Pascale St-Onge | |
|---|---|
.jpg) St-Onge in 2022 | |
| Minister of Canadian Heritage | |
| In office July 26, 2023 – March 14, 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Pablo Rodriguez |
| Succeeded by | Steven Guilbeault |
| Minister of Tourism | |
| In office February 6, 2025 – March 14, 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Soraya Martinez Ferrada |
| Succeeded by | Rechie Valdez[a] |
| Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec | |
| In office February 6, 2025 – March 14, 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Soraya Martinez Ferrada |
| Succeeded by | Mélanie Joly |
| In office October 26, 2021 – July 26, 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Mélanie Joly[b] |
| Succeeded by | Soraya Martinez Ferrada |
| Minister of Sport | |
| In office October 26, 2021 – July 26, 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Steven Guilbeault[c] |
| Succeeded by | Carla Qualtrough |
| Member of Parliament forBrome—Missisquoi | |
| In office September 20, 2021 – March 23, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Lyne Bessette |
| Succeeded by | Louis Villeneuve |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1977-05-13)May 13, 1977 (age 48) |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Party | Liberal |
| Residence | Orford, Quebec |
| Alma mater | Université de Montréal Université du Québec à Montréal |
| Occupation | Union leader |
Pascale St-OngePC (French pronunciation:[paskalsɛ̃t‿ɔ̃ʒ] ; born May 13, 1977) is a Canadian politician who represented theriding ofBrome—Missisquoi in theHouse of Commons of Canada from2021 Canadian federal election until 2025. She served as theMinister of Canadian Heritage from 2023 to 2025 andMinister of Tourism andMinister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec from February to March 2025. She also held the latter position from 2021 to 2023, when she was alsoMinister of Sport from 2021 to 2023. Her appointment to cabinet in 2021 made her the first openly lesbian Canadian cabinet minister. In February 2025, St-Onge announced that she would not run inthat year's federal election.
Before entering politics, she was president of theFédération nationale des communications et de la culture [fr], Quebec's largest media union as well as a bassist in an all-lesbianalternative rock band, Mad June.
St-Onge was born on May 13, 1977,[1][2] and grew up in theMontreal suburb ofSaint-Eustache, Quebec. She was a competitive swimmer in her youth and playedvolleyball in college and university. She graduated from theUniversité du Québec à Montréal in literary studies. St. Onge also obtained a certificate in journalism from theUniversité de Montréal, and worked forLa Presse in sales after graduation.[3]
In the early 2010s, St. Onge was thebassist,backup vocalist,[2] and manager of an all-lesbianalternative rock quartet from Montreal called Mad June.[3] She learned to play bass after deciding to form the group with her bandmates.[3] She learned using a second-hand bass from her then-girlfriend, the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the band. In 2010, the band played atMontebello Rock; the Boston finale of theLilith Fair, where they were hugged on-stage by fellow Canadian musicianSarah McLachlan; and were selected to appear at theCanadian Music Week.[4] The band produced three singles before dissolving in 2015.[3][5]
By the end of 2015, St-Onge was elected president of theFédération nationale des communications et de la culture [fr] (FNCC-CSN), Quebec's largest media and cultural industry association. In that role, she was critical of then-Minister of Canadian Heritage and future cabinet colleagueMélanie Joly for granting an exemption toNetflix from Canadian taxes and called for more government support of media. By the2019 federal election, St. Onge collaborated with Joly to bring most political parties to support such tax changes, which led to the laterOnline News Act.[3]
In the lead up to theSeptember 20, 2021, federal election, Joly, the national campaign co-chair for theLiberal Party, recruited St. Onge, whose term at FNCC was ending. St. Onge won by less than 200 votes inBrome—Missisquoi, a riding in Quebec'sEastern Townships.[3][6] The count was subject to a judicial recount requested by theBloc Québécois candidate after St. Onge won three days after election night on the strength of mail-in ballots. After approximately 60 irregularities were resolved without issue, the Bloc then conceded and ended the recount process on October 13, 2021.[7]
Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau appointed St. OngeMinister of Sport andMinister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec in November 2021, making her Canada's first openlylesbian cabinet minister.[8]
On June 12, 2022, St. Onge launched theOffice of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) as an independent investigative and complaints body fornational sports organizations, who were required to sign on by April 2023 or lose federal funding. OSIC received $16 million over three years to fund its launch and operations.[9][10] St. Onge also called for Canadian national sport organizations to stop usingnon-disclosure agreements.[11]
The same month, in response to theHockey Canada sexual assault scandal, St-Onge called for a forensic audit into whether taxpayer funding was used to pay out sexual assault settlements.[12][13] The following month, St-Onge also paused federal funding toHockey Canada until it explained its response to the 2018 allegations.[13] After further revelations about sexual assault allegations, she called for Hockey Canada leadership to step down in August 2022.[14]
St. Onge refused to attend the2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, citingthe country's poor LGBTQ rights record as well asabuses of migrant workers.[15] On December 12, 2022, St. Onge announced $2.4 million in mental health funding for Canadian athletes.[16]
In February 2023, St. Onge organized a ministerial conference with provincial counterparts on the safe sport crisis inCharlottetown, P.E.I. during theCanada Games and urged provinces to either join OSIC or set up their own analogous organizations.[10][9] In May 2023 she announced reforms to address the safe sport crisis in Canada, which included the Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal.[17]
St. Onge was appointedMinister of Canadian Heritage in July 2023.[3] In this role, she was in charge of implementing the rollout of theOnline News Act, which required large internet corporations to pay Canadian news outlets for posts using their coverage. Corporations such asMeta Platforms andGoogle had threatened to block access to news on their platforms to avoid regulation.[18] Google would subsequently sign a deal with the government paying news outlets $100 million per year to avoid regulation under theOnline News Act.[19]
In February 2024, St. Onge criticizedBell Media for a round of layoffs in local journalism positions and selling 45 of its 113 regional radio stations despite the end of certain licensing fees meant that it would gain $40 million in regulatory relief per year.[19]
In March 2024, St. Onge announced that the Local Journalism Initiative would be expended until 2027 with a cost of $58.8 million.[20] At theJuno Awards later that month, St. Onge announced a $32 million increase over two years to the Canada Music Fund, which awards grants viaFACTOR andMusicaction for English and French artists respectively. The amount was short of the $60 million that various industry associations had requested.[21]
In May 2024, St. Onge set up an expert commission to provide recommendations on how to modernize theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). In October 2024, St. Onge namedMarie-Philippe Bouchard as the new CEO of the CBC, succeedingCatherine Tait.[22] On February 20, 2025, St. Onge released a revised mandate roadmap for the CBC, including banning advertisements during news programs and subscription fees for digital services; bringing funding levels up from being only being ahead of the United States to be more comparable to average G7 public broadcaster levels, which is about double the current funding levels at $33 per year per capita; and enshrining impartiality in the CBC's mandate.[23]
Also in February 2025, upon the resignation ofSoraya Martinez Ferrada to run for municipal office, St. Onge took on her roles asMinister of Tourism andMinister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec.[24] She also announced that she would not run in the2025 federal election to spend time with her newborn child.[23]
St. Onge is a lesbian and married her wife in summer 2005 after Prime MinisterPaul Martin's government legalizedsame-sex marriage in Canada via theCivil Marriage Act. In November 2024, St. Onge took parental leave as her wife gave birth and continued to work and vote remotely.[25] She has lived inOrford, Quebec since 2018.[26]
| 2021 Canadian federal election:Brome—Missisquoi | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Pascale St-Onge | 21,488 | 34.96 | -3.2 | $39,303.15 | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Marilou Alarie | 21,291 | 34.64 | +0.2 | $33,184.64 | |||
| Conservative | Vincent Duhamel | 9,961 | 16.20 | +3.7 | $94,614.82 | |||
| New Democratic | Andrew Panton | 3,828 | 6.23 | -1.8 | $0.45 | |||
| People's | Alexis Stogowski | 1,982 | 3.22 | +2.5 | $0.00 | |||
| Green | Michelle Corcos | 1,466 | 2.38 | -3.0 | $0.00 | |||
| Free | Maryse Richard | 961 | 1.56 | N/A | $914.14 | |||
| Veterans Coalition | Lawrence Cotton | 215 | 0.35 | +0.1 | $0.00 | |||
| Independent | Dany Desjardins | 145 | 0.24 | N/A | $0.00 | |||
| Christian Heritage | Susanne Lefebvre | 133 | 0.22 | N/A | $2.403.25 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 61,471 | 98.22 | – | $112,117.88 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,115 | 1.78 | ||||||
| Turnout | 62,586 | 66.07 | ||||||
| Registered voters | 94,728 | |||||||
| Liberalhold | Swing | -1.5 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[27] | ||||||||