A major Quebec media company is at risk of becoming a squatter in the province鈥檚 legislature district.

Montreal-based media and telecom conglomerate Qu茅becor has announced it will stop paying rent for the office its political journalists use in one of Quebec鈥檚 legislature buildings, in the provincial capital. The company, which owns television station TVA and newspapers Journal de Montr茅al and Journal de Qu茅bec, says its rent amounts to $8,448 per month 鈥� more than $100,000 per year before tax.

In a letter to the legislature, Qu茅becor vice-president Jad Barsoum said the company鈥檚 rent 鈥済oes against the principles of access and is detrimental to democratic life.鈥�

Quebec鈥檚 legislature, known as the National Assembly, charges media outlets at an annual rate of $269.86 per square metre of office space they occupy 鈥� a 鈥減rohibitive鈥� sum, according to Canadian Association of Journalists president Brent Jolly.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 an incentive for people to move out,鈥� he said in a recent interview. 鈥淚t seems like quite an exorbitant cost, particularly for news organizations.鈥�

鈥淚 find that pretty, pretty alarming that they would charge that kind of money just for an office.鈥�

Barsoum鈥檚 letter cites a 鈥渟erious crisis鈥� in the media sphere amid declining advertising revenue due in part to competition from platforms like Facebook and Google. That crisis, he said, has led to job cuts at Qu茅becor and undermines 鈥渃itizens鈥� access to information and, more globally, the health of our democracy.鈥�

Facebook owner Meta鈥檚 recent decision to block access to news content on its platforms in Canada has further strained media companies.

In response to the struggles of news companies, Qu茅becor is calling on the National Assembly to support local media by providing free office space for journalists covering politics.

Qu茅becor鈥檚 demands aren鈥檛 outlandish, at least compared with the situation in other provinces, many of which offer free 鈥� albeit much smaller and often shared 鈥� workspaces to reporters.

In Halifax, the Nova Scotia House of Assembly has set aside three, single-person offices in the basement of Province House for members of the press gallery 鈥� the common term for political journalists who cover legislatures. Reporters also have access to a small common room upstairs.

Political reporters in New Brunswick鈥檚 capital don鈥檛 have dedicated offices in the Legislative Assembly building, but the press gallery, whose members pay a $100 annual fee, has a space with desks in a neighbouring building.

The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia has offices for print, radio and television media for press gallery members who pay the $150 yearly fee. Reporters who aren鈥檛 full-time members can use a common area at no charge.

And on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, there鈥檚 a free-to-use, dedicated room with 25 desks for journalists.

Jolly says he agrees that legislative press offices should be more affordable for media given the public benefit journalists provide with their political news coverage.

But University of British Columbia school of journalism professor Alfred Hermida said Qu茅becor鈥檚 claims of a media crisis are misleading given its gains in its other business lines.

On Thursday, the company posted a revenue increase of $283.3 million, or 25.4 per cent, in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the same three-month period in 2022, despite a decline in revenue in some of its media operations. The windfall follows Qu茅becor鈥檚 acquisition of telecom company Freedom Mobile.

鈥淭o say that there is an overall crisis in the media system is simplifying things,鈥� Hermida said, 鈥渂ecause what you have is a company like Qu茅becor who 鈥� (is) still making money in other sectors, in its telecom and its mobile, in other areas, but not the same amount of revenue in producing news.鈥�

But Qu茅becor CEO Pierre Karl P茅ladeau said it鈥檚 鈥渦nreasonable鈥� to assume one part of his company should subsidize another.

鈥淚t is important to understand that Qu茅becor manages each of its subsidiaries independently and is accountable to its shareholders,鈥� P茅ladeau said in statement shared via email. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unreasonable to expect Vid茅otron or Freedom to finance the media crisis, just as it鈥檚 unreasonable for the National Assembly to demand staggering rental fees, in excess of $100,000 a year, to cover all the societal issues debated there.鈥�

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2023.

鈥� With files from Caroline Plante in Quebec City.

Thomas MacDonald, The Canadian Press