Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press “We should all be happy that young people, when it comes time to choose people who inspire them, choose political figures, not just TV stars, argued Mr. Nadeau-Dubois. Should we force young people to choose one person per party?”
The parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire (QS), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, defends the choice of Télé-Québec to invite him to give a conference in a secondary school.
The public broadcaster, for its part, justified that it was 13 to 17 year olds who chose QS's co-spokesperson to be part of this “Mammoth lecture” tour in April and May, along with other personalities. For the occasion, Mr. Nadeau-Dubois will speak to young people from a Quebec school.
The network “makes a point of not using assisted polling or influencing the vote in any way,” it said in an email to The Canadian Press.
The government expressed on Tuesday its unease at seeing him take part in a tour of secondary schools at the invitation of Télé-Québec.
According to the Parti Québécois (PQ), organizing tours for some elected, but not others, among young people who will have the right to vote in 2026 does not enter into the role of a public broadcaster like Télé-Québec, even if it is the choice of young people in a contest.< /p>
“We should all be happy that young people, when it comes time to choose people who inspire them, choose political figures, not just TV stars, replied Mr. Nadeau-Dubois. Should young people be forced to choose one person per party?
He assured that he would not go to the conference with QS posters.
“I'm going to talk about the importance of civic engagement, the importance of committing to the environment, explain to them a little about how democracy works. Would you mind telling me what the problem is? »
His colleague deputy for Rosemont, Vincent Marissal, came to his defense. According to him, it is “healthy” for elected officials to give lectures in high schools and it is up to Télé-Québec to decide.
“I am proud as an MP to see that my two co-porte -word [M. Nadeau-Dubois and Manon Massé] inspire young people in the fight against climate change. »
He mentioned the example of former PQ Prime Minister Jacques Parizeau, who gave lectures in CEGEPs. However, he was not the guest of Télé-Québec and he spoke then in front of college students who are adults or on the eve of becoming adults, while in secondary schools, they are minors.
“Give him his award [to Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois], but Télé-Québec is not obliged to organize conferences to promote him! launched the PQ MP for Matane-Matapédia, Pascal Bérubé, in a press scrum on Wednesday morning.
“Did we offer the same thing [to PQ leader] Paul St-Pierre Plamondon ? To the Liberal leader [Marc Tanguay], to the Prime Minister [François Legault]? Of course not,” Mr. Bérubé continued, calling for fairness.
It was Mr. Bérubé who arrested the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, on Tuesday evening. He then replied that it was “surprising” and that he felt “some discomfort”.
However, he does not believe that his role was to “interfere” in business of Télé-Québec, adding that if he did, his parliamentary colleagues would blame him.
In its email, Télé-Québec explained the basis of its Mammoth project. Each fall, young people are invited to “express themselves on what motivates them, worries them, concerns them and what ignites them by identifying, in a spontaneous way, the people who have taken the most inspiring actions according to them during the last year”.
