In the lead up to the
September 20, 2021, federal election, Joly, the national campaign co-chair for the
Liberal Party, recruited St. Onge, whose term at FNCC was ending. St. Onge won by less than 200 votes in
Brome—Missisquoi, a riding in Quebec's
Eastern Townships. The count was subject to a judicial recount requested by the
Bloc 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.
Minister of Sport Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau appointed St. Onge
Minister of Sport and
Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec in November 2021, making her Canada's first openly
lesbian cabinet minister. On June 12, 2022, St. Onge launched the
Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) as an independent investigative and complaints body for
national 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. St. Onge also called for Canadian national sport organizations to stop using
non-disclosure agreements. The same month, in response to the
Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal, St-Onge called for a forensic audit into whether taxpayer funding was used to pay out sexual assault settlements. The following month, St-Onge also paused federal funding to
Hockey Canada until it explained its response to the 2018 allegations. St. Onge refused to attend the
2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, citing
the country's poor LGBTQ rights record as well as
abuses of migrant workers. On December 12, 2022, St. Onge announced $2.4 million in mental health funding for Canadian athletes. In February 2023, St. Onge organized a ministerial conference with provincial counterparts on the safe sport crisis in
Charlottetown, P.E.I. during the
Canada Games and urged provinces to either join OSIC or set up their own analogous organizations.
Minister of Canadian Heritage St. Onge was appointed
Minister of Canadian Heritage in July 2023. Google would subsequently sign a deal with the government paying news outlets $100 million per year to avoid regulation under the
Online News Act. In February 2024, St. Onge criticized
Bell 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. At the
Juno Awards later that month, St. Onge announced a $32 million increase over two years to the Canada Music Fund, which awards grants via
FACTOR and
Musicaction for English and French artists respectively. The amount was short of the $60 million that various industry associations had requested. In May 2024, St. Onge set up an expert commission to provide recommendations on how to modernize the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). In October 2024, St. Onge named
Marie-Philippe Bouchard as the new CEO of the CBC, succeeding
Catherine Tait. 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. Also in February 2025, upon the resignation of
Soraya Martinez Ferrada to run for municipal office, St. Onge took on her roles as
Minister of Tourism and
Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec. She also announced that she would not run in the
2025 federal election to spend time with her newborn child. == Personal life ==