TVA Group announced Wednesday it is laying off 87 people in its television broadcasting division. Most of the jobs affected are unionized positions in Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, and Rimouski. The positions, both permanent and temporary, include camera operators, editors, technicians, makeup artists, and hairstylists, according to an internal memo from TVA Group’s interim president and CEO, Pierre Karl Péladeau. “These decisions are difficult to make, but they are necessary to protect our essential role as a media outlet to inform and entertain,” wrote the senior executive. “The restructuring measures implemented in recent years have partially offset the decline in our advertising revenues, but this significant trend in our industry keeps accelerating,” Péladeau continued. The company said in a statement it “continues to see its financial situation deteriorate, recording cumulative net losses of more than $93 million since January 2022.” It specified that severance pay for laid-off employees will be increased beyond the provisions of the collective agreements, due to the seniority of some within the group. Over the past two years, TVA Group has undergone restructuring that resulted in the loss of several hundred jobs. According to the TVA Employees Union, nearly 800 positions have been eliminated out of the group’s initial workforce of approximately 1,100. “We thought it couldn’t be cut any more than that. But unfortunately, we found a way to do even more,” the union’s provincial president, Carl Beaudoin, told The Canadian Press. As of Jan. 12, only one cameraman will remain on staff at each of the TVA Group’s regional stations, said Beaudoin, who fears this new reality will put even more pressure on journalists. “We are in complete shock. This is not news we were expecting, obviously ... Once again, this is a worrying loss for regional news coverage,” he said. Governments called upon Péladeau is once again calling on government authorities to “quickly” implement “concrete measures” to support the private television industry. In the company’s press release, he deplores the lack of tax credits for journalism in the television sector, among other things, which affects the broadcaster’s finances. Reacting to the elimination of 87 jobs, the Bloc Québécois accuses the federal government of preferring “inaction” and of not devoting “even a penny of its budget to helping private media.” “Yet the solution is within reach: restoring the tax on digital services, which was abolished earlier this year, would be a first step that could bring in $7.2 billion in new revenue over five years,” said Bloc MP Martin Champoux in a news release. Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications Mathieu Lacombe said his government is working to find solutions with the recent tabling of the report by the Working Group on the Future of Audiovisual Media in Quebec. “Part of the solution lies with Quebec City. But we are already doing a lot for the media in general. Now, for electronic media, radio and television, I think we need to rethink how we help them,” Lacombe told reporters, adding that much of the responsibility also lies with Ottawa. His colleague, Samuel Poulin, Minister for the Economy and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, reiterated that the government’s commitment to supporting Quebec media includes advertising purchases. “It is still extremely important that our Crown corporations, ministries, and agencies, in particular, encourage Quebec media and purchase advertising ... to ensure that newsrooms, which are also important in Quebec’s regions, are maintained. “We all have a role to play,” he said, offering his “thoughts” to the affected workers and their families. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French Nov. 12, 2025.
