Pierre Karl Péladeau is transferring his billion-dollar control block of Quebecor Inc. Class A shares to a blind trust, following his recent election as leader of the Parti Québécois.

Quebecor has almost 89 million Class B shares and 39 million Class A shares in circulation. But by holding 35 million Class A shares, carrying 10 votes each, Péladeau has total control of the company, with 72.32% of all votes in the communications and media conglomerate.

He announced the share transfer in May after his resounding 58%, first-ballot win in the PQ leadership race, and after Jacques Saint-Laurent, the Quebec National Assembly’s ethics commissioner, granted that Péladeau’s political position and media ownership holdings, presented an “exceptional situation.”

Creating a blind trust represents a change of control, and Péladeau notes the measure will take time because it is subject to approval by the CRTC. The federal regulator has a say in the PQ leader’s plans because Quebecor controls TVA, Quebec’s leading private television network, and Vidéotron, the largest cable company in the province, which offers Internet, landline and mobile telephone services.

Quebecor’s circulation-leading Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec make the firm a leading newspaper publisher in Quebec: together, Quebecor’s newspaper and television interests reach an estimated 42% of the Quebec market.

Péladeau rejects comparisons with former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose Mediaset owns three TV networks in Italy, and who was not shy in office about influencing coverage by RAI, the public broadcaster, as well.

Indeed, PQ leadership contender Jean-François Lisée drew fire from party members for suggesting that the apparent conflict of interest between Péladeau’s business life and his political role was “a ticking time bomb” for the PQ.

Péladeau showed no interest in politics before his surprise declaration at the start of the 2014 Quebec election campaign that he was running for the PQ to give his children an independent country of Quebec.

Leading PQ figures think Péladeau, as someone from the business world, can succeed where political leaders, such as Lévesque, Parizeau and Bouchard, could not; they don’t foresee a conflict of interest.

But will the proposed blind trust put to rest the concerns about a potential conflict of interest? While the PQ may say the trust guarantees editorial independence, people working in the Quebecor media empire are aware the PQ leader still is their boss. The prospect of his return could inspire them to be prudent about their future.

A Léger Marketing poll conducted on behalf of two Montreal dailies, Le Devoir and Quebecor’s Le Journal de Montréal, right after Péladeau won the PQ leadership indicated that 41% of survey participants were worried about the degree of Péladeau’s control of the media. But 52% of those responding to the poll said they were indifferent about the potential for conflict of interest.

So, maybe there is no problem.

Or is there? When interpreting poll results, those in the polling field like to know who ordered the poll.

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