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Hélène Messier, president of the Association québécoise de la production médiatique, which represents independent film, TV and web producers, attended the meeting with Joly.

“I think what has shocked people is the impression that the salvation of the funding of Canadian culture lies in this type of agreement with American giants,” Messier said in an interview.

“Culture is an important economic sector but it is also an important part of our identity,” she said.

“Quebec has always battled to maintain its language and its culture, so we have been wary of the standardization of cultures, the Americanization of cultures. … It is being seen as an abdication of Canadian cultural sovereignty, giving away the keys to the kingdom.”

The next federal election is still two years away, but there is reason for the Liberals to be concerned at how Quebecers have turned on one of their own.

Joly, 38, is a relative newcomer to politics; her debut came in 2013 when she ran to be mayor of Montreal, finishing a surprising second to Denis Coderre. After vowing to remain active in municipal politics and run in the next municipal election, she was recruited by her friend Justin Trudeau in 2015 and was elected to Parliament in the Montreal riding of Ahuntsic-Cartierville.

Dismissing the complaints of Quebec’s artistic community as inconsequential would be a mistake.

In the 2008 federal election campaign, Conservative leader Stephen Harper defended his government’s cuts to arts funding by mocking artists “at a rich gala all subsidized by taxpayers claiming their subsidies aren’t high enough.” The backlash in Quebec was intense, and the Conservatives saw their share of the vote in the province slip.

Messier said the Quebec arts community had high hopes for the Liberals after “10 years of cultural mistreatment” under the Conservatives. “I think that has made the disappointment even greater,” she said.

• Email: ghamilton@nationalpost.com | Twitter: grayhamilton