

Curzi says his party and the province’s cultural scene are up for a fight. ‘The cuts the conservatives did have hurt milieus here which are fragile. The government seems to be taking a hard line towards Quebec culture,’ he said, referring to Heritage Minister James Moore’s recent statements that he won’t reverse any of the $45 million in cuts made to cultural programs last August.

Quebec is currently under a Liberal minority government lead by Jean Charest, who announced a number of measures to protect Quebec culture this week, including more funding for SODEC and an increase in the tax credit for labor costs related to film and TV production.

Marois is trailing in the polls but hitting Charest where his support is weak: among Francophone Quebecers worried about the survival of their culture and language. The recent federal election saw the Tories popularity in Quebec decline amid the controversy over cuts to arts’ funding.

While Quebec producers such as Roger Frappier lauded Charest’s plans to help out the television and film sector, the province’s largest actors union, L’Union des Artistes, has put its support behind the PQ.

‘During the last election campaign we had to mobilize against the federal government’s cuts to culture. We have to continue to purse this issue… It’s increasingly urgent that Quebec gets as much control over cultural and communications programs as possible,’ said UDA president Raymond Legault in a statement.

Quebecers will go to the polls Dec. 8.